Liz sailing in Sydney Harbour in a 1999 Sydney-Hobart race warmup with Derek, her sister Tamzin’s husband
Liz’s crew for the 1999 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, all wearing PNG Christmas shirts
then to POM in the early 90s, by which time Liz was 11 and went to school at Ela Beach Primary (now Ela Murray) before moving on to POM
cats with her husband Derek Hunter, and remains closely linked to the RPYC, serving on its executive committee, behind the scenes, and in roles such as race director of numerous international Hobie championships and the final Coral Sea Classic yacht race from Townsville to Port Moresby in 2001. In 2009 Tamzin was awarded the club’s highest sailing honour, the David Purdy Trophy and was yachtsman of the year in 2010. She has also led Team PNG to a number of Commonwealth and Pacific Games. After moving to Port Moresby, life for the Wardley family, much like their time in Rabaul and Lae,
buried in the garden – one of the many relics left behind after the war – to explode. Fortunately, the family had left eight years before. “When we were there, the bomb just looked like a rock in the middle of the garden,” Liz said. “We used to play around it, not knowing!” The family moved to Lae first,
International School (POMIS). The family had shrunk to just Liz and Tiffany, as the older two by then had left for university in Australia – although Tamzin returned over 30 years ago and has made such a contribution to sport in PNG she was honoured with an MBE in 2020. Like Liz, Tamzin is an accomplished sailor and racer of Hobie
Right: Liz with her beloved mascots, Barney, the purple dinosaur, who has accompanied her on many sailing exploits, and newer addition Havi (short for Javier, he’s Spanish), a crocodile who came as Liz’s pillow in the cabin but ended up being a wedge to stop her from being rolled about by the waves. On the far right is the shop window in Spain where Liz first spied Havi, looking sad with his nose pressed up against the glass. Now he is a world traveller!
VOLUME 39 2024
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