“If I am afraid of anything, it is not using my time well. Life is finite and I believe we have a responsibility to contribute to our society—to do what is right. So, I am afraid of wasting the time I have and not leaving a helpful mark. It drives me in everything I do. All my career choices, all my life choices have been about that—about contributing. I think, humans have a profound ability to make their world better and more just, but we have to consciously do it. So, that’s what I fear—taking my eye off that imperative and wasting time.
We were living in Adelaide. We were running the Asia-pacific arm of an international conservation organisation, Geoff and I both. I was also doing a lot of international negotiation work and travelling huge amounts in and out of the country, probably 15 times a year. We were exhausted. Although Geoff and I don’t do holidays, we came here for a break. By the end of the first day we had decided we were moving to the island. Life felt so human-scale here. It looked like a community that was still connected to the land—that was important to both of us. We were drawn to that because we could see that lasting for our lifetime.”