You’ve undoubtedly spotted Regan Merka’s colourful creation across the beaches (and pavements of the GC). And no, we’re not talking about Cool Cabanas, although these ingenious creations are almost as ubiquitous! Regan Merka is the remarkable mum and the creative mind behind the Burleigh Wagon. Offering a whole new level of convenience for parents on the go and a sleek design, it’s no wonder families across Australia (and beyond) are falling head over wheels for this game-changing stroller wagon. We dive into Regan’s journey, exploring the inspiration behind the Burleigh Wagon and the incredible impact her creation has had on parents and children alike.

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
My family & I have been living on the Gold Coast now for 7 years. We are originally from Southern California in America. I first came here for graduate school at Bond University and fell in love. So, I knew someday I wanted to come back & raise a family here. Such a dream come true to be now doing just that!

What do you love the most about the Gold Coast?
I love the outdoor lifestyle here on the coast. The beautiful beaches, parks, outdoor markets, theme parks, and how easily accessible they all are. I love how kid friendly the coast is. There is always something fun to do and you can’t beat the weather in Queensland. Also, I have made so many lifelong friends here, so I would say the people are pretty epic too!

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a mum of 2 beautiful and bright girls. One of our daughters is on the Autism spectrum, and we created the wagon for her. As special needs parents know, it can be extra challenging to leave the house. Our struggle to do just that, is what drove us to create a vehicle to help families like us get out for the house with greater ease and be able to stay longer and enjoy more.

For the last nearly 4 years here in Australia, my husband and I have run every aspect of the business ourselves, from social media to packing all orders. But we are really excited to finally expand our team this year.

For those who don’t know, what is Burleigh Wagon?
The Burleigh Wagon is an innovative stroller wagon that kids will ACTUALLY love to ride in and parents will love it too! It is an approved double stroller with a built-in esky, built-in Bluetooth speaker + charging ports, convertible bench seating for kids & adults, full sunshade, and so much more!

Tell us the inspiration behind starting Burleigh Wagon.
We struggled carrying all the gear with us on family outings (particularly to places like the beach). At the time, there were no wagons available here in Australia. So, I decided to design one myself that catered to children, but also adults too.

I didn’t want to have to carry any of the larger items for adventure days anymore: like a bulky esky, large surfboard, beach cabana, camping or fishing gear, kids bikes when not in use, etc. So, I added heavy-duty side storage racks to our wagons design- for all the bigger gear that was almost impossible to lug around all day.

I also wanted to create a wagon that could not only carry all the gear but the children safely too, and there was nothing on the market I could find that did both successfully. My daughter also needed a safe place for her to feel secure on outings and she hated the pram! So, we added safety features to comply with ACCC mandatory safety standards and we made the wagon transformable into a bench seat so our daughter could have a rest wherever we were, which we found super handy for us tired adults too!

We now feel a sense of ease when leaving the house, knowing we have an all-in-one vehicle for adventures that will transport all we need and also keep our children content on longer days out of the house. And now being able to help other families like us use their NDIS funding to purchase their wagons has been extra rewarding. It’s the best feeling to hear stories from families of children with disabilities tell us how much their Burleigh Wagon has helped their child feel included in the community, where they may have found it challenging at times before.

What has been the biggest opportunity and/or challenge so far for you?
Our biggest challenge from the beginning has been cash flow and staying in stock. Our wagon is an expensive product to manufacture. It takes 14 factories to produce all components needed for 1 wagon. Managing all these factories and coordinating shipments with cash flow vs demand has been difficult. We often run out of stock in our peak summer season due to the complexity of this juggling act.

We have been given a massive opportunity recently, that will hopefully alleviate this issue moving forward! So, keep an eye out for an exciting announcement soon 😉

You’ve just cracked the US market. Congratulations! What are you next plans or goals for Burleigh Wagon?
Thank you so much! We are so beyond excited to be in the USA. We had 1000’s of Americans sign up their interest for us to launch there, so it’s such a huge milestone for us to now be available for pre-order in North America, and just in time for their summer 🙂

We also hope to expand our warehouse locations to the east coast of the USA this year. We are currently operating out of San Diego California, but having distribution from both coasts will be helpful.

In addition, we plan to expand our range of products in the USA, as well as launch a new addition here in Australia later in 2023!

What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever been given?
To never give up, no matter how hard it gets. Many businesses fail because of lack of perseverance when times get tough. So, we have always tried our best to pivot when something isn’t working and try something new, which can often be scary, risky and unknown territory. But so far, our risks have been worth it and have kept us afloat during uncertain times like COVID and the current downturn in the market.

What are your Gold Coast favourites…
Café/coffee spot: Parkway Robina
Restaurant: Sofia’s, Broadbeach
Bar or place for a drink: Edgewater at Isle of Capri
Beach: Burleigh

How do you choose to spend your days off?
With my girls going on adventures! We love going to Mt. Tamborine & exploring. We also love the rock pools, Dreamworld, cruising up to Brisbane for some shopping in the city, a day trip to Tropical Fruit World or Cabarita. These are some of our fave things to do.

Last week, a few Inside Gold Coast team members expressed their love for a fantastic shirt they’d stumbled upon. Sporting the catchy slogan “This Senorita needs a Margarita,” the apparel struck a chord. Upon learning this fabulous creation was the brainchild of Gold Coast locals, we wasted no time reaching out for an interview. Welcome to the vibrant world of Sabbi Clothing, where Jase and Ash blend art, fashion, and a dash of their quirky personalities. Read on to learn about the masterminds of the covetable brand and how the Gold Coast lifestyle heavily influences Sabbi, translating into versatile, fun, and beach-to-bar wearable art.

How long have you been Gold Coast locals?
Jase is a vintage Gold Coast boy and has been here for 30 years. Ash moved over from Perth about 12 years ago, the weather was too hard to resist.

What do you love the most about the Gold Coast?
Jase loves the surf and the laid-back lifestyle. Also, that he can wear Crocs all year round and for every occasion. He’s a water boy so anything on the water is up his alley.

Ash: I love the weather. I’m an early riser, so love that it’s so light so early in the mornings in summer. I also love that you never have to get too dressed up fancy to go anywhere.

Tell us a little bit about yourselves.
Jase has been in fashion since he was a kid. He was born into fashion working for his Dad from age 15. He’s worked all over the world as a buyer. He lived in China for 5 years, 2 of which were spent sleeping on fabric rolls while he and his best friend Billy set up their own factory. He has many crazy stories from those years, one involving a street poo and using his socks as toilet paper. Jase is so laid-back he is horizontal. He lives in Crocs and is big believer in Karma.

Ash: I have nothing exciting to tell you professionally, I studied design and textiles when I graduated school. I designed school uniforms for 3 years where I spent my days looking at polo shirts and check shirts day in and day out. Then I left work to travel Australia in a van for 6 months, moved to the Goldie, then pumped out a set of (VERY unexpected) twins. I’ve always been drawn to anything creative, dodgy dance floors and dogs. Having twins taught me that if you can’t laugh at yourself, then you won’t make it out alive. It also taught me that those Huggies ads were a big fat lie!

What inspired you to start Sabbi?
Jase left a brand he and his family started 10 years ago and took 6 months off to paint. Jase can’t sit still so after 6 months at home we decided to combine our love of fashion and art into one crazy little brand. Fashion seems to be so serious so we wanted to bring some fun back to fashion. We wanted to make clothes that we wanted to wear with a side of our crazy personalities added.

Tell us about the process of creating your unique prints.
Jase finds a theme or a sketch or a colourway. Ash then finds a saying to match. Something funny or positive and then we both work out a print that we think works.

Sometimes this can take half an hour or sometimes Jase (drives Ash crazy) and will spend 3 weeks finetuning one print.

What sets Sabbi apart from other fashion brands?
We guess maybe our artwork. It’s all hand painted on the Gold Coast by us. We don’t buy our prints in. We then oversee the whole process from design to shipping the orders to our customers.

We’d also say maybe showing the craziness that goes on behind the scenes. We both have other jobs, we have 7 year old twins half the time and throw in two dogs, all living under one roof…the roof also happens to be our warehouse.

Sometimes I look around the house and see the twins eating breakfast at the island table next to a HUGE pile of Sabbi returns on the table, boxes of Sabbi stock stacked up around the TV and it sets off my anxiety. Jase just says, “it’s all part of the journey, baby”.

How would you describe the Sabbi community, and what kind of person do you envision wearing your designs?
The Sabbi community are bloody legends! The support we have received is just mind-blowing. We can’t believe that all these people are cheering for two absolute bogans from Palmy. It still blows our minds that so many people are wearing our clothes when we have only just kicked it off.

The kind of people wearing our clothes love art, know how to have a good time and are all about positive vibes…also love a bloody cold margarita. we didn’t realise there were so many margie lovers out there! IGC.

As Gold Coast locals, how has the local culture and lifestyle influenced the style and ethos of Sabbi?
Here on the Gold Coast, it’s all about lifestyle. Going from the beach to the shops to a cheeky margie with the gals, so we wanted to create something you could wear everywhere but also feel like a solid 10 wearing it!

What’s next for Sabbi?
We have big plans baby so strap in!

We have a killer winter range in the works. We have a men’s range dropping soon and we want to continue to make fashion-forward prints and designs that make people feel good.

We want people to love what they’re wearing and we want to promote positive energy through our clothes. If we can make a few people laugh along the way then we are winning.

What are your Gold Coast favourites?
Favourite café: Don’t hate us. but we love a 7/11 coffee. When we were starting up Sabbi we had to sell everything so our budget was TIGHT AS…7/11 coffee grew on us haha. If we aren’t 7/11ing then Well Bread and Pastry in Palmy.
Favourite restaurant: Deli by Peppi…Cheese wheel Wednesdays are something else!
Favourite bar: Scott’s in Palm Beach for a delicious Pet Nat
Favourite beach: Palmy Ave

How do you choose to spend your days off?
Hanging out with the twins, Taking Allen and Merv to the dog park. When we get some alone time we love nothing more than to get a bottle of Pet Nat and sit on the couch in our jammies watching really really sh*t TV (Housewives of Beverly Hills, Southern Charm, Below Deck to name a few) while talking…Jase usually falls asleep and is snoring an hour in.

After 15 years competing as an IronMan Matt Poole announced his retirement earlier this year. In a fitting full-circle moment his last competition was held at Kurrawa, where he made his debut in 2007. We chatted to the new father about his drive to become a professional sportsman, what he loves about the Gold Coast and why he won’t be waiting for a cooked duck to land in his mouth!

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
I moved to the Gold Coast from Sydney when I was 18. I’ve been here on the GC the entire time except for 6 years on the Sunshine Coast.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I moved to the GC at 18 to pursue my sporting dream of becoming a professional IronMan, I spent 15 years racing professionally only just retiring earlier this year in April. Highlights of my sporting career include winning the 2017 Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain IronMan series, 2022 Shaw & Partners Shannon Eckstein Ironman classic, 2014 Molokai2Oahu World paddle board championships and winning gold at the ISA games in Fiji for team Australia. Outside of my sporting career I’ve got two businesses where I am a co-owner, MAMAN Bar & Kitchen in James St Burleigh and Gravity Seltzer.

Who/what inspired you to pursue a professional career as an ironman?
I grew up at the beach and fell in love with the ocean from a very young age. My Dad would take me in the water with him and pushed me into waves on a surfboard. I played a lot of sports growing up, but Surf Life Saving was my calling and through my teenage years really started to succeed and do well. I first qualified for the professional Ironman series at age 18.

Do you have any advice for aspiring athletes?
The life of a professional athlete is tough.. it takes hard work, dedication, sacrifice and resilience. Work hard, enjoy what you are doing and make it your passion!

How do you define success?
Success can be defined or measured a million different ways from a million different people. For me specifically success was always determined by training, racing and competing at my optimum. Winning races is the ultimate reflection of success, but sometimes for me I raced amazing, didn’t win and still deemed it a success.

In 2020 you teamed up with Oli Frost on opening Maman Bar and Kitchen. What made you want to get into the hospitality scene on the Gold Coast?
Oli Frost is a good friend of mine, he’s got one of the best business minds I know so when he came to me with an opportunity to partner up with him and launch MAMAN here on the Gold Coast, I jumped at it! We opened at the start of Covid which was always a risk, but even that aside we have continued to grow from strength to strength and are now a known and loved restaurant here on the coast.

You announced your retirement from competition earlier this year. Talk us through that decision.
I announced my retirement earlier this year in Feb, I still had a few more major events to round out the season but the timing felt right. 15 years racing professionally and I never left a stone unturned with my training and preparation. It takes its toll on the body physically and also mentally. I love racing and I love winning, when you lose motivation and you’re constantly getting injured it makes training suffer which in turn affects performance.. having said that, after I announced my retirement, I had my best results in Kellogg’s & Summer of Surf series races, but I enjoyed to go out on top, haha.

What’s next for Matt Poole?
My life has transitioned/ changed massively since finishing up my athlete career. I now have my beautiful daughter Posy who is 4 months old, I’m working with Gravity Seltzer to unlock new venues on and off premise for both our alcoholic and Non- Alcoholic range. I’m working on a podcast which is set to launch early 2023 and I’m also doing some commentary work with ch7 this season for Summer of Surf.

Health and wellness is obviously an integral part of your life, how do you intend to continue to incorporate that into your daily routine?
I thought after retirement I would take a long hiatus from any forms of training, however I quickly realised how much I love and miss that feeling you get after a hard session. Although I’m not training like a professional athlete, I still love staying fit and healthy. Mostly I go to gym, run, ocean swim, surf and a little Ocean Ski paddling.

What is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given?
Best advice I have ever been given… It’s more of a quote but it’s still advice: “The hunter who waits for the cooked duck to land in his mouth, is going to be a hungry hunter” – It’s weird, but since retiring I’ve realised you have to work hard for everything in life. You can’t just wait around for opportunities to land at your doorstep.

What do you love most about living on the Gold Coast?
I love the beaches, restaurants and warm weather! I live a stone’s throw from the beach and waking up, going for a morning ocean swim and grabbing a coffee on the way home is the perfect way to start any day!

Do you have any Gold Coast favourites you keep going back to?
Café/Coffee spot: The Kiosk Burleigh Pav
Restaurant: MAMAN
Bar or place for a drink: Burleigh Pav
Beach: Burleigh

How do you choose to spend your weekends?
I love spending my weekends eating out, surfing, fishing and having a drink with mates.