I’ve come to expect AIS reception to be in the same practical range as VHF reception and have been more than happy to see ships up to about 36 miles away. When I recently picked up ships more than 200 miles away, surprise was not enough, and I had to resort to astonishment (to quote the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)!

Not sure what happened: an atmospheric anomaly, reflecting the VHF signal back, or is there some form of repeater being used around the Sydney/Newcastle area?