The Weekend That Wasn’t Meant to Happen

You know those weekends that don’t go to plan — but somehow turn into the ones you’ll never forget?
Yeah. That was this one.

I was meant to be in Texas, USA for an art show. Didn’t get selected, so I thought, stuff it, I’ll head up north and dive the Great Barrier Reef instead.
Birthday weekend, salt water, reef — sounded like a pretty good plan B.

I drove five hours north, stayed at a mate’s place, and the next morning I was meant to head off, jump on a boat, and spend a few days out on the island.
Then I got the call. Boat’s full. No spots left.

Cool. No worries.
So instead, I hung out with my mates, rode my motorbike, laughed a lot, and actually had a pretty good time.

Then they got a call saying they had to drop Toby's bike down in Sydney.
And I just said, “Well, I’m not doing anything… I’ll come for the drive.”

So off we went — ten hours south, on my birthday.
We stopped at a servo somewhere in the middle of nowhere and had cake in the car.
By the time we made it to Sydney, I decided I was still swimming for my birthday — rooftop pool, freezing cold, didn’t care. Then tacos for dinner.

And then — we ran into Travis Pastrana.
Yeah, that Travis Pastrana.
Turns out, the bike we’d driven all that way with was for his film.

So, on my birthday, after a ten-hour drive and no real plan, I got to meet one of the biggest legends I grew up watching.
And it didn’t stop there.

The next day we followed the guys down to the harbour, where there was a full movie set. Cameras, drones, lights, the Subaru team — the whole deal.
They were filming one of the Hoonigan series.
And standing right there, in the middle of all of it, was Travis — and soon after, Toby Price arrived from his flight in South Australia after he was racing there for the weekend.

I had no idea what I was about to watch, but when those engines fired up… mate, it was unreal.
The noise, the speed, the way Travis threw that car around like it was part of him — you can’t even blink. And Toby, doing wheelies beside him, like it was just another day in the office.
You could feel the energy in your chest.

At one point, Travis had the car right on the edge of the harbour — back wheels hanging over. They even had scuba divers waiting, just in case.
That’s when you realise what kind of level these guys operate on.

When there was a bit of downtime, I finally went up to Travis and joked, “Hey, can I drive the car?”
He laughed, probably thought I was serious for a second, then politely said no.
So I said, “Nah, I’m kidding — I actually just wanted to ask if I could get a photo of you to draw a portrait.”

He said, “Of course,” and then goes, “Hey, why don’t we put Toby in it too?”

I told him I’d already drawn Toby once before, and he smiled — “Yeah, but it’d be cool to have us both in it.”
And he was right.

After they finished filming, he called Toby over, and we set up for the photo.
I didn’t have my camera, only my phone, but I wasn’t missing that shot.

Travis gave this big thumbs-up with the biggest grin — and I laughed, told him, “Nah, don’t do that, just be cool.”
He laughed too and said, “I don’t know how to be cool.”
I told him, “If you don’t know how to be cool, there’s no definition of cool — ‘cause you just are.”

We were all cracking up.
We took a few more shots, Toby with the bike, the car behind them — and that was it.
I drove home thinking, yep, that just happened.

On the way back, it got wild again — fires were breaking out near home, roads were closing, our friends were preparing their property. We drove through the night, smoke everywhere, trying to beat it back. Got home at 3 a.m., wrecked.

Next morning, I woke up after maybe three hours’ sleep and pulled up the photos.
And that’s when I saw it — that very first shot of Travis with the thumbs-up.
The grin, the energy, the joy.
And I just thought, that’s it.

I laughed to myself, thinking how I told him not to do the thumbs-up — and now that’s the exact image I’ve chosen to draw.
Because that smile — that genuine, full-of-life, can’t-help-it smile — is Travis Pastrana.

And together with Toby in the shot, doing what they both do best…
That’s what this new artwork’s about.
Two legends, one wild, unplanned, perfect moment...