When he eventually made his first trip abroad, he visited his English relatives, and traced the family history, that showed that he was eighth cousin to that famed navigator, and also descended from Edmund Blacket, the third colonial architect of NSW.
That trip to England led Vine Hall to leave CSR, and adopt genealogy as his lifetime's work and passion.
He also contributed many articles to rural newspapers such as The Land, and was an invited guest speaker at many national and international genealogical and family history conferences, as well as at local societies throughout Australia, and on several Pacific cruise vessels.
In July 1988, Vine Hall joined the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra (HAGSOC), and was an occasional member over subsequent years.
His last published work was The Happy Huguenots – Parts 1, 2 & 3, a family history which was Highly Commended when entered in the Alexander Henderson Award for 2006.
After a long battle with cancer, Nick Vine Hall died in October 2006 at the age of 62 at the Bethlehem Hospital, South Caulfield, and was survived by Patricia, and his ex-wife, Tricia, and their children, John and Katy, as well as five grandchildren.