For the past 16 days, Mike King has been travelling the length of the North Island as part of a campaign to raise awareness for mental health.
He's taken part in swimming, cycling and running to get from Cape Reinga to Parliament in Wellington with the help of some selfless Kiwis and a handful of former top professional athletes.
In between their time on the road, King has had a chance to stop and meet people within the communities which have high youth issues.
Some of the people he's meeting along the way know too well the importance of mental health services - and support his call for more access to help for anyone who needs it.
King told 1News: "On this tour, the reality is we are having parents turning up everywhere we are going and telling us about how their children couldn't find the help and they're no longer here.
"I was talking to one lady who lost her 22-year-old son. There was another mum who talked about her daughter's journey and not being able to get the help, going to the hospitals, being turned away. Another couple lost their daughter.
"If these were one-offs we would understand but this is a recurring theme right throughout the country. They are struggling to get the help they need, so we're making them aware that Gumboot Friday is there."
Former All Black Ian Jones told Breakfast on Friday the most amazing part about their trip has been the people they have met along the way.
Jones said: "It's been such a privilege for us to be energised by the communities that we've touched and allowing them to share their stories with us."
Through Gumboot Friday, a person under 25 is able to book to see a counsellor for free, normally within under six days. Whether a person has big issues or small, it just takes four clicks to book an appointment on their website.
King and the team who took part in the Due Drop Hope Challenge braved rough conditions and cold weather, but King says it's been nothing compared to the struggle kids are going through.
"This mission is different for us compared to our young people's journeys, simply because we're older, we've built up that resilience and we know that this will pass," he said.
Achieving distances like Clevedon to Whitianga in one stretch, each of the cycle leg was roughly about 40 km a day.
The group included 17 other ordinary New Zealanders who put their jobs on hold - some over 50 years old - who would "tag in and tag out" as to who would go next.
As the group moved through Auckland, the Sky Tower was lit up to become a beacon of hope.
Today, they made the final stretch from Paraparaumu to Wellington Harbour at Frank Kitts Park before walking to the steps of Parliament.
King says the message is simple: "We want young people not to be shy, step up with your small problems with our small problems before it becomes a big problem, before it becomes a suicidal thought."
But for a young person in his first years of life and teenage years, 50 years seems such a long time in the future and if you're walking in pain, mental pain, physical pain, it can often be overwhelming.
So far since 2019, the New Zealand public have donated over $9 million to Gumboot Friday, which equates to about 65,000 free counselling sessions.
But costs are getting higher as more people become aware of the service.
Gumboot Friday isn't funded by the Government but relies on the contributions from Kiwis who want to support young people having free access to mental health services.
King said: "When we started in 2019 Gumboot Friday was costing $60,000 a month. Last month, it cost us $500,000 - $125,000 a week. I don't want people to think the problem has escalated because it hasn't, it's just that more people are aware of it, young people are aware of it, they know it works and they are using it and that's what we want to happen."
As of Tuesday night, the group had raised more than $500,000 to provide another 3750 counselling sessions.
King added: "We just want to get that message to our young people 'this too shall pass' - no matter what you're going through, 'this too shall pass'."
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