After moving back to Cairns and Townsville, in 1951 he moved to Darwin where, after living in abandoned trucks and boats, and probably suffering from depression, he built a raft and embarked on a solo voyage into the open sea. Thought by the Australians to have perished after searches were unsuccessful, he survived and beached on Rote Island in Indonesia. Discovered by Indonesian authorities, he was imprisoned & eventually deported. He travelled to London via Singapore and returned to Brisbane in 1953, aged 62. He built a hut on Bribie Island in Queensland, where he lived for the rest of his life except for visits to India and London during the 1960s.