Dad’s day out:

Catching a wave, wetting a line, making music or just hanging out – Samantha Trenoweth discovers how five of our favourite dads celebrate Father’s Day.

we celebrate Father’s Day with five Aussie dads and their kids

Michael Klim with Stella, 11, Rocco, nine, and Frankie, six.

Michael Klim and his three children, Stella, Rocco and Frankie, like to make a splash. “We always spend our fun times around water,” Michael says, “either at the pool or the beach, just enjoying each other’s company and swimming or surfing or snorkelling. Living in Bali means the weather is perfect for that.” He rates a recent family holiday on the Balinese island of Nusa Lembongan (a renowned surf spot) as one of the best times of his life.

“I learnt from my dad,” he says, “that family comes first and that you have to make sacrifices to ensure the best for your children’s future.” The former Olympic swimmer and co-founder of Milk & Co skincare, separated from his wife and business partner, Lindy, early in 2016.

Since then, he and Lindy have been living separately in Bali and sharing care of their kids. There have been challenges along the way, but Michael says he and Lindy have been committed to putting the children first.

When the kids are with them, Michael says, he and his new girlfriend, fashion designer Desiree Deravi, do their best to make sure they “have a very stable and loving home environment”. Open communication and lots of love have been the cornerstones of his parenting philosophy. “We’re close with the kids and we speak to them about everything,” he says. “Above all else, they have unconditional love.”

Mark Beretta with Ava, 13, and Dan, 10.

Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta grew up waterskiing on Victoria’s Barwon River and he still loves messing about in boats, now with his kids, Ava and Dan.

“Waterskiing was my dad’s passion,” Mark says. “We were the only family in Geelong that waterskied year round. Even in the freezing cold of winter, we were out on the river. People would drive by and look at us as if we were mad – and they were probably right.

“My dad and my granddad played a big part in my growing up. My grandparents lived in the house behind us so I was lucky because, if Dad was at work, I could run around and grab Granddad, and we would have great adventures.”

Mark loved being a father from the get-go. “The day they were born was magical. I remember every second in the delivery room, and holding both kids for the first time.”

The biggest challenge, he says, was that they didn’t come with an instruction manual. “Fatherhood is the greatest, most complicated gift you can be given, but there’s nothing to tell you how to do it,” he says, laughing. “I’ve relied heavily on the values my parents taught me: learning to treat others well. To be generous and kind – they’re the most important things.”

Josh Kennedy with Emilio, two.

Josh Kennedy is a third-generation AFL star. His father and grandfather both played for Hawthorn and Josh is captain of the Sydney Swans. Then, two years ago, Josh became a dad. His son, Emilio, is already a footy fan – he loves cheering from the stands at Swans games and pinching his dad’s hot chips after the match – but Josh says there’ll be no pressure on him to carry on the family tradition. “Of course,” says Josh, “it would be fantastic if he enjoyed it and wanted to do it, and was doing it on his own terms, but I wouldn’t want him to do it for any other reason.”

Emilio and his mum, Ana, spent six weeks in Colombia, visiting her parents, at the start of this year’s footy season and it coincided with a rough patch for the Swans. “We didn’t win a game in six rounds,” says Josh, laughing, “so now Ana and Emilio think they’re my lucky charms.”

And how does Josh plan to celebrate Father’s Day? “With a bit of luck,” he says, “I’ll be recovering from a finals victory.”

Troy Cassar-Daley with Clay, 19, and Jem, 16.

This Father’s Day, country music legend Troy Cassar-Daley will be slow-cooking a beef brisket. It’s a sure-fire way to lure home his son, Clay, who recently moved into his first share household. After the brisket, the family is likely to sit around the kitchen table and play music long into the night.

Troy and his wife, the singer

Laurel Edwards, “have never wanted to push the kids, but I love that they play”, he says. “Jem has been learning piano since she was five and Clay has been playing guitar since he was 10.” Troy is a proud dad. “They’re good human beings,” he says. “They care about other people. That’s all you can hope for as a parent.”

Troy was the only child of divorced parents, but he never felt like the product of a broken home. “I had a stack of contact with my father,” he says of his dad, who was Maltese-Australian and drove a council truck. “I remember him getting in his old panel van, driving from Sydney to Grafton and taking me to the Gold Coast in my holidays.

“Then there was Mum, a Bundjalung woman, and all my uncles and aunties and cousins. In Indigenous families, we grow up very close, so I always felt like I was a part of one big loving family.”

Osher Günsberg with Georgia, 13.

Osher Günsberg remembers when he was transformed into a stepdad. “One day, Georgia was my girlfriend’s kid.

She was a cool kid who I liked to dance with around the living room,” says The

Bachelor Australia host. “Then, the next day, I woke up and she had become this person who I would do anything to protect, who I would jump in front of a train for. From one day to the next, it just exploded in me.”

Since then, the stepfather role has been a work in progress, explored on afternoon walks and runs in the park with the family canine, Frankie. “There are a squillion ways you can get being a stepdad wrong and fewer ways to get it right,” Osher admits.

The rewards are immense when they come, however. Osher will never forget Georgia’s gift when he married her mother, Audrey Griffen, in December last year. “She choreographed an incredible dance routine to Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine, and she performed it as we came into the room. Then she choreographed the first dance and gave the most beautiful speech.

She is a very clever human being.” AWW