AJ: Adrian Campbell outside work

Still from Shepparton

Adrian Campbell grew up on dirt bikes, river banks and campsites along the Murray, and the habits stuck. He still rides and still fishes whenever work allows, now as often on the Lombok coast as on a Victorian river. The south-west peninsula of Sekotong, where he spends much of his time, has calm bays, reef and the small southern Gili islands a short boat ride offshore. It is not a bad place to have ended up for someone who learned to fish on the Goulburn.

He is a father, and most of what he does outside work is done with family and a small circle of old friends, several of them from the Shepparton years.

The Bombers

He has barracked for Essendon since he was a boy and follows the AFL from Indonesia, which means a lot of games at strange hours and a working knowledge of which streaming service carries which match. He has not missed many. Ask him about the club's prospects and you will get an honest answer, which is a Shepparton trait.

Machines

He has loved machines since those first motorbikes. Over the years he has owned cars from Ferrari, Bentley, McLaren and a string of Porsches. He is not precious about them; they get driven. He is just as happy on a boat, fishing or cruising with friends and family, and the water is where he goes to stop thinking about land titles.

Elsewhere

He has lived in Asia for about 15 years and speaks Indonesian fluently, which he learned running a hotel in Kuta at 22. He travels widely across the region for work and for the pleasure of it, likes film and good food, and has a weakness for new places that are not yet on anyone's list, which is roughly how he found Sekotong.

The novel

He is writing a novel set in the world of property selling. He has, as he puts it, unusual source material. No publication date is promised.

Photographs on this page will be added as they are supplied. None will show children's faces.