Sydney Morning Herald - Latest News
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Riley Wilson
I’m crouching over a rockpool.
asserted
I → crouch → rockpool
A mangled, tumbled conch is thrust into my sightline.
asserted
conch → tumble → sightline
My father looks pleased with his find, a sunbleached coil that barely resembles the shell it once was.
asserted
it → look → shell
“I’ve always preferred the inside of shells to the outside,” Dad says, turning it over.
asserted
Dad → prefer → it
“Isn’t it incredible that a creature builds all of this around themselves?
asserted
creature → build → themselves
We keep combing the pocked, tessellated shore of Picnic Island, a one-hectare seabird rookery and private rustic luxury escape a kilometre offshore from Coles Bay on Tasmania’s east coast.
asserted
We → keep → coast
Dad gently picks up a small crab that sits unfazed in his hand until it scurries away, then collects fractures of a sea urchin dome smashed between cairns.
asserted
it → pick → cairns
The last time we were in Coles Bay together was over two decades ago, when we visited with my mother and American aunt.
asserted
we → visit → mother
Dad was still in the navy, kept away for long stretches on ships as big as small towns.
asserted
Dad → keep → towns
This morning, we watched seals from leather benches on a gun-metal- grey Van Diemen speedboat with Sam Graudins, Picnic Island’s adept and accommodating host, before mooring at one of two timber jetties on the island, which hosts up to eight people in all-inclusive comfort.
asserted
which → watch → comfort
Dad joined the military at 15 and traversed the globe for 23 years.
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Dad → join → years
He and Mom, who left rural Illinois at 17 and worked around the world before I was born, taught me how to travel.
asserted
I → leave → me
Dad sent postcards from Vietnam, Hong Kong and Europe.
asserted
Dad → send → Vietnam
He took us on adventures near and far, and impressed upon me the importance of packing an extra zip-lock into my bag, turning my undies inside out when delays became days, and unashamedly pocketing an apple from the hotel buffet for mid-afternoon fuel.
asserted
delays → take → fuel
By the time I left home at 17, I’d been to over a dozen countries, typically with a carry-on, surplus socks and Dad a few paces ahead of me.
asserted
I → leave → me
On the island, bar the boat squeaking against rubber buoys or the occasional helicopter flying above en route to Wineglass Bay, our peace is uninterrupted.
asserted
peace → squeak → Bay
It’s Dad, me and the penguins for six rounds of cards, a deep-dive into the state of the world, and stretches of companionable fireside silence.
asserted
It → ’ → silence
By the time I left home at 17, I’d been to over a dozen countries, typically with a carry-on, surplus socks and Dad a few paces ahead of me.
asserted
I → leave → me
I wake to blindingly crisp skies.
asserted
I → wake → skies
In the communal lodge, known as the Birdhouse due to its elevation and large louvred windows, I make coffee for Dad and tea for me and stroll to his newly built one-bedroom suite (my studio suite, designed within the structure of the island’s old shacks, is on the other side of the island).
asserted
suite → know → island
True to form, Dad is already dressed and prepared for the day.
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Dad → dress → day
We loop the walking track before breakfast, marvelling at the pink granite Hazards sparkling in the morning sun.
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We → loop → sun
This view alone could surely convince a jet-setting traveller to purchase an island while on holidays – exactly how Picnic Island’s latest ownership resulted.
uncertain
ownership → convince → holidays
Dad tops homemade chai Bircher with berries while I juice carrots, oranges and apples.
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I → top → carrots
He’s sliced blueberries on top of my muesli, like he did with grapes for me as a kid.
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he → slice → kid
Some things, wonderfully, never change.
asserted
things → change → ?
Our plans, however, do.
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plans → do → ?
Sam had scheduled us in for a whisky tasting, winery visit and guided tour of a local oyster lease, but we forgo the tasting for a trek to the rocky, peach-coloured cove of Sleepy Bay in Freycinet National Park.
asserted
we → schedule → Park
Studying lichen-covered rock faces and the ocean’s surface, Dad spots textures invisible to me.
asserted
Dad → study → me
That’s how you see things, Riles,” he says.
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he → ’ → things
“See its soul?” I quip.
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I → see → soul
He replies with grave seriousness.
asserted
He → reply → seriousness
After lunch at Devil’s Corner winery, we head to Melshell Oyster Shack in Dolphin Sands, where owner Cassie Melrose proffers a chain-mail glove and her knife.
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Melrose → head → glove
I owe my obsession with oysters to Dad, who would hoist me onto his shoulders for jaunts through Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, and Dad’s beloved uncle, who taught me to love the taste of raw oysters.
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who → owe → oysters
I shuck the final bivalve and pass it to Dad, who declines.
asserted
who → shuck → Dad
“I know how much you love them.
asserted
you → know → them
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This picnic table, surrounded by discarded shells, reminds me of a lunch in France.
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table → surround → France
Driving through the countryside, we paused next to a pétanque court.
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we → drive → court
Dad sliced tomatoes and fat burrata with a pocketknife he kept in his sock while my brother picked leaves off a basil plant we’d bought and Mom tore bread.
asserted
Mom → slice → bread
The sun-kissed memory remains one of my fondest.
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memory → kiss → fondest
…and 9 more, not listed.
