Coasting: A Sailing and Dining Odyssey Along Australian Shores is the sixth photographic coffee table book Rob and Rosemary Peterswald have published. It is a salute to Australia's wonderful east coast - from the southern tip of Tasmania to Cape York in far north Queensland - its sparkling sailing waters, fine seafood dining and joy of life.
The magnificent East Coast of Australia stretches from the cold and windy tip of Southern Tasmania, in the latitudes of the 'Roaring Forties', to the tropical Torres Strait Islands north of Cape York Peninsula. No other nation possesses such a coastline. Its length and diversity of climate, oceanography, topography and beauty are unmatched. Some years ago, Rob and Rosemary Peterswald set off to sail their ketch, Oceania, from the bottom to the top.
They planned to follow in the wakes of Abel Tasman, Matthew Flinders, George Bass, James Cook and many other famous seamen - some of the greatest explorers the world has seen - and decided that Port Davey on the West Coast of Tasmania, where the European exploration of the East Coast of Australia had begun nearly four centuries ago, was the logical place for them to begin their voyage. Apart from the sailing and the history, there was another aspect of the coastline that they planned to enjoy. Perhaps nowhere in the world is there such a fusion of cuisines and wines, and such a wealth of seafood, from the clear cold waters of the deep south, to the sumptuous fish of the Coral Sea.
The voyage left them with the memories of very many rich experiences that they recorded in their now out-of-print book, Beyond the Shore. Thanks to the advances in digital photography, and the vast changes in the culinary scene, Rob and Rosemary now tell their story anew in the beautiful, sumptuous book Coasting.
