Madeleine Gasparinatos (Class of 2002) from City to Cradoc
Posted on May 6, 2025
Madeleine Gasparinatos (2002) was a Sydney-based writer and editor for 15 years before a job offer while holidaying in Tasmania saw her move back to the island in 2019. Now living on 32 acres with her partner Lachie and their two children, Archie, 7, and Otto, 4, she co-hosts the Avant Gardeners podcast.
What’s life like?
I work from home in Cradoc in the Huon Valley where my partner and I have two young kids, 32 acres and a bunch of animals – cattle, sheep, chickens and the odd tiger snake. In one sense, it’s 31.75 acres more than we need, but at the same time, some of my favourite weekends are the ones where I don’t leave the property. We have a fruit orchard – there are apples, pears, cherries, a quince tree and a bunch of stonefruit – and I’ve planted a grove of about 40 olive trees. We’re forever tending the garden.
What’s your focus, professionally?
I split my time between Mobble [Madeleine is head of marketing at the livestock management app], freelance projects [across media and events] and co-hosting Avant Gardeners. The podcast is ostensibly about gardening, but it’s also about a good drink and great books. We have plenty of enthusiasm but not a great deal of horticultural know-how, so we interview guests to learn as we go.
How did it start?
My co-host Emily Allen and I became great friends in the garden of a mutual friend, Pip. When our kids were all under 12 months old, Pip would invite us over for coffee in her stunning backyard on the outskirts of Cygnet. We’d inevitably start talking about gardening and sometimes end up with an Aperol Spritz in hand.
When Pip moved to Victoria in 2021, we missed those catch-ups. Emily and I would follow Pip around the garden, taking notes to absorb as much knowledge as we could. Like all podcasts seem to start, we had that classic thought: This should be a podcast. We mulled it over, and the idea didn’t go away.
Eventually, we thought, Let’s just record one episode – we’ll probably never publish it. And if we did, we thought: Emily has five siblings, so we’d at least have five listeners. But one day, in 2023, we just pressed “Publish”. I went out for dinner that night, and when I came home I thought I’d just check the stats and saw we’d debuted in the Apple Charts. I thought I’d been hacked!
Why do you think it’s popular?
If I had to guess why people connect with it, I’d say it’s because we’re so unpolished. We talk about our failures, we make mistakes all the time, but we’re giving it all a go. And I leave every interview inspired and wanting to get back into the garden immediately.
We’ve been lucky enough to interview amazing people including Sadie Chrestman and Matthew Evans (Fat Pig Farm and Gourmet Farmer), Charles Dowding (known as the father of no-dig gardening), Milkwood Permaculture’s Kirsten Bradley and Compostable Kate.
Did The Friends’ School influence your approach to work or other aspects of life?
In a practical sense, everything I know about editing a podcast came directly from the Year 10 Video Production course I took. But more broadly, I loved the balance at Friends’. There was structure, but you could find your own groove within that. There was a huge amount of mutual respect between staff and students. We were treated as young adults, trusted to make the right decisions and do the work when it mattered, but were supported when needed. The academic side of things was important, but it was never presented as the only thing that mattered.
What are your strongest memories of the School?
It’s only now that I have kids that I truly appreciate any staff member who takes children on camp, but outdoor ed was such a highlight. Hiking to the top of kunanyi and spending the night in tents at Junction Cabin in Year 5 felt magical. As did South Cape Rivulet camp. When I completed the South Coast Track last year, I had flashbacks of playing “marks up” footy in the river with my Year 7 pals.
I’m often nostalgic for 2001, when I was in Year 11. In my memory, it was a special cohort. I was deeply involved in rowing and, being such an intense sport, it helped form strong friendships across different year levels with plenty of weekends away together.
I also remember the slow burn that was Meeting House. When I joined Friends’ in Year 5, and even into high school, I didn’t fully appreciate it. A group of us would try to make each other laugh – highly disruptive I’m sure. But as we got older and navigated challenges in and out of school, Meeting House became something to look forward to. It was teaching us mindfulness before that was a buzzword. I vividly remember the anticipation of our final Meeting House in Year 12 – the nervous energy, the eagerness. There were a lot of tears from so many people.
