21 Jul 2025

Kate Halfpenny on the downsides of a mid-life beach move

From Nine To Noon, 10:05 am on 21 July 2025
Image of Kate Halfpenny and book.

Photo: Supplied: Simon & Schuster

Australian writer Kate Halfpenny spent four decades telling other people's stories before she told her own.

She set out in journalism while still a teenager, and was a columnist and sections editor at the age of twenty.

She worked the tabloids, became a feature writer and eventually the executive editor at WHO magazine.

All while raising three kids. Then came redundancy. A mortgage that seemed insurmountable. And Covid. So Kate and her husband Chris made a snap decision to quit Melbourne for a beach lifestyle - expecting sun and fun.

But instead, they wound up having to face Chris' alcoholism head on.

Kate has packaged up her experiences in a humour-filled memoir called Boogie Wonderland.

She's also a weekly columnist for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald and runs a content creation business called Bad Mother Media.