Working out his frustrations in the gold deposits of Burnakura or Gullewa seemed a sensible rehabilitation process for arguably New Zealand's highest profile non-performer in China.
After all, the desolation of outback WA could hardly be further removed from the pristine waters of Lake Karapiro, Rowing New Zealand's headquarters.
Trott did attend the Olympics, but only on the periphery of the New Zealand rowing team as a reserve.
The Ashburton 23-year-old's highly-publicised demotion for a resurgent Rob Waddell was one of the hard luck stories before the Games -- and one Trott took time to reconcile with.
Once Waddell, the single sculls champion at the Sydney Olympics eight years prior, decided his heart was still in the sport it was Trott who had to surrender his berth in the men's double.
Waddell and Nathan Cohen eventually finished fourth in Beijing, as Trott looked on wondering what the future held.
A career change across the Tasman appealed for the part time digger driver.
His Olympic dream might have evaporated, but another remained.
"I've always loved machinery since I was a little kid, it was a childhood dream to get into that.
"I was going to get anything I could find over there."
A mate had a few contacts in the local engineering trade -- but the economic downturn and contact from friends closer to home convinced Trott to stick with rowing.
"I was going to throw it all in but a few of the rowers had a word with me.
"Nathan was one of them. I talked to them on the phone when I was back home chopping firewood for the old man."
It did not take serious arm twisting, but the anguish of missing Beijing still scratches the surface.
"It was tough. You're out on the water (after Waddell and Cohen were confirmed) and you're literally training for nothing.
"I was doing the same training as everyone else but you don't get to race.
"Training over the winter almost finished me off."
But eight weeks back home and the realisation mines were downsizing saw him reunited with Cohen in the New Year.
Waddell is not officially done with rowing yet, but in the meantime Trott is happy to be back in tandem with the bloke he finished a surprising sixth at the 2007 world championships in Munich.
A trawl down the Oberschleisshein course in Germany between June 19-21 marks their return to competition and is the first of four regattas a remodelled New Zealand team will embark on over the next three months.
After the World Cup leg in Munich the elite and under-23 squads contest the Henley regatta in England (July 1-5) before returning to the Cup circuit in Lucerne, Switzerland (July 10-12).
The world championships in Poznan, Poland, between August 23-30 is the focal point.
Trott was handed his gear on Wednesday and was looking forward to next Friday's departure.
"It's good to get my singlet back after a frustrating winter last year, missing out on the double to Rob and the hoo-ha that went on.
"It's definitely good to be back in, things seem to be going pretty well too."
"After four or five hundred metres everything seemed to gel and we were back into it," Trott said of that reunion on Karapiro in January.
