In 1998 David Mason walked 5,500km across Australia with camels in 236 days

In 1998, David Mason became the first person to walk solo across the Australian continent, completing an eight-month, 5,500-kilometre journey accompanied by three camels. The 236-day trek later earned him the 1999 Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year award.

Seventeen years on, Mason flew to Broome for an emotional reunion with Kabul, the last surviving camel from his historic crossing. Here's the story behind Mason's journey, and what became of him and his camel afterwards.

David Mason's 1998 solo crossing of Australia with three camels

Mason began his 1998 crossing alone, and later picked up three camels at Dalby to carry his supplies during the journey across Australia's desert regions. The journey covered roughly 5,500 kilometres and took eight months, or 236 days, to complete.

Mason said the experience gave him a sense of owning his own days and future that he couldn't find anywhere else, comparing it to the sacrifices and rewards faced by a single-handed yachtsman attempting a solo ocean crossing.

The idea's origin: French Foreign Legion in Africa

The trip's origins trace back to Mason's time serving with the French Foreign Legion in Africa. "I was a foreign legionnaire, and I was sitting on top of a hill looking over Ethiopia, thinking there's got to be a heck of a lot more to life than this," he told ABC News.

"I thought, why not catch some camels and walk across Australia? It was pretty much as simple as that." What began as a fairly spontaneous idea eventually turned into months of preparation before Mason and his three camels hit the road, and the story has since been recorded in two books.

Kabul, the lead camel and the emotional 2015 reunion

Of the three camels who accompanied Mason, Kabul, his lead camel, proved an especially invaluable companion through cold nights, hot days and seemingly endless roads.

"He was, and is, phlegmatic, powerful and utterly trustworthy, and without him I couldn't have done the trip," Mason said. After the walk, the camels joined the camel trains on Cable Beach in Broome. In 2015, 17 years after the crossing, Mason returned to Broome to reunite with Kabul, telling ABC News he began to tear up as he approached the camel, who by then was cared for by cameleer John Geappen and was living out his days on the Kimberley coast.

Life after the walk: Adventurer of the Year and military service

Mason's 1998 crossing raised thousands of dollars for the Fred Hollows Foundation and earned him the 1999 Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year award. In the years since, he has stayed far from idle, serving overseas with the Australian Defence Force, completing four tours of Iraq, and later working as a military lawyer based in Canberra. Even so, Mason said the 236 days he spent on the road with Kabul by his side have stayed with him ever since.

"I think about it all the time," he said while describing an enduring sense of freedom he has continued to chase in the years that followed.