IT has been eight years in the making but Jamie Dunross has finally realised his dream of circumnavigating Australia.
The 44-year-old quadriplegic sailor created his own slice of history when he returned home on Sunday after 57 days at sea.
Family, friends and well-wishers were on hand to greet the brave yachtsman who has spent the days since returning resting and recovering from his journey.
Mr Dunross, who was injured in a workplace accident in 1988, told the Courier his time at sea aboard his yacht, Spirit of Rockingham, was incredible.
“The sea life was the real highlight for me, seeing the sea snakes, which were a bit scary, different species of fish and dolphins,” he said.
“Then there was the experience of seeing Australia’s coastline, particularly the south-west point of Tasmania which is like a lost world.
“I sailed past it and it was quite misty and eerie. I was waiting for a pterodactyl to come and swoop me off the boat.”
However, a journey of this magnitude always had the potential for some form of drama.
For Mr Dunross that happened just off Cape Leeuwin.
“I must have had a guardian angel out there looking after me because I had a really close call with a ship,” he said.
“It looked like we were going to have a collision on the radar so I went to head up and it was blowing 40 knots.
“As I started to go upstairs the AIS (automatic identification system) went off and the ship blew its horn, which went right through me.
“I was in denial about what was happening but thankfully survival skills kicked in.”
Mr Dunross was able to move his yacht out of the path of the ship but the wake it created almost washed him overboard.
“I can talk about it now but at the time I was pretty shaken up,” he admitted.
“It was like pleasure and pain, going from the euphoria of avoiding the ship to the fear of being almost washed over.”
Now back on safe land, Mr Dunross said he has no immediate plans to head back out on to the water.
“This project dominated my life for eight years,” he said.
“I’m happy to have no set goal for a while and enjoy some time with my family.
“That was the only downside to this trip ... knowing they were stressing that something would happen.
“Now they don’t have to stress anymore.”