The Freestyle Sports Expo is an annual event in Mulwala, and it is the largest extreme sports event in Australia. The Expo showcases barefooting, wakeboarding, freestyle jumping, freestyle motocross, pit bike racing, and monster trucking. Spectators get to see all the events in one day and at one location. This year, there were over 10,000 spectators. Athletes participating in the Expo don’t look at the Expo as a competition; for them it is more about demonstrating their extreme sport to the crowd and showing the spectators how hard the sport is and also how much fun it is. Their goal is to make the sport more popular. But, the announcers at the Expo make it look like the competitors are battling it out for places, just to get the crowed more into the demonstration. And, the announcers would make it look like the competitors were competing for a cash prize. Now the question is “Where do you fit 10,000 spectators into one location for water-skiing, monster trucking, and motocross?” The answer is the Water Ski Park in Mulwala, where the 2003 World barefoot competition was held. It is one of the best tournaments sites I have ever been to.

Check out the video below, at the end of this article
 

On January 22nd my dad and I left the freezing weather of Michigan and headed to Melbourne, Australia. Arriving on the morning of the 24th, Peter O’Neill, the organizer of the Expo events, picked us up after a 20-hour flight. Pete was apologizing about the 75-degree weather saying it will be hotter. I looked at Pete and said, “Are you Kidding?” I just came from 25 degree weather. This is a dream!” Then we took a 3-hour drive north to Mulwala where Pete lives. As we drove north, Pete was explaining to us how Victoria has been going through a drought the past 7 years. But since Mulwala has such a large lake, it is much greener than the lower part of Australia. Once we arrived at Pete’s house, we got settled in to a nice separate portion of the house with bunk beds and air conditioning. Not to waste any time, we got the tour of Mulwala--a small and beautiful town. We went to Pete’s water ski shop located on Lake Mulwala, just 5 minutes from his house. Pete had invited two boys around the age of 16 to go skiing with us. Pete said one of the coolest places to ski in Australia is Lake Mulwala. Lake Mulwala is a huge lake that runs into a river, Pete took us up river were the water was smoother and nicer. All around there were trees that had been there for hundreds of years and they were still standing in the water, and in between the trees there was a river that winded thru them. It was definitely the coolest place I have ever skied. Pete is an awesome barefooter, and he is also a great wake boarder and sky skier, so once we were up river, we wakeboarded and sky skied just to get wet and have fun.

 

The next morning we headed to the Water Ski Park on the other side of town. There are two lakes running parallel to each other with 200 to 300 hundred feet of land in between them. Pete put in his ‘99 Flightcraft and I did some warm-up barefoot runs. We met Brendan Wright, a top skier from Australia who would also be skiing in the Expo. Brendan invited us over to his house that night for a barbeque with his family and friends. At the party we met very nice people who all looked after us. Brett New also met us at the barbeque. He would be skiing in the Expo too.

Wednesday morning Brett and I took a couple of jumps at the Water Ski Park. Brett jumped big as usual, and I had a couple of problems at first. Pete coached me and helped me get to be where I needed to be for the Expo. Pete was a great instructor. He didn’t give me too many things to think about--just one or two things to think about. As a result my jumps improved. I think I was jumping “heaps” better than I ever have! After skiing, Pete and I shot a video (interview) at the Mulwala Water Ski Club. The club was right next to Pete’s pro shop. The Water Ski Club was huge and very nice. The club has restaurants and gambling. We headed upstairs to the offices where the great view of the lake was. After the interview, Pete headed down to Melbourne to pick up the final person barefooting in the expo, Heindrick Sam, from South Africa. If you don’t know him, then you don’t get out much. That night while Pete went to Melbourne, the rest of the barefooters and friends headed out to dinner.
 

The next to morning we repeated what we did every morning, practice for the Expo. But every afternoon was different form the wide range of skiing up river to searching for kangaroos in the outback or feeding them at the animal park. The variety of things we did was a lot of fun. Every night the crazy Aussie’s were drinking and having a great time. They were all so laid back and they all knew how to have a great time! As they say in Australia, “No worries.” That night for example we watched a water ski show put on by the Mulwala Water Ski Club that was awesome. Pete announced and skied in the Ski Spectacular Austin Powers Ski Show. I would say over 500 hundred people watched this team ski in such a tight space, right in the harbor of the Lake Mulwala.
 

Then it was time for what we all came to Mulwala for…. The Freestyle Sports Expo. Heading to the Water Ski Park where this event would take place was not pretty. The wind was pumping up to gusts of 50 mph. We knew this was bad news. But we still had a positive attitude and we were ready to do what Pete needed us to do. Of course, the water was too rough to put on the barefooting first like it was planned, and Pete moved it later in the events. So, first up were the boys from sea world who were freestyle jumpers. They put on a great show as the crowed was jamming in to the Water Ski Park. By the time the jumpers were done, there must have been 8,000 people lined up on the shores. Next up were the pro wakeboarders from around the world who put on a doubles competition. As the events played out, the water got a little smoother. So Pete asked us to try and hit the 4ft wide barefoot jump. The water was better, but it was not smooth or safe, but this was an extreme expo and we were making it that. So Brett Nw started off tricking up to the jump, lunching a huge jump, and threw out a flip for the crowd. The competition for the barefooter was to trick up to the jump hit the jump and then do one more trick after you landed if you landed the jump. So three more of us had to ski before the wind picked up. Brendan was next. He missed his jump, but he had some good tricks considering the water. Then I had a big jump but didn’t ski it away. Heinrick’s jump was average, and he skied it away, only to fall while doing a toe turn right behind the boat. So it was not the best display of barefooting, but it was enough to please a large crowed.
 

The freestyle motocross exhibit was a no go with the wind, but the rest of the events that filled in for the time loss were very amazing. The monster tuck stirred up all this dust and came right next to the crowd. The driver also crushed cars. In addition to the monster truck, he had a “wheelie” truck as he called it. He could wheelie all around, and it was fascinating. Check out the videos to see this in action.
 

After this long day of events, we were all tired and ready to go home and clean up for “tea” (aka dinner). We spent Sunday morning skiing with the boys from Sea World out at the Water Ski Park. We all enjoyed a ski run and had a great time. That afternoon my dad and I met up with Jon O’Neill, Peter’s dad, who took us down to Ballarat where Peter grew up. Since Heinrick’s passport got lost (long story) we couldn’t all head down together. Ballrat was a much lager city then Mulwala. In Ballrat we could go see touristy things, as I would call it. For example, we went to Souvenir Hill which is an old gold mining hill. My dad and I looked around and got all the history about Australians gold mining. Glenda (Pete’s mom) and Jon were very nice and showed us around Ballarat, Jon owns a surf shop in Ballarat called Skin Ski and Surf. The shop was very large and he has everything from shoes to barefoot suits. The next day Heinrick and Pete arrived around 3 p.m. and we all just hung out and met Pete’s 3 brothers. And Glenda cooked all of us a feast to eat.
 

The next day, January 30th Pete decided we should take a train to Melbourne and walk around to all the shops and fun stuff to do in Melbourne. We went to the top of the tallest building in Melbourne and saw the surrounding area. We went to a very large aquarium and saw a lot of sharks. We also went to the sports arena and saw where they play cricket, a strange sport. No one could really explain all of the rules of cricket.
 

After all the fun, I had to leave this paradise and drag myself back to the cold weather in Michigan. It’s below zero right now. I would like to thank Pete O’Neill first for his hospitality and his awesome planning. He made the trip FUN. And I would like to thank all of the other Australians who looked after us including the Greens, the Wrights, and Jon and Glenda, Pete’s parents. Also, I would like to thank my sponsors Barefootcentral.com, Eagle wetsuits, and Head Zone Helmets for all the support they have given me this past year. Australia was the best barefoot trip I have ever been on.

Thanks for the experience and no worries.
 

Cheers,
CAM