THREE daughters have paid tribute to their father who “always wanted to go on an adventure” after he died while snorkelling in Australia.

John Bazzoni, 56, was visiting his eldest daughter in Australia where he went snorkelling off the coast of Dampier, in the western region of the Pilbara, on New Year’s Eve.

He got into trouble in the water and was pulled back onto the boat where he received medical treatment, but, despite the care he received, he became unresponsive and was declared dead when back on the shore.

While Mr Bazzoni’s cause of death remains undetermined and a report is being prepared for the coroner, his daughters have been told it was a likely heart attack or stroke in the water.

Daughters Nicola, Victoria and Amy said they are comforted by him dying “doing something that he loved”.

John was born in Hackney and moved down to Enham with his family by the age of five.

He attended Winton School, and lived in Charlton and Andover for the rest of his life. He was a regular at the Royal Oak Inn, in Charlton Road.

The painter and decorator became “well-known” in the community, running his own business named J.R. Bazzoni Decorators for around 20-25 years before shutting up shop in the early 2000s to work with other companies.

Victoria said: “He always used to say that he was ‘just a decorator’ and play himself down a lot but he should be remembered as someone who was an adventurer and curious about the world.

“He had so many other interests; he couldn’t just be defined by his job, he was a very intelligent man.”

His daughters said when they left the family home, “the world opened up to” their father with extra time and disposable income to spend and he had caught the travel bug after visiting Nicola in Australia three times since she moved out there in 2011, where she lives with her husband Sean and 16-month-old daughter Clara.

The keen golfer was taking a course in teaching English as a foreign language so he could go out to China to teach, as well as travel to other countries such as Thailand, having previously only left the UK once on a holiday to Benidorm in the 1970s.

Nicola said: “He was a really fun person to be around, he always wanted to go on an adventure.

“He really like to be outside, he really liked nature, he had never really seen much before being out of the UK but then he swam with whale sharks, with turtles; he did all sorts. He loved Australia; his house became a tribute to Australia with new bits such as kangaroo skin whenever he came back.”

The funeral is due to take place at Test Valley Crematorium on 23 January at 1.45pm and will be followed by a wake at the Royal Oak Inn.

The family are asking instead of flowers, mourners to make a donation in John’s name to Australian Wildlife Conservancy or the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Donations can be made through the funeral home A. H. Cheater.

Amy said: “We knew if dad was around, nothing was ever going to get too serious as he was fun. He was always the first one running up to the zipwire in the park.

“He was definitely a child at heart. He was going to make such an amazing grandad and for us we were really lucky he was our dad.”