Joshua Connell lived for the adventure.
As well as being a loyal, caring, kind, thoughtful and funny son and brother who loved footy, it's how his family want to remember him.
He was 19 years old and determined to soak up every life experience he could in a formative gap year before he took up a landscaping apprenticeship.
He had just come back with some mates from working at a banana, coffee and avocado farm in the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland run by a relative of a family friend before he was headed out on a trip to Thailand.
It was on that trip in Phuket that a tragic accident led to Josh's premature passing.
Now his family are dealing with the unthinkable task of bringing back their son to lay him to rest in Canberra.
"In this gap year, he grew from a boy to a man. He was a larrikin boy, then became a responsible but still fun-loving man," his step-father Steve Miller said.
"He was carefree as you could see.
"His last video ... he was still being adventurous.
"Everyone in their life, dumb luck has saved them at some point. Dumb luck deserted him in that moment."
On more than one occasion growing up Josh showed his undeniable fearless nature.
There was the time he climbed his cubby house and suffered a leg break his doctor had never seen before.
When he was in preschool he ended up with a Harry Potter scar on his forehead from a nasty fall off some equipment.
And one time a branch broke as he climbed a backyard tree, though he somehow escaped with just a minor ankle injury when his foot got caught wedged in the trunk.
"He looked at anything with an attitude that his body could do this," his mother Michelle told The Canberra Times on Sunday.
Josh was not an adrenaline seeker though.
As his step-father Steve clarified: "Adventurous Josh was not reckless Josh".
He was simply a ball of energy with a naive innocence.
"From the moment he was born, I remember his eyes looking up at me and there was that bond straight away. Every moment that I've spent with him was just pure joy," Josh's father David said.
"He was super excited to go off to Phuket."
The family have been overwhelmed by the support shown since Josh's death.
A Go Fund Me page named "Bring Josh Home" that was set up by a friend to assist with the hefty costs involved in the next stages since the teenager's passing, has shown how much he meant to those around him.
"It's blown my mind," Michelle said. "Even without it, we were getting him home.
"It would have been a major debt, but this just means that we can do it and not have that for the rest of our lives. I'm so grateful."
Josh's father David was not as shocked, having known the impact he had on others, whether it was at the footy club, church, with his friends or his siblings, Caleb, Talon, Torkeiah, Trae and Jasmine.
"It's really not surprised me. Everywhere he went he just shone," David said.
"He was just very open-hearted his whole life, had lots of love and shared that with everybody else around him."
As tributes from the Belconnen Magpies reflected in Saturday's moving display across the entire club's fixtures, recognising and honouring Josh, Michelle agreed, he was beloved by many.
"I don't think he had anybody he didn't like and I don't think anybody ever met him and didn't like him," she said.
