Hunt, Fish, Grow, Cook: The Ultimate Guide to Coastal Self-Sufficiency with Yianni Barthelmess
The Illawarra coastline is world-famous for its raw, rugged beauty—a spectacular stretch of New South Wales where the sheer sandstone escarpment drops directly into a roaring Pacific Ocean. But for those who look closely at our local waters and fertile coastal soils, this region offers something far deeper than scenery. It provides a direct lifeline to a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle.
On the latest episode of the Current Conversations Podcast, host Kurtis Ocean paddled out with local diver, spearfishing enthusiast, and organic gardener Yianni Barthelmess—known to his thriving community as @huntfishgrowcook. As an expert in New South Wales South Coast harvesting, Yianni doesn't just talk about sustainability; he lives it out every single day in our local backyard. His foundational philosophy, "Grow Your Own Adventure," serves as an inspiring blueprint for any South Coast local looking to sever ties with the commercial grocery supply chain and reconnect with the land and sea.
Subsurface Mindfulness: Spearfishing the South Coast
For Yianni, the "Ocean to Plate" lifestyle is an absolute reality. This philosophy centres on sourcing food directly from wild and home-grown environments—specifically through selective spearfishing and organic vegetable gardening—to minimise reliance on commercial supermarkets and maximise nutritional self-sufficiency.
On the South Coast, this practice begins deep beneath the surface of the ocean. Spearfishing along the storm-prone Illawarra coastline isn't a mindless activity; it is a highly disciplined, deeply respectful interaction with the marine ecosystem. If you are looking for the perfect entry point to experience this firsthand, Bass Point Reserve in Shellharbour offers protected, rugged entry sites with an expansive marine landscape that allows you to practise the patience free-diving demands.
Unlike commercial trawling or passive rod-and-reel fishing, spearfishing is completely selective. As a free-diver, you submerge on a single breath of air, quiet your heart rate, and blend into the underwater environment. You observe the local fish habitats and target only mature, legally compliant species. There is zero accidental bycatch. If you don't intend to feed your family with it that night, you don't release the spear.
Navigating our local waters takes immense skill. The undercurrents around our jagged reefs—especially the notorious wash near Chapman Oval at Blowhole Point in Kiama—require divers to maintain complete presence of mind. Free-diving acts as a form of subsurface meditation: you are hyper-aware of your lung capacity, the surge of the water against the rock shelves, and the behaviour of the marine life around you. It forces you to operate entirely in a flow state.
Cultivating Abundance: The Backyard Veggie Patch
When Yianni steps back onto dry land, his focus shifts from the ocean depths to his thriving home garden. He approaches his backyard patch with the exact same passion, grit, and experimental mindset that he brings to his diving.
Building an abundant edible garden in the Illawarra presents a unique set of geographic challenges. If you are setting up a patch in the northern suburbs near Bulli or Austinmer, you have to work with the rich, moisture-retaining earth of the escarpment while keeping an eye on the afternoon shade. To start a successful organic coastal garden here, growers must understand how to navigate:
Salt Spray: Properties close to the water must contend with heavy coastal winds carrying airborne salinity. Protecting soil beds from salty ocean air using natural windbreaks and choosing wind-tolerant crops is essential.
Localised Gusts: Sudden weather changes, like our intense southerly busters whipping around the cliffs near Stanwell Park, can easily batter vulnerable, tall-growing crops.
Soil Variation: Moving from sandy beach soils down near Windang to the clay-heavy escarpment earth further inland requires careful management. Imbalances must be mitigated by conditioning the earth with rich organic compost to correct sand or clay issues.
Yianni’s garden thrives because he works with these elements rather than trying to overpower them. By focusing on soil health, heavy organic composting, and selecting climate-resilient heirloom varieties, his patch produces a diverse bounty of fresh produce year-round.
More importantly, the garden is a family workspace. Yianni uses the space to get his kids actively involved in digging, planting, and harvesting, transforming the concept of healthy eating from a strict household rule into an interactive outdoor adventure.
The Co-Op Lifestyle: Building a Knowledge Base
At its core, true sustainability on the South Coast relies heavily on a community co-op mindset. Whether it's sharing tips on local dive safety, trading seeds that thrive in coastal soil, or passing down the ancestral knowledge of how to properly clean and cook a fresh catch, local mentorship is what keeps our regional culture alive.
You see this tight-knit, collaborative spirit everywhere across the region, from the active groups of free-divers swapping terrain insights to the casual catch-ups over a flat white at Lighthouse Café overlooking Wollongong Harbour. It’s about building a collective intelligence where neighbours look out for neighbours.
This collective intelligence is exactly what the Current Conversations Podcast is all about. Hosted by Curtis Ocean, it is an Illawarra-based podcast focusing on local personalities, creative industries, and regional events shaping the South Coast community. By sharing these stories, we can showcase what it means to look after our backyard. When we involve the next generation in hunting, fishing, growing, and cooking their own food, we instil a permanent respect for the land and sea. It changes how they treat the environment, ensuring the prosperity of the Illawarra coastline for decades to come.
Catch the Conversation
To hear Yianni break down his exact step-by-step methods for tracking local tides, safeguarding your dive crew, or turning a patch of coastal grass into a high-yield veggie farm, listen to our full interview, "Ocean to Plate // Yianni Barthelmess".
You can also keep up with Yianni's daily sustainable food journeys and garden updates on Instagram by following his official handle, @huntfishgrowcook.