Twenty-two surfers from eight countries set off on a five-day road trip down Australia’s east coast to chase waves. It sounds like the start of a reality TV show and, if I’m honest, the East Coast Activation Tour led by the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve delivered plenty of drama along the way.
So how did twenty-two surfers from around the globe end up hitting the road together?
As seven-time world champion Layne Beachley once said about our tour organiser Andrew McKinnon: “You don’t say no to Andy.”
Andrew McKinnon, better known in the surfing world as Andy Mac, has been a frother since his days as a pro surfer in the 70s. After more than three decades as a surf reporter, he knows a thing or two about waves, and has an unwavering passion to protect them.
As President of the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve, Andy has spent years advocating for the coastline he loves. This year marked the reserve’s tenth anniversary, and when he invited me on a surfing safari from the Gold Coast to Sydney to celebrate the milestone, it wasn’t exactly a difficult decision.
Five days rolling down the coast, stopping at surfing reserves along the way, showcasing our waves to surfers from all over the world? Who could say no?
The timing coincided with the World Surfing Conservation Conference on the Gold Coast, a gathering of surfers, scientists, environmentalists and changemakers discussing the future of our coastlines. Across four days and more than 100 speakers, topics ranged from artificial reefs and wave pools to shark mitigation and surfboard innovation.
Yet despite the diversity of the discussions, one message surfaced again and again: if we want future generations to enjoy our coastlines, conservation has to start with local communities.
That message came to life when Carlos Ucanan Arzola, known as Huevito, came into the conference hall wearing traditional Peruvian dress and carrying a big bundle of reeds.
A descendant of the Huanchaco tribes of Peru, Huevito was there to build a Caballito de Totora – a traditional reed board believed to be the oldest surfcraft in the world.
What began as just reeds quickly transformed under his handiwork. With a little assistance from three-times Pipe Master champion Tom Carroll, the bundles were compressed and bound into a tightly wound, banana-shaped craft.
Two hours later it was ready to surf. And, naturally, we took it out.
The following morning, under a cloudless sky at Greenmount Beach, hundreds gathered to watch the ancient craft take to the ocean. Huevito, always the showman, took his time, holding up the surfcraft proudly on his shoulder as he made his way down to the waters edge.
When Huevito paddled out, with a mermaid on front of the craft (because, why not?), it was a historical sight to see. And a full-circle moment for Andy Mac.
Ten years earlier, when the Gold Coast was officially recognised as a World Surfing Reserve, a Caballito de Totora had been launched into the Snapper Rocks lineup as part of the celebrations. Andy had worked tirelessly for the recognition of a World Surfing Reserve because, to him, it’s more than a title.
It represents government supported and community-led protection. A recognition that these places matter.
And that was precisely what our road trip was designed to celebrate.
The day after the Greenmount paddle out, representatives from Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Spain, USA, Indonesia and Australia piled into vans alongside members of the Peruvian Junior Surf Team, who had just competed at the World Club Championships.
With boards strapped to the roof, including the Caballito, we headed south. Andy had the itinerary planned down to the minute.
The swell, however, had other ideas.
Our first stop was Lennox Head, where the famous point break was flatter than I’d ever seen it. We met surfing pioneers like Mango founder Don Munro and Lennox surfing icon George Leslie before continuing to Yamba and Angourie, where members of the Angourie National Surfing Reserve and their families welcomed us with a barbecue, live music and stories from generations spent beside the sea.
The conversations quickly moved beyond surfing. Everywhere we stopped, people talked about protecting coastlines, preserving culture and maintaining connections to place. Different languages and cultures, but remarkably similar values.
The next morning, there was a light north-west breeze so we headed to Angourie Back Beach where we were greeted with small but clean waves. The Peruvian juniors weren’t particularly impressed until I offered up my Jim Banks twin-fin with a little extra foam.
Soon enough they were carving through the small runners, proving that junior pros can make any wave look rippable.
Then the Caballito came out.
In those gentle little waves, the ancient craft suddenly made perfect sense.
Huevito showed us how it was done before inviting others to have a go. There was plenty of falling and laughing as it shifted the mood in the line-up entirely. The Caballito was a reminder that surfing, at its heart, is supposed to be fun.
As we continued south through Crescent Head and Port Macquarie, another theme began to emerge.
This trip wasn’t really about waves. Not because there weren’t any, but because the people became the story.
At Crescent Head we took a quick stop at Indigenous pro surfer and Pipeline Master Robbie Page’s surf shop and museum before meeting both former and present mayors of the town, the former remembering Andy Mac’s visit ten years ago.
Legendary shaper Shane Stedman joined us at the headland to share his stories. None of us knew at the time it would be one of his final public appearances before his passing months later.
In Port Macquarie, volunteers from the Surfing History Association welcomed us at the site of what will be the new surfing museum. Their stories echoed the same message we’d heard everywhere else.
Surfing reserves don’t exist because of perfect waves. They exist because communities fight to protect them.
By day four, however, the universe decided we needed a little more excitement.
Our videographer Josh Hamilton was chasing footage for a documentary on the tour, set to be screened at Save The Waves Film Festival 2026 in four months time. As the sun yawned awake on the horizon, we headed to Soldiers Beach hoping for something surfable.
Instead, we were greeted by reports of a shark.
A big one.
There’d been more shark incidents than usual along the NSW coast that summer. You could feel the hesitation ripple through the group. We had a bunch of young surfers with us, did we really want to send them out just to get a few shots?
We scanned the water and a handful of clubbies were already paddling out. Laura Zumbado from Mexico was already beyond the break before she’d heard the news.
The rest of us stayed close to shore, Josh grabbed a few shots but the vibes were off.
Unfortunately, the day’s adventures were only getting started.
Not long after leaving the beach, disaster struck.
Travelling down the Pacific Highway, the Peruvian van’s board strap snapped.
Andy’s wife Megan spotted it first from the van behind. She said the moment felt like slow motion.
Three board bags and the Caballito de Totora launched into the air and scattered across the highway.
Cars travelling at more than 100 kilometres an hour swerved around flying surfboards as our convoy came to a halt and Andy Mac jumped out of the van quicker than anyone had seen him move that whole trip.
For a few terrifying seconds, nobody knew what would happen.
Then something remarkable occurred.
Drivers stopped, forming a barricade while the tour group dragged boards and bags from the road.
Against all odds, nobody was injured. Shaken but grateful, we re-strapped the boards and continued south.
We had to bypass Newcastle and make a beeline for Norah Head, where Debbie McGuigan, wife of the late surfing icon Barry “Magoo” McGuigan, had a feast waiting for us. Her house is a surfing museum in itself. With a homemade hamburger in hand and a few stories shared, our nervous systems finally started to settle.
That evening, however, exhausted and finally arriving in Manly well after sunset, para-surfer Robyn Harvey, Peru’s Carlos Antonio Ferrer and I stepped into a hotel elevator.
Doors closed. I pressed the button for our hotel rooms. Then everything shut down.
For the next hour, the three of us sat trapped inside, pressing buttons, calling hotel reception, the pub out front and finally 000, debating how long humans can survive inside elevators without any air.
Thankfully, firefighters arrived before we had a chance to test the theory.
By the time the doors were finally pried open, one thing was clear. This trip was becoming less of a surfing safari and more like Survivor.
We had high hopes for a little bump in swell in Manly, and yet when we stepped out onto the Manly boardwalk that final morning, we could see the surf was as flat as we’d seen it on this trip.
Yet somehow it felt fitting.
Standing on the promenade with coffee in hand, watching the ocean sit completely still, I realised the story had shifted somewhere along the road.
It had never been about scoring waves.
That morning, history was quietly made as Huevito paddled the Caballito de Totora into Manly’s waters for the first time.
From there we travelled to Bondi for our final gathering. Thousands of years of surfing history connected in one slightly chaotic journey.
From Huanchaco in Peru to Bondi Beach in Australia. From ancient surfcraft to modern conservation. From world champions to junior surfers.
The Caballito would eventually find a permanent home back at Crescent Head, at the Robbie Page ‘s museum – a fitting resting place that connects Peru’s surfing heritage with Australia’s own First Nations coastal traditions. But its journey symbolised something much bigger.
The conference had begun with conversations about protecting coastlines. Five days on the road transformed those conversations into reality.
The volunteers preserving local history. The families protecting their beaches. The surfers sharing stories across languages and cultures.
As the world continues to change rapidly, it feels more important than ever to share knowledge, celebrate community and care for the places that give us so much.
What a privilege it is to belong to a community that cares deeply for the world around it.
Surfing connects us every time we paddle out.
And it reminds us that protecting our coastlines, waterways and natural environments isn’t somebody else’s responsibility.
It’s ours.
Catch ECAT on the big screen as part of the Save the Waves Film Festival 2026, touring Australia this July. The festival features 10 powerful short films, with stops on the Gold Coast, in Freshwater, Port Lincoln, Elliston, Streaky Bay and Bondi Beach.
