It was the most arduous but at the same time fulfilling adventure he's embarked on.
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In April, Pirates stalwart Brendan Rixon joined brother-in-laws Doug Biffin and Scott McInnes in hiking the Kokoda Track.
Three years after they were originally planning to do it (COVID intervened), outside of getting married and having a family, it was, he said, "one of the best things" he's ever done.
"It was pretty tough physically and mentally, but so rewarding," he said.
"And just to see what the guys did in World War II was just pretty amazing."
The brutal four-month long campaign through the Papua New Guinea jungle holds a revered place in Australia's war history and every year thousands take up the challenge of the 96km trek.
"The first couple of days was really, really hot and humid, so that sort of took your lungs away a bit," Rixon reflected.
"But after that you got up into some altitude and it was pretty good.
"Sweated, but the group we went with were really good to stay on top of electrolytes and food and all that sort of stuff."
Something the three of them had been talking about doing for probably 10 years, he said the thing that probably most surprised him about the whole trip was the level of poverty in Port Moresby.
"They're our closest neighbour and the level of poverty is pretty sad," he said.
"It's two ends of the spectrum pretty much; there's people on the streets or there's massive hotels bordering the minefields or the airport."
The trip was one of the catalysts for him going around for Pirates for another season, and a few weeks ago becoming the first person to play 200 first grade games for the club.
Unlike some of his team-mates, while last year's preliminary final loss to Narrabri burned, it wasn't always set in stone he would play this year. But after after doing a bit of the pre-season to "get fit" for Kokoda, inevitably one thing led to another.
"I didn't play any footy until after we came back and then I sort of got a bit of an itch," he said.
"It's pretty good to be around good mates, and there's been a lot of history here and a lot of good times had, so I just want to finish off on the right note."
By his own admission "pretty hopeless" when it comes to hanging up the boots - he's already come out of retirement once - the five-eighth/centre/fullback is adamant this will "be it", joking that wife Elle might divorce him otherwise.
"This is it for me, one last swansong," he said.
He'd love a premiership swansong, but there's a couple of hurdles to be negotiated first, starting with Gunnedah in the qualifying final on Saturday.
The first time Pirates have held a finals game since the 2018 grand final, they can lock in first spot in the decider and the hosting rights with a win.
The ledger between the two sides sits at one apiece with the Red Devils getting the win in the first round before Pirates returned the favour in their most recent encounter.
Kick-off at Ken Chillingworth Oval is 3pm.
Prior to that Pirates' second grade will be hoping to win their way to the grand final when they take on Moree.
