Book
I’m reading Big Shots by Adam Shand, it's about Carl Williams and the Melbourne gangland wars. The guy was wild. I’m only halfway through and Carl’s already been involved in knocking a few people off. My brother in-law turned me onto it. I like reading non-fiction crime, I need the story to be real to enjoy it. Fiction doesn’t interest me at all.

Movie
I’ve just returned from two weeks holiday in Bali so I’ve seen every new movie release on pirated DVD. The one that sticks out is I Am Legend. It’s about this mutant virus wipes out the human population but a few people are immune to it. Will Smith is the lead, I’m not big on his music but I reckon he’s a great actor. In the movie he’s got this really loyal dog and I’m a dog person so I got right into it. Top action.

Contest
In 1995 I went to Hawaii for the first time. I was 14. I sat on the beach and watched the Pipe Masters, the surf was pumping and it was definitely the best surfing I’d ever seen. I remember Slater and Machado’s heat when Rob came out of the pit and high fived Kelly. That was it was the coolest thing ever. Kelly ended up beating Rob, winning the comp and claiming his third world title that day. I remember thinking, I gotta do that, I gotta be a pro surfer.

Own Life
Having kids was amazing. You feel this love that you haven’t experienced before. It’s pretty crazy, hard to describe, especially to people that don’t have kids, but it’s awesome.

Relationship
I’m married with two kids. I remember seeing Monica [Joel’s wife] around at school when I was 14. I had a big crush on her even back then. I remember getting my mates to find out what her number was so I could ring her. When I left school we started going out. We’ve been married for three years and it’s been smooth sailing.

School
School was fucked. The best thing about school was my mates. We had a top little lunch group in high school. Me, Mick [Fanning] and Dean [Morrison] were all in the same year. I remember being jealous of Deano because he always had money to buy his lunch. He’d clean out the tuckshop everyday. One day I had no lunch and I’d been scabbing for food. Deano turned up, his pockets ringing with money that he’d probably pinched out of Rabbits wallet. I asked if I could borrow some coin but he said he no because he only had like 25 bucks left. I grabbed him around the throat until he gave me $10.

Beach
Snapper Rocks is the beach for me. I love the place. I’ll never get sick of pulling up in the Snapper car park, sitting on the steps with the boys and just hanging out talking shit. After I won the Quik Pro at Snapper we celebrated in the car park. We’ve had so many good times there over the years.

Music Festival
I’ve been to the Big Day Out a bunch and that’s always fun but the best musical event I’ve been to was a Pearl Jam and U2 concert in Hawaii. Andy and Bruce are sponsored by Coors beer and they gave the boys a VIP box at this concert. They were good enough to invite Occy and I along and we all took our girls. It was amazing. We had these incredible VIP seats with free drinks. I got wild goosebumps when U2 played Where The Streets Have No Name. We were all singing along and Bono kept pointing up into the crowd in our direction and Occy thought he was pointing at him. He was like, “Did you see that? Bono was looking and pointing straight at me. Yeah Bono!!!” It was all time.

City
I dig Hobart. I wasn’t expecting much when I first went there but we hit a few little pubs and had a really good time. I’ve been to Tassie a few times since and always loved Hobart, there’s a cool vibe about the joint and all these really nice old pubs and bars on the Derwent River.

Country
I’ve seen a fair bit of this world and been to some unbelievable spots but one country I never get tired of visiting is Fiji. The waves are unbelievable, the fishing is insane and the people are generally really happy and friendly. I’ve made some good friends over there too. The crew that run the island of Namotu are good value. Every time I go there I have a ball.
Internet
I’m not a big computer guy although I find the net useful. The homepage on my browser is my footy tipping site, oztips.com.au. Other than footy tipping I use the net to check my emails and the waves. The sites I use for swell checks are Buoyweather.com and windguru.com I hate Myspace and Facebook, can’t stand em, they’re a waste of time.

Holiday
Can Bali be beat for a holiday? I don’t think so. I’m not talking ‘bout those evil monster resorts in Kuta with 300 rooms and a free buffet breakfast. The wife and I took the kids over to Bali recently and we rented this unbelievable private villa near Canggu and just hung poolside reading books, working on our tans and occasionally I’d race over to the beach for a surf. It doesn’t matter whether you’re hanging with the family or with mates on a surf trip, Bali’s kinda got something for everyone and best of all you can slime your way out of a minor traffic infringement if you slide the cop five bucks Aussie. Bagus!

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