NAME: Gully Steelhead.
AGE: 14
LIVES: Rye & Bali
SPONSORS: ShedNine, Carve, Zion, Vanda, 3D Fins and Mum n Dad.
BEATS: Old School Hip Hop
OTHER INTERESTS: Skating, Travelling, Girls
PEARL: Tell us about growing up on the Peninsula, surfing and skating?
STEELHEAD: Growing up on the Peninsula has been AWESOME! Until the end of last year I lived in Cape Schanck, but spent every day in Rye hanging with mates and surfing. At the start of last summer we moved to Rye/St Andrews just near the beach, which I am stoked on! It’s perfect now, as I have my bike set up with my board racks so I can ride to all the breaks along the coast without having to bug Mum. I’m always asking her to drive me to where the waves are. All the crew down here are so supportive and fun, they always make you feel good about yourself and they all know how to crack a joke!
PEARL: When did your parents decide to move to Bali skipping the winters for half of each year?
STEELHEAD: In 2011 my family and I went on a holiday to Bali to surf and visit our really close family friends who had moved to Canggu from Oz a few years earlier. Three days after we got there, our friend had a stroke, so we stayed in Canggu to help look after her daughter. In our time staying there we found it hard to leave because we’d met so many awesome people who had made us feel right at home. When we got back to Oz it was the middle of winter and we thought, “Lets spend our winters in sunny Bali!” So the next year we tried it and it worked out a treat! Ever since then we have been spending our winters over there with an awesome bunch of people!
PEARL: How has this affected your surfing?
STEELHEAD: Because of the weather and the consistent waves in Bali, it makes it a lot easier to improve my surfing. Also getting the chance to surf with all the amazing surfers that travel to Bali for the pumping waves makes you want to improve and get as good as them.
PEARL: Tell us your favorite Indo short story?
STEELHEAD: My favorite Indo story is when Dad and I spent a month on two different boats throughout the Islands of Sumartra, surfing, eating, sight-seeing and sleeping. We traveled from the Mentawais though to the Tellos, and after the Tellos we went up to Nias. We then ended our trip in the Bankyak Islands with pumping waves!
PEARL: What do you want to do when you grow up?
STEELHEAD: I never want to grow up!
EDDIE WEARNE / SHEDNINE