2002-2005

By this stage, we were well and truly in full apprentice mode.

I was living with one of my bandmates at the time, along with Renee - another apprentice I was really tight with - and Maddie, who I’d helped get a job at work. We lived about five minutes from the kitchen, so life was simple and pretty bloody perfect.

Surf. Home. Quick nap or some lunch. Then straight into work for a 1pm start.

It was an epic time. Such a good crew. We laughed a lot, worked hard, surfed a tonne and partied when we could.

Typical kitchens are full of joke makers and ours was no exception. Here are a couple that still stick with me…

One day I accidentally left my chef jacket at work. I rocked in the next morning thinking, uh oh. Dean goes, “Mate, have a look in the deep freeze - reckon your jacket’s in there.” Sure enough, it was sitting in a 20-litre bucket of water. Rock solid frozen. Being a dirt-poor apprentice, I only owned two jackets, so I had to slowly defrost the thing throughout the day just so I could wear it. Painful… but pretty funny.

Then there was Bullet, one of the dishies. Absolute character. Loved the banter and was always up for a laugh, which made him prime prank material. Every Friday was fish delivery and fish & chips day. I’d cook staffies, and we’d be eating coral trout, dhuy and all the good stuff. I had no money, but I ate like a king.

One week we broke down a massive hapuka, easily 25 kilos. The head on this thing was enormous. Bigger than a human head. The boys decided it’d be hilarious to put it on Bullet’s car.

Middle of winter. Rainy night. Nearly midnight.

Dishies were always the last to finish. Bullet walks out to the car park, hops in his car, turns the headlights on… and boom - a massive hapuka head staring straight back at him from the bonnet. Eyes wide. Face pressed to the glass. Bullet was scared out of his mind. So good.

The next day he couldn’t stop talking about it, and everyone was absolutely losing it. One of those moments that never leaves you.

Another time I broke the golden rule: never leave your gear at work.

I left my knife box behind. Came in the next day and it was completely filled with cutlery, absolutely drenched in honey and sesame seeds. My knives were sitting at the bottom, soaking. It took me over an hour to clean it all up. Funny… but also very annoying.

All jokes aside though, being an apprentice chef is full on. You’re still learning the ropes while coping with the pressure of service - anywhere from 50 covers to 200 or even 300 a night. Fast-paced, hot, high-stress. It’s a tough environment, and it really does shape you. You learn resilience. You learn how to handle pressure. And honestly, I loved it.

By my second year, I was running the café downstairs during the week with Renee. By my third year, I was running it solo on weekends - running the pass and grill - and also working upstairs in the brasserie fine dining restaurant, again running the pass and hot plates. That year I must have cooked thousands of steaks, fish fillets, lamb cuts, chicken and duck. It was unreal for my skills.

I progressed quickly, but it felt natural. I was doing what I loved - cooking and creating - but I was starting to get itchy feet for the next adventure.

I was nearly finished my apprenticeship at Abbey Beach, and by the end I’d been there close to five years all up. I was getting my ducks in a row to leave the country, head to France and work the ski fields. After the end of a pretty bad relationship, I had nothing keeping me here anymore. However, the universe had other plans…

That final summer was a special one. Like always, we brought in a few extra staff - uni students working over the holidays. And that summer just happened to be when I met Carly, my now beloved wife. She was waitressing over the break, and we hit it off straight away. From that very first week, we knew we’d found our soulmates. That feeling of love hit me like nothing else, and Carly stole my heart forever.

This was the beginning of an incredible next chapter of my life.

Stay tuned.