JOY IN GREAT OUTDOORS
LIFE IS ALL ABOUT BLUE SKY DREAMING FOR ENERGETIC FAMILY, WRITES
QUEENSLAND iron duo Jade and Wes Berg say their happy place will always be where the weather is warm, the skies are blue and the air smells like salt and sun lotion.
Since they were young, they’ve had an affinity with the big blue.
Their three kids, Mila-May, 9, Billie, 7, and Tally, 4, have followed suit — tenfold.
“Wes and I are ocean lovers and we wanted to pass that on to our kids,” former ironwoman Jade Berg (nee Sutcliffe) says.
“I feel super lucky that we have healthy kids and we have the beautiful ocean at our doorstep.
“As athletes, we like to keep a bit of structure in our lives but we love to make sure we give the kids a real outdoor lifestyle.
“They surf all the time, they’re spoiled. They love it.”
At the age of 20, Jade established herself as one of the stars of the Uncle Toby’s Ironwoman series but a lack of sponsorship saw the death of the event in 2001.
Less than 18 months later, having done all she could to keep her dream of a professional sporting career alive, the Sydney-born woman was forced to morph into a sport publicist.
Her husband of 13 years, Wes Berg, was the youngest ever male in the national ironman series and went on to compete for more than two decades. Since then, he has trained some of the best surfing athletes in the world, such as Joel Parkinson, and coached young surf lifesavers at Burleigh Heads and Miami SLSC, Gold Coast.
Jade and Wes’ love story reads like a Nicholas Sparks novel.
The pair met at a NSW south coast surf carnival, near Wes’ home, when they were fresh-faced teenagers.
Jade said from their first date on Valentine’s Day at Manyana Beach, they have been inseparable.
“Since I have been 16 years old, that patch of sand has been filled with happy memories,” the now 39-year-old says.
“It’s the place where Wes got down on one knee and where we said ‘I do’.
“We even decided to make Billie’s middle name Manyana.”
Wes was born in Bankstown, but after the death of his brother, the family moved to the seaside village of Shoalhaven.
“I remember from when I was about eight onwards and I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm,” he says.
“I joined the local surf club and it became my world — I became addicted to the ocean.
“Shoalhaven Heads will always be very close to my heart because it’s where I made my first series and grew up with friends that I still have today.”
The ironman family, who are also Jacyco “Vanbassadors”, recently took their caravan down south to explore Wes’ hometown.
Wes said despite driving 15 hours to the seaside village for only one day, due to the Queensland and New South Wales border lockout on August 8, he relished showing the children why Manyana was so special.
However, this was not their first trip in the van. The “van life”— as Jade calls it — began for the Bergs in 2017 when Wes said farewell to competing after he broke his C4 and C5 vertebrae in a surfing accident at Burleigh Heads. Since then, Wes and Jade have taken any opportunity to explore the east coast of Australia with their kids.
“Having a young family, we always want to take them away and do something special together,” Jade says.
“Initially we thought we’d get a pool, but then we talked about getting a caravan and now the rest is history.
“Since (COVID-19) restrictions have lifted we have been going on three-day weekends whenever we can.
“We leave our clothes in the car and pack the fridge full of food. Normally I’ll cook up stir-fries before we leave, allowing more time to watch the sun go down — it’s all about the memories.
“We also take surfboards, clubby boards, bikes and skateboards.”
The family love travelling to Yamba, Crescent Head, Coolum, Dicky Beach and Double Island Point.
But their favourite place is Tallebudgera Creek — so much so Wes and Jade named their youngest child Tally.
“Tally didn’t love the water straight away, but now he can’t get enough of it,” Jade laughs.
“Mila-May, who now surfs with Burleigh Boardriders with Billie, first stood up on a board at Tally Creek when she was 14 months. Billie was around two years. Now, they are all water babies.”
The Bergs said that COVID-19 isolation has been a blessing in disguise.
“The surf at the moment is some of the best winter surf I have seen,” Wes says.
“It has also been a great time for regular beach cleans near our home in Miami.
“I love teaching the kids to care about the environment and ocean conservation and I want to make sure they are active in preserving and leading the way with messaging.”