Hugo decided to take his wife and young family to Australia in mid-1986 and worked for two decades as a sub-editor on the Hobart-based newspaper, The Mercury.
Between 1990 and 1994 Hugo wrote a regular book review column for The Mercury called The Write Stuff, as a side-line to his day job.
He also conducted interviews with writers such as Vikram Seth, Gwen Harwood, Sarah Day, Peter Goldsworthy, Les Murray, Richard Flanagan, Elizabeth Jolly, Geoffrey Dean and Amy Witting, which were published in The Mercury.
Working in newspapers both in South Africa and Swaziland allowed Hugo to hone his photographic skills; shooting, developing and printing a photo in under 45 minutes, tackling a wide variety of subjects like portraits, beauty pageants, soccer, motor sport, boxing, ghetto jazz and rock musicians, and street life.
Hugo's first solo photographic exhibition was held in 2015 at the Nolan Gallery at the Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart, Tasmania.