How camping helped Australian Owen Wright get his life back after a brain injury

A pro surfer lost everything after an accident left him unable to walk. But one surprising hobby helped him get his life back.

Australia's Owen Wright celebrates after winning the men's Surfing bronze medal final at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, in Chiba, on July 27, 2021 during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)

Aussie surfer Owen Wright was ranked fifth in the world for his sport, contending for the world title at Pipeline in Hawaii. But just a few days before the end-of-season finale in 2015, a shattering wipe-out left the surfer with a traumatic brain injury, rendering him unable to walk.

Nearly six years later in Tokyo, Wright took out the first Olympic medal in surfing’s history, leaving Aussies glued to their TVs in tears across the country.

But it wasn’t an easy feat to get there. Wright had to learn to walk and surf all over again, and it took gruelling amounts of hard work to get him back on a board. While rehab turned his life into a set of functions to be relearned and achieved, Wright says his enjoyment of life started to slip away,

“I was really full on, on trying to recover from the head injury that I had and it got to a stage where everything was just revolving around like physio or different movements and different brain exercises and I just didn’t have that pure joy and like ‘living’ back … I was just so caught up in recovery.”

“So that’s where [camping] came into play,” he said.

Wright loves exploring nature's playground along the Australian coast. Picture: Leila Joy

Wright is a natural lover of the outdoors and wanted something to bring joy and balance back into his life, as well as a hobby that he could share with his five-year-old son Vali. Luckily, living in northern NSW, the tropical playground up and down the coast is endless.

For the Olympic medallist, “seeing his son’s creativity” is what he loves most about sharing his hobby with his family.

“If we are down by a river … where there’s rocks and stuff he’s just like ‘look at this rock, it looks like a dinosaur!’”

“I don’t hear that creativity when I’m at home … and then when we’re outside he’ll just play and play and play.”

The pro surfer loves getting creative in nature. Picture: Leila Joy

The 32-year-old said he loves having the time and space to play along with his kids in their imaginative worlds.

“I end up mucking around too and tapping into my child side and going along with his imagination,” he said.

“There’s nature, and there’s us, and you just get a better connection.”

But the father-of-two said, his first camping trip with his family was not ideal. They didn’t have the right gear and the weekend was summed up with one sentence: “We’re not doing that again,” he recalled with a laugh.

Wright says having the right gear makes camping so much easier. Picture: Leila Joy

“The outdoors is sometimes daunting,” he said. “But with the right products, it just seems to make it a hell of a lot easier.”

For Wright, camping now fits seamlessly into his family’s lifestyle. His car is permanently packed with a fridge; a big container full of surfboard wax and sunscreen; and a water jug and tap, ready for the next adventure.

With everything in the car, getting away for the weekend is ‘not a big planned thing,’ said Wright. Picture: Leila Joy

“I just pick [my son] up from school and [camping] is not this big planned thing. That’s the way me and my wife like to camp … if the sun’s out, we’re like, ‘you wanna go?’”

Then all that’s left is to throw the tent in the car and they’re off chasing their next fresh dose of the outdoors.

Owen Wright is now an ambassador for camping supplies company Dometic Outdoor, which he said is the “perfect” partnership for him as he “lives and breathes” the brand.

“It’s brought my hobby alive … that connection with my kids … Especially after travelling away for so long.”

Getting out in nature has helped Wright enjoy just ‘living’. Picture: Leila Joy

One of five, Wright’s siblings all surf, with brother Mikey and sister Tyler also renowned in the world of surfing. Wright was on tour until May 2022, and says after being away, being able to effortlessly go adventuring with his kids makes the time at home more meaningful than ever.

“There’s no screens, it’s like they turn to you and you turn to them instead of turning to your phone and turning to friends and things like that. You get a really good connection.”

The Olympic medallist now lives with his wife, singer and model Kita Alexander, and their two children in Lennox Head, NSW. He famously wears a helmet when surfing to add a layer of protection in what has proven to be an exhilarating, but dangerous sport.

He is passionate about encouraging other young surfers to be aware of the risks involved with surfing, and create a culture where it is OK to protect yourself, and trust your fear.

Owen Wright is a brand ambassador for Dometic Outdoor, and this writer was a guest on Dometic Outdoor’s Into the Wild camping experience in Byron Bay.

Originally published as How camping helped Australian Owen Wright get his life back after a brain injury