1. Gerardʼs Achievements, hobbies, interests
Sailing
I have done a fair bit of
sailing and coastal
navigation, chartered
some large yachts on a
few occasions in Sydney,
Whitsundays (Australia)
and Vava’u (Tonga). Also
grew up sailing dinghies
and doing some racing. I
love the sea - missing it
here in Beijing.
Fishing
We owned a boat in Tonga when we lived there and
did a lot of island hopping, camping and game
fishing. We caught fresh fish most weekends
(yellowfin, dogtooth, skipjack tuna, mahi mahi,
wahoo, barracuda). These fish were always big,
regularly up to 25kg (not pounds). The biggest fish I
caught was was a Black Marlin weighing in at 230kg
- it was huge. It would have been a record, except
a big tiger shark took a couple of bites out of it
just when
we were
pulling it in
to the boat.

2. Gerardʼs Achievements, hobbies, interests
Building
I have always enjoyed
building and carpentry. With
Penny, my wife, we fully
renovated two houses -
Queenslanders in Brisbane
before leaving for overseas.
In Tonga, I built a children’s
playground and rebuilt a
village medical clinic - these
projects were funded by the
Rotary Club of Nuku'alofa (I
was International Director). I
also built a terrific tree
house and a barbecue (to
cook up all that fresh
fish).
Chess
I enjoy playing chess when I get the chance. I would say that I am an intermediate
player and certainly no Grand Master, but I can give the average social player a run for
their money. It’s a great game for the brain and really excellent for young people. When
I taught in Vietnam, I spent most lunch times playing in the chess club, being beaten by
the champion boy from grade 6 on a regular basis!
Music
Of course, as well as being my job, I consider music one of my interests. I play all sorts
of flutes, alto, bass, recorders, piccolo, folk etc. I also play cello quite well, but
consider that my second instrument. Of course, with music we never stop learning and
improving our skills. When I was a student at the Conservatorium in Brisbane, I won a
number of big prizes for my playing. Twice, I won the James Carson Memorial Trophy
(the Queensland Champion Flutist). I also toured around Australia given concerts for the
Queensland Arts Council. I also travelled to the USA with my group, the Movellan Wind
Quintet and we won first prize in the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition
in Los Angeles (1987). This was a big deal because we were the first non-American group
to do so and we beat groups from all the top U.S. music schools including Juliard School
of Music.