This episode comes to you from west coast of Sicily, near Siracusa. Apologies in advance for the sound quality. This is what happens when you try and make a podcast, on deck, while you're sailing, with an engine going...We're chatting southern Sicily, Greek ruins, cloud inversion, Sam and Jim.

Episode Three- Crossing from Sardinia to Sicily, anchors, holding tanks and pistachio gelato.

This episode comes to you from TORRE DELLE STELLE - Tower of the Stars 15nm east of Cagliari on Sardinia.

WELCOME TO MATILDA RADIO a weekly podcast from two mad Australians who gave up living the norm to attempt to live the dream. This episode comes to you from the south coast of Sardinia, under the Roman ruins of NORA. Mark and Sal introduce you to MATILDA their 47 foot S&S Swan while chatting about their five year plan (or eight year, or two year...)

If you’re out and about on a Sunday Morning, and Radio National is feeling a little too highbrow for your mood, and Macca’s red-necked intolerance is sounding very 1980’s, and the adds on Sports SEN are driving you mad, then flick over to Triple R’s Radio Marinara.

Last month the niche world of wooden boats made a fleeting apperance in the mainstream media with almost an hour of conversation on ABC Radio Sydney’s nightlife program. And what’s affirming for us is that the participants are all regular contributors to this humble journal.

And bear in mind that in 1987 the ABC famously cost eight cents a day. Adjusted for inflation and population growth, the ABC today costs each Australian just half that amount. Since the mid-1980s the real funding has decreased by 28% or $336 million. This is 34% lower than the average of 18 comparable international public broadcasters.

Steve's approach to minimalist sailing, and the challenges of getting off the grid, should inspire anyone with big adventuring dreams and a small budget.

Imagine discovering a log that had just floated down a Tasmanian River in a storm and building an ocean going yacht out of it. Not just any log, but a rare Huon Pine log, felled 40 years earlier from a tree estimated at 1,000 years old.

They were a series of illustrated samurai manuscripts detailing an eleven-day cross-cultural encounter between locals and the crew of a mysterious foreign ship - a meeting which took place in 1830, at the height of Japan’s isolation period.

Tom’s style is quiet and laid back, but he lures you into his world, speaking in what I imaging is soft Connecticut accent, with knowledge and authority on the world of East Coast American Classic Yacht Sailing.