A bit about me.

 

I am 17 years old born in Western Australia on the 1st of November 2007. My mum is from New Zealand and is of Maori heritage and my dad was raised in Western Australia. Dad worked as a commercial diver offshore then decided to help animals working as a vet surgeon for the last 25years. Mum was a physical/outdoor education teacher before opting to work beside dad as a vet nurse. 

 

During my first 12 years I lived at Gnarabup Beach near Prevelly coastal town in Margaret River. I used to spend a lot of time down on the beach in front of the house and at river mouth. It was hard to find learners waves near home because the coastline is rugged wave-wise and not really that friendly. 

 

Mum and dad both surf so I was always grovelling around learning how to swim and playing on surfboards. I got my first custom fibreglass surfboard when I was 6. Soon after that I decided to catch my first wave solo and stand up. 

 

My first family trip up north WA was when I was 6 months old, where we camped in a tent near a Lagoon eating fresh fish for 3 months. Before I started school we would camp up there for a couple of months every season. I’ve made it up to the desert camping, surfing, snorkelling, fishing every year of my life since.

 

From about 6-7years we started going to Indonesia on school holidays to surf. At first, I surfed around the south coast of Bali catching waves in the warm waters - Sanur to Uluwatu to Kuta. I was told I was the youngest girl the Bobby Camp Indo locals had seen surfing out at G-land. When I was 8, I surfed Cloud Break Fiji. A few years later I went to Mentawai and surfed around Telescopes. 

 

I started doing surfing competitions early. My first big comp memory was when I was 9 placing 2nd at the Taj Small Fry's and winning the Performance Award custom surfboard. Later that year I got a call up to represent surfing WA U14 at the Aussie Titles in Culburra NSW. Thats when the competition bug hit me and from then on it was a good excuse to start visiting the east coast a lot more. I won my first east coast surfing competition when I was 11 the Oz Grom Cup. 

 

I really like challenging myself competing and working on my surfing. 

I grew up playing a lot of soccer. For years I was the only girl in a team of boys. To me, this was where I first discovered how competitive I really was. I played right wing and my team, representing the south west region, won the Country Week State Championship in Perth in the U14s. From that point I started to get offers to play for WA internationally and I had to make a choice between soccer and surfing as I didn’t have time to commit to both. I chose surfing because I love the ocean, it made me the happiest, allowed me to express myself individually and connect with my family as we love surfing together. 

 

In my high school years my family decided to move 50km further south to renovate an old beach house in a fishing village Augusta. It's where the Blackwood River meets the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean currents. I still go to school at Margaret River Senior High and surf around Marg’s most mornings before school. On weekends I get more selective hunting waves between Augusta and Yallingup. I enjoy hanging with my mates and I’m in my final year studying Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English.  

 

I play a lot of music, piano and electric guitar, I’m currently writing music/songs which is a new experience for me! I love art and drawing. I study photography at school so I’m always appreciating aesthetic things and also get to learn fashion and design and make clothes which is super fun.  

 

I have two French Bulldogs, Fred and Chi-Chi and a Ragdoll Chinchilla cat named Clawdia. 

 

My favourite place to spend time overseas is Hawaii. I first went there to challenge my surfing when I was 15. I love the culture, the people and the place. 

 

The best things about surfing, to me, is the lifestyle, the friends I’ve made, the fitness and the ability to express myself through the form of riding waves. 

 

I pretty much like to eat anything healthy. Steak or Fish with chips and salad is my favourite. 

Chocolate coated strawberries are pretty good too. 

My goal for the future is to graduate from high school this year and then appreciate time to commit myself to my surfing and competing. My end goal is to be on the CT competing for world titles but also to free surf and chase waves as that’s where I feel most pushed to my limits.