As surfers, we’re always scheming our next mission. Exploration and travel is in our DNA. We’re often willing to do anything to make it happen. But unless you’ve got a major sticker on your nose or a corporate gig stacking coin, there are only so many bucket-list trips you can squeeze into a year. So when underground charger Nick Colbey saw one last window before becoming a full-time dad, he grabbed it with both hands and didn’t look back.
The result is ‘Buckety’—a film that follows the Suffolk Park regular-footer through a year of chasing waves in Hawaii, South Africa, Ireland and the UK. Equal parts dream run and reality check, it’s classic Colbey: raw, honest and hungry.
Nick’s no stranger to both sides of surfing. He spent his teens having a crack at the Pro Junior and QS before giving up on his competitive career and trying his hand in surf filming. However, after film school and a long stint at Tracks as “the video guy,” he bailed on filming tubes from the shoulder and went back to chasing swells and getting stuffed inside them. His 2021 travel doc Hooroo saw him rack up 35,000 km around Australia in a 4×4 chasing lines. With the arrival of his first daughter, Buckety became the final big lap.
Backed by Simpel Wetsuits, Nick hit the road (and sky) with filmer Jamie Hay in tow. The full project is now live on Tracks. Below, we caught up with Nick to hear the stories behind the trip.
Tell us a little bit about the film and the reasoning behind it.
I’ve been lucky over the years. I’ve always found a way to travel and chase waves, no matter how broke I was. But life’s changing—I’ve got two step kids now and we just had a baby girl. I could see that things were about to look very different. I told my amazing partner, who I’ve been with for six years, that I’d love to squeeze in one last proper trip before I’m too old and washed to paddle out at Backdoor. Thankfully she understood and let me go chase it for a year.
How did you fund the trip? Simpel came on board?
Yeah, the Simpel crew were unreal. They covered a good chunk of it and had Jamie Hay there filming most of the time. The rest was just me doing whatever jobs I could find—shitty labouring, odd jobs—anything to keep the dream alive.
Why those four locations?
I’d never properly surfed any of them. I’d only been to Hawaii once and it was with an ex-partner during their summer when it was flat. They were all bucket-list zones and all completely different. I wanted contrast—different crowds, climates, and kinds of fear.
Why make a movie out of it?
I’ve always loved filming, whether I’m in front of the camera or behind it. When I moved away from Sydney, I made Hooroo, my Aus road-trip doc. It did surprisingly well during Covid because everyone was locked down and hungry for that wanderlust feeling. That gave me a bit of confidence—like, okay, maybe I can keep doing this in a way that breaks even and lets me chase good waves. So I figured, why not roll the dice again?
Tell us about shooting for Tracks back in the day—you eventually had enough?
Surf filming is the best worst job ever. You get taken to insane places, but if you’re a frothing surfer, sitting on the beach watching people get barrelled all day is torture. I remember being on the Mangalui filming for Loco Loco at this ridiculous right in Indo. I sat there for eight hours, sweating, smashing Beng Bengs and getting eaten alive by mozzies while everyone else got spat out of tubes. That was the moment I realised: I’d rather be in the water.
What can people expect from ‘Buckety’?
Honesty, basically. I don’t want to pretend everything is dreamy barrels and perfect days. The travel hassles, the shit sleeps, the bumps in the road—they all make the good moments sweeter. I want my films to be relatable for the average surfer but still full of escapism and performance.
Speaking of bumps… that Aileens session looked gnarly.
Mate, that wave is no joke. Everything went wrong. I wiped out, got dragged right toward the cliff with no impact vest. Took me almost an hour to get myself together and figure out how to get back in. As I was paddling in, the Florence brothers were heading out. Nathan asked if it was me who copped it. I asked how he deals with that stuff and he just goes, “Just take it like a man.” Classic. Those are the little moments that make a trip.
What was Hawaii like?
Hawaii is wild. There’s so much aloha and respect if you’re not a kook, but underneath it all is this heavy intensity that keeps you on your toes. It’s its own universe.
What’s next?
For now I’m just cruising and doing the dad thing. I’ll still sneak a few missions in, but they’ll be closer to home and won’t last a year. Maybe.
