"I’ve been in the mines since 2009 so I’m pretty stoked to get out of there and sleep in my own bed and get a few waves."

"I just knew I was in the right spot spot," says Jamie Mitchell about his 60-foot Belharra bomb. "So basically I just swung, put my head down, and paddled my arse off."

Listen to Mitchell and Dave Kalama as they kick back on Kalama's Hawaiian lanai and talk story.

After an extreme cold snap, the US media are making claims that this event is linked to anthropogenic global warming. Sceptics suggest that it's clear evidence that global warming is nonsense, while believers explain the cold wave as another example of extreme weather forced by increased greenhouse gases.

The truth? Both are wrong.

After one of the slowest starts to the Gold Coast surf season in recent memory, the first tropical cyclone for the year is expected to develop over the coming days in the Coral Sea.