Local surfboard shaper Steve Del Rosso, Doug Kitchingman and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ keyboard player ‘Riviero’ at Secret Harbour beach.
Camera IconLocal surfboard shaper Steve Del Rosso, Doug Kitchingman and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ keyboard player ‘Riviero’ at Secret Harbour beach. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Celebs chill on WA beaches

Staff ReporterWeekend Kwinana Courier

Secret Harbour beach routinely hosts people from all walks of life from local residents to pollies, but did you know some very high profile international celebrities have also experienced the ordinary but beautiful freedom of the area’s humble surf beach?

The most recent celebrities to grace its shores were a keyboard player and guitar technician from the Red Hot Chili Peppers not long after the band’s Big Day Out appearance last month.

Chaperoned by driver-to-the-celebrities, local surf school owner and former television set carpenter Doug Kitchingman, the pair enjoyed uncrowded waves and a few surfing tips from the well-known local.

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‘I’ve given them (Red Hot Chili Peppers) a few lessons over the years. Anthony (Kiedis) and Flea weren’t up early enough to catch a ride to the beach this time,’ Kitchingman said.

He first took them surfing at Scarborough during their 1998 tour and has also taken Metallica band members to Scarborough and Rottnest.

Last year he took the Arctic Monkeys to Trigg while Beyonce and her dancers frolicked in Secret Harbour’s waves in 2011, unbeknown to local beachgoers.

Other high profile celebrities he’s driven around Perth and the South West in the past 15 years have included Pearl Jam, INXS, Midnight Oil, the Sunnyboys, Elton John twice and David Bowie.

‘Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) said last year, when I took him to Margaret River tavern, Australia was the only country in the world he could go unrecognised and just be himself.’