It’s not often I get to write a letter directly to you and say thank you for your support. I really couldn’t achieve anything without you. The opportunity to share travel experiences, develop stories and write blogs, leads to the books I produce. The books then lead to conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More, which has led to me leading a ground-breaking project that I can tell you more about later.
It’s been a busy few weeks, so I’m writing mostly to tell you a little about what’s been going on.
Book production
Most importantly, I’ve been working with my editor and designer on a new book. It’s called How to Survive the Next 100 Years: Lessons from Nature and will be out in May. Presales will begin in March though.
It’s a hectic time, as I’m getting final copy-edits back, which then have to be laid out, before heading to the indexer. I employ someone specifically to go through the entire book line by line and index everything. The final proof read has just happened, so the next stage is finalising back cover quotes and then printing! All up it’s taken about a year to produce … I won’t tell you how much it’s cost!
But it is a fun read, quite different to my first book. You can take a peek at the cover and read the blurb on the Wildiaries Publising Page here.
I’ve also just finished another book called Pindito. This is a souvenir picture book really only designed for people who have travelled on the ship. When we were in the Banda Sea last, I took the chance to photograph behind the scenes. I particularly enjoyed indulging my photography skills in a way I don’t often get to. I sound like a nerd but I had forgotten how much I love using my Sigma Pro wide angle with a flash off the camera.
It’s also full of stories about the region and the vessel’s fabulous history.
First Coral Triangle Cruise of 2025
It was a lot of fun to write the Pindito book and I’m going armed with a few copies to Bali next week, where I’m meeting 16 guests before flying to Sorong in West Papua. We are then taking a cruise through Raja Ampat and down to Misool.
I’m looking forward to spending time with the crew again, plus a few people I’ve travelled with before. But we’ve also got lots of new people on board who are sure to have a marvellous time immersing themselves in the coral wonderland – I know I keep saying this, but it’s more amazing than you can ever really imagine. I will try to send regular updates as we go.
Since New Year
Looking back, I’m not sure how I managed to get so much done in January. My partner is a school teacher, so I tend to take some time off to be with her. Rather than heading overseas, we stayed close to home and explored. She’s from Western Victoria, so we got to head down to Portland for a few days.
We had a lovely snorkel at Portland. This Weedy Sea Dragon was in such shallow water next to the Lee Breakwater. We also got to see Varied Catsharks, which are really pretty. And, the water was unusually warm for down there too!
On the way down we dropped in to see an old friend, Lizzie Corke of the Conservation Ecology Centre. Their new Wildlife Wonders just outside Apollo Bay was a lovely way to spend an evening – seeing animals semi-wild, like this cute Long-nosed Potoroo. I only just published that article, so you may have seen it already.
Naturally, much of the rest of my January has been spent snorkelling around Melbourne, when the weather was suitable. If you follow my snorkelling pages, you’ll have already seen all the posts.
Launching Restore the Bay
Which brings me to the final piece of work which I hope to tell you more about in due course. Last year we won a grant to start a community project, with an incredibly talented team of conservationists. In the coming weeks, we’ll be developing something called a socio-ecological modelThe process, either mathematically or in the human brain, of creating an internal version of something that we can refer to, to better understand how it functions and our place within. Scientific modelling is where we take the best knowledge we have and build a version of what will happen, if we assume certain parameters. For example, we might model More. It will be the first of its kind in Australia at least, designed to give communities a way to develop actions to protect their own environment. It’s been about a 3-year process to get the project underway and now it’s happening, it is very exciting. For reasons I’ll explain more later, this will change the way we all can have a proper say in the future of our own living environment.
Sorry I can’t elaborate more at this time!
Which brings me to the end of a rather long letter. Thanks for reading. I’ll stay in touch while I’m away and look forward to sharing more with you in 2025. I can’t quite believe how much has happened just in the first month. What will the rest of the year hold in store? I can’t wait to find out.
Take care and thanks again for your support : )
Best wishes,
Simon.
