Lisa Quinn surfing mum Dunsborough

Former Queensland surfer Lisa Quinn has settled in Dunsborough WA with her husband Steve and two daughters. Lisa is a talented goofy foot surfer and has a bubbly personality matched with colourful surfboards and wetties. She surfs big and small waves in rain, hail and shine with her South West surfing mate Michelle Pietrzak. The mums share child minding duties during surf sessions.

Image: 2018 Lisa and Michelle at Bears with their colourful Yahoo surfboards custom made by Mark Ogram. Photo courtesy of Thea McDonald-Lee, Creative Director Yahoo Surfboards.

L-R Lisa with her Pineapple design board and Michelle with her Jelly Bean design board.

These are Lisa’s comments.

I first landed in Western Australia in 1997 when I was 16 years young. I travelled over as part of the Queensland State Junior Team to compete in the Australian Surfing Titles at Yallingup and I was so unbelievably excited. Growing up on the Gold Coast I had heard talk of the Wild West and was definitely more than a little interested to get myself over there. I didn’t even know what a reef break was. When I hopped out of the team bus at Yallingup on that first day I took one breath of that fresh offshore air, looked out upon the ocean and knew that this was where I was going to spend the rest of my life.

I returned to the West every year either competing in surfing comps or visiting friends or just passing through. I was totally hooked. Fresh clean crisp air. Wild waves. Clean groomed lines. The raw power of the oceans energy. I would come alive every time I was here. The first time I surfed Lefties I was 17 years old and it was in a heat of the Billabong Junior Series. I remember standing on the dunes so overwhelmed at the size and power and beauty of the waves. I had never seen anything like it…and I had also never seen anything so scary in my life. I burst into tears on the sand and didn’t even know if I was going to make it out, maybe I didn’t even want to make it out. The guys on the speakers were calling the sets for us, I remember sitting out the back, petrified, and hearing… “girls there’s a major set approaching, major set approaching”. It felt like I was in the Pipe Masters or something, except I was freezing as well.

I travelled up and down the West and South coast over the years and got myself a few battle scars, my first ever stitches from being dragged across the reef at Rottnest Island, became familiar with the power of the West Ozzie waves and the lack of familiar sand bottoms. I travelled a little overseas and did the rounds of our beautiful country, all the while longing to settle in the South West.

After finishing my Uni degree on the Gold Coast, a very well timed advert popped up in the corridors for a pretty good job in Geraldton. I’ll take that thanks! It wasn’t ultimately where I wanted to be but it was West none the less. So my hubby and I packed up our old Patrol and headed to Geraldton where we stayed for around a year, exploring waves up north and offshore. Awesome place but not where the heart wanted to be. Another perfectly timed job advert saw us relocate to the South West where we have now been since 2008.

Every single day I am so unbelievably grateful to live in the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Every single day there are pumping waves in one bay or another. Big waves, small waves, everywhere, always. Adventure awaits us every day and you just have to grab it and run. I have found my true self in the South West. It’s where I belong. It’s where my family belongs. It is written.

Image: 1998 Lisa backhand snap at Avoca Beach NSW. Lisa pic.