Feature by Ben Collins

Jack Robinson knows that better than anyone. He grew up in Western Australia, and it's heavy waves and rugged landscape have shaped his approach in and out of the water. 

Robinson, who won the 2022 Margaret River Pro and finished the year ranked third, does his best surfing in heavier waves, and at home where the combination of adventure, isolation and natural beauty create a familiar energy.

_{Jack Robinson, Margaret River Pro 2022}

"It's a special place, when I was growing up there were so many things I always did, like from fishing to diving to going down south... you can find endless things there, adventure wise," Robinson said of South-West Western Australia.

"It has everything in one state. It's always an adventure. It's a coastline that's never-ending and you can never explore it all in one lifetime. Even I haven't been up to the [far] north west as well.

"Apart from all the wineries and the restaurants, there's camping, you can go up into the desert, it's another world once you're under the stars out there, and you're looking up and it's just you and the land, it's a really powerful, special place," he said.

_{Margaret River Pro}

WA is one of the last places on earth where you can have a true surf adventure, off-the-grid, chasing waves, fish or whatever else floats boat in the natural wonder of Australia's West Coast.

From the temperate, windswept south, up through the desert all the way to the tropical north, it has every climate, some of the best (and heaviest) waves on earth, and the sort of isolation which for much of the planet, just doesn't exist anymore.

This opens the doors to activities such as fishing and camping which have never been far removed from the surfing experience. There's fisherpeople who surf and surfers who fish, all outdoor enthusiasts with a taste for adventure. Championship Tour surfers like Mikey Wright or Wade Carmichael are just some of the top-flight surfers who love chasing fish and getting under the stars almost as much as they love scoring waves.

Updated December 2022.