The Dutch escapee has a century of experiences and encounters that span some of human history's darkest stages.

His recently published book, Luck Through Adversity, details Mr Zeeman's plethora of stories throughout his life that lead him to the Peacehaven Village in Newstead.

Mr Zeeman was undertaking mandated national service in Holland when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940.

Despite declaring its neutrality, the Netherlands was invaded simultaneously with Belgium and Luxembourg by Germany.

After four days of conflict, which included the 'Rotterdam Blitz' in which hundreds of Dutch civilians were killed by Germans, the Netherlands surrendered.

"It was hopeless, what does a small country do? The Dutch wouldn't spend money on a lot of hardware to protect themselves," Mr Zeeman said.

"Little Holland wasn't going to spend billions defending itself when we had a neighbour (France) who spent perhaps $10 billion and gets overrun in one or two days."

Like many Dutch men and women, Mr Zeeman and his friend decided they needed to get out of the country given the German occupation.

While many attempted to flee the country via the English Channel, Mr Zeeman and his friend acquired forged German papers from the Underground and travelled through France to Spain and Portugal in what was called the Dutch-Paris Escape Line.

Mr Zeeman said that on the way, he and his friend sat amongst German military personnel, overhearing conversations and complaints about the war.

During a stopover in Paris however, Mr Zeeman was apprehended by German officers, one of whom didn't believe his documents to be real.

"The problem was that one German didn't believe my German papers, the other one did," he said.

"One was a very nice gentleman, the other one was a typical Nazi."

A spur-of-the-moment decision by the German officers is what ended up deciding Mr Zeeman's future.

"They put me in the car because they wanted to first take me to the military police," he said.

"Their mistake was to stop and say 'we better take him straight to the Gestapo'."

En route to the Gestapo, the Germans became lost.

While trying to gathered their bearings, Mr Zeeman "slid" out of the car and escaped.

"At that moment when all three of them, the driver and the two chaps, were looking one way I just slipped out and in the darkness they could chase me but they couldn't find me," he said.

"Nobody has done that as far as I know - jumped out of a car with two German officers and a driver."

Mr Zeeman doesn't consider his actions heroic, rather incredibly lucky the German officer made the choices they did, tipping the scales of fortune in Mr Zeeman's favour.

"Had they not done that I wouldn't be here, because they would have taken me to the German Police and the police would have known what to do," he said.

This is not the only instance of Luck Through Adversity Mr Zeeman recalls in his book.

"You get luck at stages in your life, the rest is hard work - walking through the Pyrenees in the middle of winter is pretty hard work," he said.

"At least I had a good warm coat under my raincoat."

His journey through the Pyrenees with fellow escapees is illustrated in numerous paintings of his own make, one of which graces the cover the book.

Mr Zeeman's journey took him through Spain, Portugal and to Gibraltar, where he travelled with British troops back to London.

From London, he went to American aboard the Queen Mary.

His journey through America finally led him to Australia, where he aided the US and Australian military campaigns in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia).

He trained as a navigator, touring in the wake of US Field Marshal General Douglas MacArthur's campaign, aiding in operations disarming and repatriation of Japanese forces.

Mr Zeeman said it was a running joke among his colleagues that he was General MacArthur's replacement.

"What the Americans had in supplies ... anything they needed was there, it was unbelievable," he said.

"There were little bases for the Brits, the Aussies and the Dutch - but those Yanks had everything."

As time went by and the Netherlands yielded the Dutch East Indies territories, Mr Zeeman returned to Holland.

After that, he returned to Australia to run a small importing business and eventually settled down in Tasmania with his wife, Berna.

Mr Zeeman first wrote Luck Through Adversity in 2004.

In what would be another chance encounter, his manuscript would be picked up by an American employed by a publisher.

"If they want to read my story, how I got from France to Spain ... to my time in London, before sailing to the USA and across to Australia and the far east [Dutch East Indies], this book is where they'll find it," Mr Zeeman said.