Diving into Hollywood: Stuntwoman Liz Parkinson on the Na'vi of Avatar

In this episode of the Scuba GOAT Podcast, we follow the extraordinary journey of underwater stuntwoman Liz Parkinson. Growing up across three countries - the US, England, and South Africa - Liz discovered her love of the water early, and a fierce competitive streak in South Africa pushed her to always outswim her friends. As a teenager, she trained to become a competitive international swimmer for Ireland, earning a university scholarship in the US, where new coaching provided a rude awakening and elite training that reshaped her approach to performance.

Liz’s dive career then took her across the Caribbean, working in Turks and Caicos and eventually at Stuart's Cove, where she got her first taste of on-screen work - even if it meant emulating a squid. She had no idea this was the start of a Hollywood journey, but soon she was called to audition and ultimately move to Los Angeles, where she began shaping the underwater movements of major films. Beyond performing stunts herself, Liz also taught actors how to move, breathe, and perform convincingly underwater, bridging the gap between dive expertise and cinematic magic.

Passionate about inspiring the next generation of dive professionals, Liz regularly participates in interviews, panels, and public appearances to share her experience and guidance. She has also taken on hosting roles, including as MC for the Go Diving Show. If you’re attending any dive events this year, keep an eye out—Liz may be on stage sharing stories from her time bringing the world of Pandora and the Na’vi to life.

Please enjoy. 

Transcript

Liz Parkinson (00:00)
 Okay. Hi there. I'm Liz Parkinson. I'm a stunt woman in Los Angeles, California. I'm a professional diver and free diver and welcome to the Scuba GOAT Podcast.
 
 Matt Waters (00:12)
 Hey, ‚Åì awesome. Cracking introduction, Liz. Welcome to the show. Hey, ‚Åì the last time we spoke, I was actually over your neck of the woods in LA and it was absolutely lashing down with rain. I hope it's improved a little bit now.
 
 Liz Parkinson (00:13)
 There you go.
 
 Thank you. Nice to be here.
 
 You know what, going into the holiday week or Christmas week now, I think we are expecting rain starting tomorrow night. it's supposedly California is going to be one of the wettest places on earth over Christmas. So my first Christmas in California, we are expected to have rain for the next five days solid, absolutely bucketing out of the heavens. ‚Åì So it hasn't much changed, although I was just with a friend and
 
 Matt Waters (00:41)
 ‚Åì I do.
 
 Ha ha ha ha ha
 
 Liz Parkinson (00:56)
 the weather here has been extraordinary for this time of year. I mean, we're on a beach in shorts and a t-shirt. I know you guys are in the summer. I grew up in South Africa, so I'm very aware of what it's like to have a summer Christmas. So the winter Christmas for me are a bit strange, but yeah, it is so mild here right now. We've had blue skies. The water's getting cold. The ocean's cold, but...
 
 Matt Waters (01:08)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (01:19)
 A nice warm onshore breeze. really hasn't been too bad. So I can't complain too much about the weather because the East Coast of the United States has had it bad. They've had some Arctic blasts and it's been gnarly, but I can't complain too much. But yeah, we've got some rain coming. So thank you for reminding me about that, Matt. That's great.
 
 Matt Waters (01:39)
 Well, I hope it's not as bad as when I was there. can't believe it. You know, you go all the way to in fact it was DEMA from DEMA over to LA and then there's me board shorts and t-shirts in the suitcase and one hoodie.
 
 Liz Parkinson (01:47)
 Right.
 
 Well, know. you know what? It's the one thing growing up in South Africa, California is much like South Africa. The weather, the climate, the vegetation. And we actually need the rain. And this time last year, we are coming up to that time where we had those catastrophic fires. So I think for for for this part of the world, the rain is going to be most welcome. It's just a pity that it's going to be like over Christmas. But.
 
 We could be in England, so I'll take the warm rain as opposed to the sleet-y foggy rain any day.
 
 Matt Waters (02:27)
 mate, I'm going back to England at the end of January, start of February. And it's like slap bang in the middle of winter. So I'm going to be leaving like 40, 45 degrees here and going back to eight or less. Well, it's...
 
 Liz Parkinson (02:39)
 Yeah, life's all about choices.
 
 Are you going to the scuba show? Will you be at the dad's scuba show? I believe it's, well, I know, because I'm actually speaking at it, the end of February. So sort of that last weekend in Feb. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (02:45)
 uh... when when is it
 
 that. ‚Åì
 
 Yeah, no, no,
 
 I'm going to be, I've got to do it's a work trip. I've to go to Italy and then into France, up to Scotland and then down into, I'll go down to Kent and spend a week working remotely there just to catch up with my family as I live down there. Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (03:02)
 All right.
 
 Nice. I
 
 did it. live in Kent. cool. Cool. My family's in Berkshire. So I think we're just a little bit further north than you. Yeah. I was born in Windsor. Yeah, I was born in Windsor. ‚Åì And I still have a lot of family that live in and around Windsor. And that's the only town in my whole life that has been consistent my whole life. My family moved around a lot when I was a kid and we lived in many countries all over the world. But
 
 Matt Waters (03:18)
 Oh, Berkshire. You're a Windsor girl. Get out of it.
 
 Liz Parkinson (03:41)
 of when I think of home, it's the town of Windsor. It's like the most consistent address I've ever had is my aunt's address in Windsor. So yeah, it's home for me.
 
 Matt Waters (03:50)
 How do you go from there then? Because originally were you born in South Africa?
 
 Liz Parkinson (03:55)
 No, no, I was born in Windsor. And then my dad was working in the States when I was born. So my mom, Irish, had loads of sisters and she wanted me, she didn't know anyone in the States, so had me in the UK. And then we moved to be with my dad in Pensil, just outside Philadelphia. And my brother was born there. And then after about six years, we moved to South Africa. And that's where I sort of grew up from six and a half to 18. And then I came over to the States to swim and I got a scholarship for university here.
 
 Matt Waters (03:57)
 Okay.
 
 Liz Parkinson (04:24)
 And once I finished that, I got into my diving career and sort of started moving around the world diving and teaching and all that stuff. And then the rest is sort of, well, we can talk about it. But yeah, no, I was born in England, so I'm an English citizen. So yeah. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (04:31)
 Yeah.
 
 Okay, so,
 
 so English citizen, US citizen now as well.
 
 Liz Parkinson (04:45)
 No, no, I'm not a US citizen. I'm a green card holder. Yeah, my brother is. Yeah, so I I was gonna say I came out here. I've had multiple visas throughout my life to be in the US. And I got my green card about two years ago now. So I think in the US you have to be here for five years before you can become a citizen. So but I'm a British and an Irish citizen. I have an Irish passport through my mum.
 
 Matt Waters (04:49)
 Yeah, yeah, I've literally... gone.
 
 Thank
 
 Liz Parkinson (05:14)
 I actually swam for Ireland. I have a lot of family in and around Dublin and then in the southern part of Ireland, Tipperary, Cork area. So that's where my people are.
 
 Matt Waters (05:16)
 dear.
 
 Alright, so competitive
 
 swimming, you didn't have much competition to go up against in Ireland then did you?
 
 Liz Parkinson (05:34)
 No, they're strong team and you know what? It's so interesting that you say that. I actually trained in Hawaii in the summers. I went to college there for a few years and we had the Aussie Olympic team would train in Hawaii. So Michael Clem era, when I was in college, they were all the Olympians of that era. And I remember training with them and it was brilliant. They were such a great group of people. ‚Åì
 
 But no, in sport now, a lot of countries, the athletes train in different places of the world. So it's sort of like football, right? In the UK, where most of the players are not English, but they all play in English teams. And then come the World Cup, everyone goes off to their own countries and they play for them.
 
 Yeah, I mean, Ireland was, there's some strong swimmers for sure. I mean, I think in this last Olympics, they got a gold medal. was the, was it the mile? Um, I forget a young guy, he, he, he got a gold medal. Um, so they're strong. There's some solid, solid Irish swimmers.
 
 I started swimming. actually started swimming because my best friend at the time who now lives in Australia, funnily enough, she swam. Like we used to go to swimming lessons, know, your parents put you in swimming lessons to make sure you're going to be safe in the pools and stuff. And South Africa, everyone has a swimming pool. It's not like a... So we used to go to swimming lessons and she got really fast because her parents put her into training and I hated that. She could beat me. So I talked to my mum and dad, you know, I said, oh, well...
 
 clear is doing this. So can I do it? And so they found the local gym down the road for me and from our house in Johannesburg where I grew up and they put me into some training and I was probably about nine, 10. So a little bit later on the competitive side to start, but I started to get fast really quickly. I'm quite tall. So, and I was a sprinter.
 
 So I sort of accelerated through the provincial level of swimming in South Africa. We have provinces there, not states. Similar to Australia, I guess you guys have provinces, right?
 
 Matt Waters (07:36)
 well states.
 
 Liz Parkinson (07:37)
 States, okay. Yeah, so anyway, we competed different provinces, whatever. And yeah, I just, got into swimming because my best friend used to beat me and I hated it. So that's how I kind of got into it. And I played a lot of sport. I love tennis as well. I played tennis for a long time. And at some point I had to choose between the two sports and I picked swimming and I just fell in love with the water and everything about it. And I've kind of carried that water thing on my whole life. So every stage of my life.
 
 has revolved around water in some way. I've just used it in a different way for my career or my job or whatever like that. yeah, but started swimming, loved it. Brilliant sport, was recruited when I was 18 and got a scholarship out to the States. Moved out for university, firstly to the University of Hawaii, which was quite a traumatic change from Johannesburg, South Africa, literally 12 hour time zone on the other side of the planet. I remember flying into Hawaii and looking out the window and seeing sort of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach and just thinking,
 
 you know, similar to the world I live in now in stunts where I'm like opposite an actor who's trying to tell me to act towards him. like, but I'm a, I'm a squid or I'm pretending to be something like a creature. Like this is so bizarre that ‚Åì this is happening. And what would my 12 year old self think if I told them that, you know, so it was, it was a, it was a big change, but Hawaii was amazing. I was part of a really good team, solid team. were ranked, the women's team was ranked sixth in the United States. We're a fast, a fast sprinting team.
 
 My coach Sam Freese, who has sadly passed away, but his family is still super invested in the sport. And yeah, I loved it. was lifelong friends. I actually just went back for one of our assistant coaches. He was inducted into the swimming hall of fame and ‚Åì in Hawaii. So I was just over there a couple of months ago watching his ceremony for that.
 
 And yeah, so it was good. And then my coach left to move to Florida. I knew that going into Hawaii. So I followed him and I ended up graduating for Florida state. And I got a degree in politics randomly. Yeah. I kind of had this illusion of maybe going into law, but that lasted about seven minutes.
 
 Matt Waters (09:39)
 ‚Åì Random, yeah.
 
 Ha
 
 Yeah, fair one. Yeah, had a few of those growing up.
 
 Liz Parkinson (09:51)
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah, yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (09:54)
 Well, you mentioned earlier on about ‚Åì people moving around the world to train to get fit for their sport, all that kind of thing. Did you notice a significant difference between the training that you were having at home to what you received once you got into Hawaii?
 
 Liz Parkinson (10:00)
 Yeah.
 
 You know, that's a really great question. And I honestly think that nobody's ever asked me that before. No one's ever asked me that in an interview. So, you know, well done on you, man. That's, that's really cool. Uh, yeah. So, um, I was fortunate when I, had a female coach in, uh, not that that matters, but I was trained by a female, um, in South Africa and, uh, she was not a swimmer herself.
 
 Matt Waters (10:15)
 Ha ha ha.
 
 Liz Parkinson (10:36)
 But she had five or six of us who she took from basically a sort of a, would be in the United States, middle school, primary school to, a national international level. And, ‚Åì she was an excellent communicator in, swimming and investing time and being very specific within the athlete that she was training. Like the kind of training that I had was very different from training.
 
 Even though my other friend was a sprinter, we were trained differently and she was very good at that. so moving to, um, the States was not just like a cultural shock or that I'd lived here before, but now I was being trained by a man in a team where the competition level was so much higher. So by default, you automatically got better just because I'm training mostly training with men, which only improves a female athlete because obviously men are stronger.
 
 Matt Waters (11:27)
 Hmm.
 
 Liz Parkinson (11:31)
 physically than women are. So my, coaches put the top sprinting female, we would train with the guys, which was amazing. And, and a great sort of, ‚Åì you know, I was sort of at the top of where I was in South Africa and I didn't really have anyone to chase. There were a couple of girls who were really fast, but they'd also moved to the States. So they were also getting this elevated level of training. So it wasn't that the idea of the training was any better. It was just the facilities, the competition level.
 
 the expense from having one coach telling me what to do to having a head coach and three assistant coaches. So if I needed to practice something specific, I had the availability to do that. They really, ‚Åì you know, we had nutritionists. ‚Åì I was waged like I'd never had any of that before. So it was, it was a lot to get used to initially, but ‚Åì it was, it elevated my game. became a lot stronger. So
 
 The training that I got as a kid got me to where I needed to be to get to the next level. So it's hard to compare whether the training was better, but I think moving to the United States and having the infrastructure surrounding the schools and the amount of money that they can invest in the type of people and they can, the coaches can see, I mean, my coach came to South Africa. He watched me compete at South African nationals and was like, I want her to come to Hawaii and they recruit international kids starting in June every year. They have to.
 
 delay it, they get the US kids first. ‚Åì So it was an interesting process. It was interesting how my training changed, but my body changed my ability, my strength and all the kind of stuff that needed to in order to progress to the next level. So it was, it was a lot. was for a kid growing up in South Africa at 17 years old to move on the other side of the planet. I was definitely. ‚Åì
 
 It was a very big change, but it was great. Yeah. ‚Åì 100%. I definitely, my ego definitely came down a notch for sure. ‚Åì And I learned that, you know, I might've been a bigger fish in a smaller pond, but now I'm a very small fish in a very big pond. ‚Åì yeah, was initially it was, it was hard, rewarding too. And
 
 Matt Waters (13:29)
 bit of a fish out of water kind of thing.
 
 Liz Parkinson (13:52)
 I improved ‚Åì hugely over the time that I was there. I never made it quite where I wanted to go, but I don't think I'd have changed it for the world if I to redo a sport or redo, I would definitely the first sort of 15, 20 years in my life, I'd like to say I'd do it the same way that I had done it. So yeah, it was great, really great.
 
 Matt Waters (14:14)
 Well, think there's the whole concept there, you know, of stepping up the game and going to such a an elite level of training and getting all those, like you say, head coach and then three assistant coaches and your food sorted and getting played. It's got to be a wake for the for the whole body and the mind and more so the mind. Holy shit. All of a sudden, you know, I'm ‚Åì I am not as good as what I thought I was. not the I'm not the Gucci swimmer that I thought it was. You know, I've got to step up my own game just to be competitive.
 
 Liz Parkinson (14:26)
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah, yeah, this is how the big boys play.
 
 Right,
 
 right, right. Well, I mean, I think that's just a testament to, you know, sport levels at, you know, in certain countries like the United States, Australia has incredible athletes ‚Åì and different parts of the world. Like it's, it's, it's such a science. And ‚Åì even from when I swam, it's changed and the times have got so much faster than when I competed, you know, it's like,
 
 who's going to be able to run the hundred sprint faster than Usain Bolt? mean, how much faster can it get? But then every sort of six or 10 years, someone's born and they do it. And it's, you know, a hundredth of a second or whatever it is. but yeah, it was eyeopening for sure. It, it was a huge change in my life. It was definitely, it was funny. I was actually talking to my dad about this last time I was with him and
 
 we were talking about me as a kid leaving and my dad and my parents were very open. My brother and I, as long as we were safe and we could get home if we needed to, they were really great parents. They really were like, we'll go for it. Like if it fails, you just do it again in a different way or try it out. So I kind of grew up with that ethos in my head. And my dad actually said to me, he's like, it was a really hard decision for us to make. I was like, dropping your 17 year old daughter off at the airport in Johannesburg would mean like, we'll see you.
 
 See you in six
 
 Matt Waters (16:02)
 See ya.
 
 Liz Parkinson (16:03)
 months, good luck. Peace out. But he's like, he looked at me, he's like, yeah, think that was the right decision. I was like, oh dad, I'm so grateful that you guys had the faith that in me and testament to them raising me and likewise my brother the way they did. So yeah, it was pretty cool.
 
 Matt Waters (16:22)
 Yeah. So, so just on the on the training side of things then so actually at 17 going to is it college or university at that age over in America?
 
 Liz Parkinson (16:31)
 ‚Åì
 
 University, don't know, like yeah, I was definitely in university. ‚Åì I'm not sure what, ‚Åì yeah, I guess college, university, I think it's different in some places. Yeah, it was university, university for sure, yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (16:41)
 Yeah.
 
 Okay, so that's what, three, four years doing that?
 
 Liz Parkinson (16:48)
 Yeah, the US undergrad program is four years. ‚Åì And then you go into your masters, which is whatever your degree is, and then further education, PhD, or whatever you decide to, whatever your field is, I guess. So yeah, I was an undergrad for, I think it was three and a half years. I think I stretched it to four years just because my scholarship allowed me to do that. And then I was on a student visa.
 
 Matt Waters (17:03)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (17:13)
 ‚Åì coming out here and after you are a student in the United States, you get a year to implement ‚Åì your career, your degree into a job so that you can then get sponsored to get a working visa. At least that's what it was like when I was, I'm not sure if it's the same route now, but that was what it was like when I finished school, when I finished university.
 
 Matt Waters (17:39)
 Yeah, I
 
 got my Australian citizenship in February this year. So that took like, thanks, that took like seven years to get. Yeah, just going through the whole process is a long old drag, that's for sure.
 
 Liz Parkinson (17:45)
 ‚Åì congratulations.
 
 Wow.
 
 Do
 
 you have to answer like 120 questions about different things in Australia in your test and with your allegiance to whatever you ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (18:01)
 Yeah, yeah, yeah, they go do
 
 this ceremony and all this kind of stuff and basically, well, thanks. I would kind of think it was cool, but it was more, I mean, the day itself was more for the politicians just to sit there and stand up on stage and spill their shit. Yeah, yeah, was like, come on.
 
 Liz Parkinson (18:08)
 That's cool. Well done. Congrats, man. That's a big deal.
 
 you
 
 This is what we're doing. Yeah, right. That's funny. ‚Åì
 
 Yeah, I have several friends that have ‚Åì got their US citizenship and you have to, here you have to do a test and you have to answer various questions about presidents and stuff. And my mates laugh at me because they're like, you what, you're after doing that test. You probably know more about the United States and the judicial system than I do, but you know. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (18:48)
 Yeah,
 
 we do a test here as well. You gotta go to the test center and sit there with your computer and answer 20 questions. ‚Åì But yeah, it was all right. It was easy. Swatted up for it, geeked it out and learned all the difficult stuff to just find 20 very easy questions to do. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It is what it is. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (18:50)
 Let's go.
 
 I love it. Yeah.
 
 Very easy questions like what's our national animal stuff like that. Yeah. So when, when they asked
 
 you, when they asked you about the Australian cricket team, just lost position. Is that, was that right? How you actually know your cricket's good. It's your rugby. I apologize. I'm sorry. Your cricket's really good. It's your rugby. That's not so hot. I have.
 
 Matt Waters (19:18)
 the bloody cricket playing. ‚Åì
 
 Well, apparently it's not good because the ashes have just been played and the English have been,
 
 they've had their ass spanked already.
 
 Liz Parkinson (19:36)
 You know what,
 
 I was a South African rugby and cricket supporter. Always will be, it's hard. Like in my family, my mom was Irish. I think actually, no, think my dad's a South African too. You know, when the Spring Bucks play, oh, you've got to beat New Zealand. I mean, that's a given, but yeah, definitely a Spring Buck for sure.
 
 Matt Waters (19:41)
 there.
 
 Yeah.
 
 May I'm all about the rugby. ‚Åì I think I've played cricket twice and really got bored with it within seconds. I haven't got the patience for it, but I'm going watching it. I won't mind going watching it, especially do it the Australian way and they have a barbecue and some tinnies.
 
 Liz Parkinson (19:56)
 ‚Åì
 
 yeah, go down to Melbourne and ‚Åì do the New Year's Eve or the New Year's Day game. New Year's Day game or Christmas Day game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. When I went down to Melbourne last year, was amazing. I had such a wonderful time with such a great city. ‚Åì did the tour of the... My brother was a big cricket player. He played a little bit of county cricket in England. So many, many of my weekends would be swim practice in the morning and then cricket all weekend.
 
 Matt Waters (20:31)
 Okay.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (20:39)
 It's fun to watch. think all live sports are fun to watch. I've really got into the ice hockey here and I don't I mean I grew up in Africa. We don't have ice there and here like the Kings and the Capitals. It's amazing. It's watching a Vetchkin the other night was so cool, man. It was it's really live sports great. It doesn't matter what. Anyway.
 
 Matt Waters (20:57)
 I love it.
 
 we were playing, I was at a couple of months ago now, the Aussies were playing England at the stadium here at Rugby at the Accord Stadium and it was pissing down. absolutely hammered down. But me and my mate went along and, know, 24 layers and a jacket over the top and a brolly and God knows what else, but just just the atmosphere of being at a game. I love it. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (21:17)
 Right
 
 so much fun. So much fun. Totally.
 
 and you know, coming to the US, it's not rugby, right? It's American football, which was a different education in itself. Like it was, you know, it's kind it's not the same game at all. They kind of try and make it out to be, but, it's not, but it's fun in its own right. mean, college and NFL, it's all, it's all really cool. So different sport.
 
 Matt Waters (21:36)
 No.
 
 Yeah. But it's really hardcore
 
 over there as well. I ‚Åì I always, I followed NFL as a kid for so long because it was like when I was growing up, there was only three TV channels and then channel four came along and it's like, wow, all these world sports and you know, the NFL was on there. I was massively addicted to watching it and I got the opportunity to play a few games ‚Åì in the UK when I was in the military. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (22:00)
 Yeah.
 
 Oh no way. You know,
 
 they do the NFL take the take it to Twickenham every year. There's a, dolphins play. Yeah. So I just have to, I have, um, I have two hairless cats. Of course I do. I'm sorry. yeah, cool man. But anyway, diving.
 
 Matt Waters (22:13)
 Yeah.
 
 and adopt.
 
 Yeah.
 
 So
 
 yeah, back to diving. So we're doing the swimming bit. You're doing the swatting up to be a politician. And how the heck did you end up putting on fins?
 
 Liz Parkinson (22:34)
 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
 
 So my buddy Morgan, who she's one of my best mates, I swam with her and she actually lives here in California too. She's a great stand up paddle boarder and surfer. She kind of went that route after we finished competitive swimming and they were living in Hawaii and I had moved back to Florida where she was where I was. And I went out to Hawaii for a friend's wedding and they kind of talked me into staying and I did.
 
 I'm sitting on the master's pipeline on the North shore. I, uh, I made the decision to stay in Hawaii and I ended up getting a job at a, at a local scuba diving company called AquaZone because, um, sorry, go away, Um, uh, sorry. So yeah, so I stayed up. ended up staying out in Hawaii, um, and working at a dive shop called AquaZone, which was run by a guy called Devin Maryfield.
 
 I don't think he has the dive portion of his company anymore, but he still does sort of individual trips on his boats and stuff. And he needed someone to sit in a shop in the Outrigger Hotel on Waikiki and sell dive trips and snorkel packages. So he was like, you can dive. And I got my certification in my freshman year and it was a really bootleg class as well. It was like, I think I took my mask off once and it broke every standard known to man. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (24:02)
 Ha
 
 Liz Parkinson (24:07)
 Yeah, it was a solid introductory. I mean, we used to just go rent tanks from the Hyperbaric Chamber on campus because my friend worked there for extra money. And we used to get tanks for three bucks and just like take them off rocks and just jump off rocks. Like some of these rocks, like there's memorials on them for people who haven't come back jumping off these rocks. And we're like, oh, this is cool. Look, there'll be fish like 50 feet. Yeah, this is about 50 feet. I mean, it was so ridiculous. Anyway. Yeah, he needed someone to sell dive packages. So I was like, yep, I'm open water certified.
 
 And so every day I'd walk down to Waikiki. We had a little house on Diamond Head, just on the, Diamond Head volcano. I used to go down to the Waikiki area and set up shop and sit there and chat to people from all over the world who had come out to get certified, to go snorkeling, what have you. And after a while he, said to him, listen, man, you're killing me. Selling dye packages is great, but I'm in a hotel under fluorescent light. Like you gotta, you gotta throw me a bone. So.
 
 He kindly, he kindly got me to, ‚Åì I ended up picking people up in the morning. I'd pick all the divers up in Waikiki. I drive them out to our boats in Hawaii Kai. I jump on the boat and in the surface interval, the instructors would take me down. And that's how I got my advanced certification. And that's how I got my rescue diver certification. Then I take everyone back into Waikiki and pick up the next load. And I did that for about six months. So I got my dive master and then my visa was up.
 
 So I had to leave and I moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands where I worked in Provo for a French guy who had a company called Caicos Adventures. He has a company called Caicos Adventures. And the reason why was because my cousin, my English cousin from Windsor, his best mate used to go there with his wife and go diving and loved it. So he phoned in a favor and was like, hey, you got to hire this kid. She's, she's cool.
 
 So I got my instructor cert there through the Sandals Resort, my PADI ‚Åì open water scuba instructor certification, which was great. And ‚Åì yeah, and I sort of took it from there and traveled around a bit, ‚Åì making my way up to the Bahamas, which the majority of my career was in Nassau at Stewart Cove's, where I really sort of took off as an instructor. became part of a company that, you know, had a lot of different facets. wasn't just scuba diving.
 
 Matt Waters (26:21)
 Okay.
 
 Liz Parkinson (26:30)
 They had snorkeling, all kinds of water adventures. And that's where I kind of got my introductory into camera work, film work, ‚Åì and all that kind of stuff. Sharks for sure. Yep. Sharks for sure. Stuart has an amazing company where he over time has created this, what they call underwater Hollywood scenario where lots of different companies from, you know, sort of early Bond films.
 
 Matt Waters (26:40)
 Shocks.
 
 Liz Parkinson (26:59)
 came over to Nassau, the water color's amazing, ‚Åì the visibility's incredible, the animal life is just so abundant. And he would use his sort of platform that he created as a platform for all these production companies to come down and do whatever they needed. So we were basically the location, which was great, because I got to know it really, really well. And sort of one thing led to another, but.
 
 Yeah, he created this ‚Åì incredible platform and yeah, I was fortunate enough to be a part of that and ‚Åì it really sort of get my foot in the door and understand what production is like. ‚Åì Lots of really valuable mentors like Stephen Frank, who was sort of the first guy to take a photograph of me underwater and really showed me what I had to do and how I had to do it. And he's a great underwater photographer and
 
 ‚Åì yeah, he's helped me tremendously.
 
 Matt Waters (27:56)
 Is it Stephen Frank,
 
 Dan Stephen Frank?
 
 Liz Parkinson (28:00)
 Dan, yep, yep, yep, yep. He's based in the Florida Keys. Alert Diver, Alert Diver Stephen Frank. Yeah, and Dan, he's hugely invested in, I mean, he's all over the place. But his wife and daughter modeled for him for many, years, and he'd come down and do different photo shoots with Stuart. Stuart and him are friends, and ‚Åì like I said, the...
 
 Matt Waters (28:01)
 Yes. Gotcha.
 
 Mm.
 
 Alert diver,
 
 Liz Parkinson (28:28)
 The amount of days that you can dive in the Bahamas successfully are so much greater than many places around the world. And the accessibility to the United States, it's direct flights, it's short flights. It worked really well. So, so I moved from the Turks up to the Bahamas. And I was actually at one point thinking about coming out to Australia and you guys have that thing where up into the age of 29, you can come over and pick fruit for two seasons or something and get a visa. I got it. I got the visa.
 
 Matt Waters (28:55)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (28:57)
 ‚Åì but a film shoot came in and he said, ‚Åì you know, I really want you to do this. And so it was like that dangling carrot. That's what it was like there and you just can't always catch it. ‚Åì anyway, that, that, that was another big trajectory in my life where, ‚Åì I got into the production world and loved it. And it's so interesting, you know, I.
 
 Matt Waters (29:08)
 Ha ha ha ha.
 
 Liz Parkinson (29:21)
 you get when you work in production, it's like a different project all the time. So you get invested in something and you focus on that and you do a good job. And then the next job can take you somewhere completely different in a different kind of water. So it changes a lot, which I really enjoy. And ‚Åì you kind of always have a beginner's mind when it comes to stuff like that. You, you know, focus on one thing and then the trajectory changes and, I like it. So it kind of worked for me, but.
 
 Yeah, working in the Bahamas was amazing. I loved it there. The sharks were incredible. I mean, you've done shark diving yourself, so you know you guys got some pretty big sharks down where you're at. And the sharks were so cool. ‚Åì And I spent a lot of time underwater with them. And it was fantastic.
 
 Matt Waters (30:09)
 Well, where does it all overlap then? Because I mean, we've got Texan Caicos, nice little place to go to. Yeah. I've got a few friends that go from Canada. They go down there all the time. They're I wonder why. ‚Åì But then, how long were you at Stuart's for?
 
 Liz Parkinson (30:17)
 Yeah, wasn't shabby now. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
 
 I was at SIRT for about 12 years. ‚Åì I ended up ‚Åì being there for a long time. I was in the Turks and Caicos for about 16 months. So just year and a half-ish type deal. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (30:45)
 That's a bad way to cut your teeth really, is it? Because I can imagine Turks and Caicos is more, ‚Åì the percentage of the work that you do even as an instructor is probably more guiding than instructing and smaller classes and then Stuart's I imagine is a lot busier. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (30:47)
 You just can't.
 
 ‚Åì And that was the biggest change actually. Working in the Turks was like, you know, we had one boat a day. We'd have, you know, 12 to 15, maybe 16 people on the boat with two or three instructors. I'd either be teaching, I'd be doing, having had done a resort pool course the day before, or I'd be guiding whatever the situation. We would go out to West Caicos. It would take us an hour and a half to get out there. Quite leisurely have lunch on the boat. You really get to know your people.
 
 And then you'd come back in the afternoon, you'd say goodbye, see you tomorrow, do the gear, fill the tanks, go home, be home by five, six, have some dinner, a couple drinks down the bar, pub, whatever. So yeah, it was very chilled. And then Stewart's was like, it was like a crazy machine, man. It was such a well-organized machine. It was like two dives in the morning, two dives in the afternoon. The buses would come, drop off people, get them on the boats.
 
 The tanks are like filled right there. Throw the tanks on, throw the tanks off, have a bite to eat for lunch. You'd be eating your lunch, getting the bait box ready, meeting your student, meeting your boat people back out for two more dives. So it was, then, but then you were like done at 4.30 or five. But it was like, I racked up dives. I mean, when I was just a regular open water scuba instructor there, I mean, I joke with friends of mine who we work there. I mean, we sometimes do like.
 
 20 to 30 resort courses a day. We'd have, you know, I'd have students left, right and center. I got be guiding 10, 12 people at a time. So it was a completely different machine, but it definitely gave me a huge amount of experience when it came to, you know, organizing and keeping people together and, you know, solving problems on my feet, which is a huge part of my job now.
 
 really like being confident in my own ability and being like, right, I have 12 people and I can see 10. ‚Åì I'm sure they're fine, but I'm just gonna, you know, it's like monitoring that air mine. This one goes up and that one goes down. I also tend to find like Stuart had it like the advanced boat where he had like really good divers and then he'd have like a beginner's boat where people were probably open water certified or they'd come out with their kids or, you know, it was more of a family type vibe.
 
 Matt Waters (33:10)
 Hmm.
 
 Liz Parkinson (33:24)
 Whereas in the Turks and Caicos, the majority of people came out were really solid divers. Like people came out to dive for like a week or two weeks at a time. So the level of diving was also quite different too. But what Stuart had, which was, which was great. He had short boat rides. He had a lot of cool wrecks and he had the sharks and the sharks are, you know, people want to do that. They want to see it. And while I was living there, he had a, a PhD student from Simon Fraser university. name is Alexandra Malkovich, doctor.
 
 Alexander Malkovich actually now, and doctor. And she, although I'd never call her doctor to her face, ‚Åì she's lovely and she's a great, great scientist. And she was studying her PhD about the ecology of the reef systems and the shark feeding and all that kind of stuff. And so Stuart supported a lot of, a lot of kids coming in doing research as well. So the huge amount of giving back to the community too.
 
 Matt Waters (33:54)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (34:19)
 He was fundamental in working with the Bahamian government in 2012 to make the Bahamas a shark sanctuary. So no buying or selling of shark products in and out of the Bahamas, which is huge because of its proximity to the United States. A lot of fishing boats would come over and, know, clear customs, don't clear customs, whatever. And so that was a huge problem as well. And sharks are, you know, they're not great to eat. I mean, it's more of the fight of
 
 catching it because they're strong animals and you know a couple fishing boats come over would be detrimental to shark populations. ‚Åì yeah he was really involved in the community, involved with brief which is the Bahamian version of the reef foundation in Florida where they do a lot of conservation work. He's really big into coral restoration. They have ‚Åì coral areas there where they replant and we'd go out and we'd
 
 grow these corals on the coral trees by the James Bond Rex. And then, you know, every couple of years we'd harvest them and take them out onto the reef and we'd replant them and create alcohont. So yeah, there was a lot of conservational work involved with it too. So it wasn't just for people who really liked, you know, production or maybe really liked to teach. You know, there was facets for a lot of different people. And it's interesting to see that some of those instructors have gone on to work in those fields.
 
 off, like I've gone into the film world, they've gone into Carl restoration project or they've gone into shark science. So, ‚Åì or photography, had a thin photography, thin photo, which was a photography department. And, there's a lot of, photographers that have gone on and become big names in their own countries and their own rights. So yeah, it was, it was a great, business for that, for helping people find their niche and, and, and it gave me the start.
 
 and the understanding of what it was like to be part of a production, ‚Åì which was fortunate because it's how I got my lucky break, I guess you could say, how I...
 
 Matt Waters (36:24)
 Well, I think what you
 
 know what you've just explained there the scenario you've explained is like that one of those parts of the world where a lot of divers will look at it and say I'm not gonna go dive there there's too many people too many divers it's all a fucking factory blah blah blah monk monk monk monk. When in fact as a dive professional you need and I strongly emphasize you need to work in those locations because it is so busy
 
 Liz Parkinson (36:50)
 Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (36:52)
 you learn how
 
 Liz Parkinson (36:52)
 Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (36:53)
 to organize yourself and other people so bloody well. again, people will look at courses and say, oh, six open water students, one instructor, it's a factory again, blah, blah. Yes, it might look like a factory, but the organizational skills and the skills of the instructor trying to impart the information to make successful divers at the end of a course.
 
 Liz Parkinson (36:56)
 Right. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (37:18)
 You've got to be a bloody good instructor to be able to do that day in day out. And the only way you can get that is by doing it.
 
 Liz Parkinson (37:23)
 Yeah. Is
 
 the experience. Yeah. And I mean, you know, that's a really good point. But the organizations, like I'm a PADI instructor, they teach you how to do that. Like, you know, it's, it's in the, it's in the courses that you learn as you do the ladder of progression through the, the PADI sort of, you know, a progressional chart there. Um, and, and, and you, you are given those skills. Um, but you never, you don't think so? No, you're taught, you're not.
 
 Matt Waters (37:47)
 Well, no, no, no, you're not given the skills. No, they show you, they show
 
 you how to do it. They give you the basics on how to do the foundations, but the skills actually come from the instructors that you're around and actually doing the job.
 
 Liz Parkinson (37:54)
 That's that was what I meant. And then, yeah.
 
 Yeah, that's a good point.
 
 Yeah. No, you're right. I mean, yes, you, you have to, you have to take the knowledge that you're given and implement it. And that for real, you can only do that by doing it. You don't read it and learn it. And I think that goes for a lot in life. A lot of, a lot of things, you know, I can teach you how to do CPR, but until you actually have to do it, or until you actually have to help save someone's life, then you really like, you mean, you're not thinking like, that was
 
 Matt Waters (38:12)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (38:26)
 point A, point two, point B. Like you just do it because, and so yes, and, but being trained the way I was trained, I guess, sort of set that in motion. then I, yeah, Stuart's was great that way. I definitely learned to think on my feet a lot faster than I did. But then as well, know, Turks was amazing and the diving was incredible. I was doing, you know, an hour and a half, two hour dives. I didn't do two hour dives at Stuart's every day.
 
 But that was okay. was, ‚Åì yeah, yeah, But like you said, enough for, cause people are there like on a cruise ship or they're there and they want to spend the afternoon. And actually to your point, if you're not a scuba diver every day and you just want to do it, people don't want to spend the whole day on a boat. They want to come in, they want to do their dives. And then the afternoon, they want to go get something to eat and they want to sit by the pool and have a drink.
 
 Matt Waters (38:57)
 Yeah, 40 minutes if you're lucky.
 
 Liz Parkinson (39:21)
 And Stuart's allowed them to do that because it just had that and then the hardcore people would stay the whole day or they would come in for a week and then we'd give them their own boat and they'd go off and do, you know, weird and wonderful sites that were far off that, you know, the regular person just, you know, either didn't have the time or wasn't really interested in doing or the, or the ‚Åì experience to do it. So yeah, yeah, it was good. Yeah. Yep.
 
 Matt Waters (39:42)
 Yeah, yeah. Yeah,
 
 there was a there's a dive shop in Cancun that I dive with several years ago now, probably. I think 2019, Simply Scuba and it was much, you know, it's where the cruise boats come in and there's lots of divers, all that kind of stuff, but it's got great drift diving. And on the very first day we were on the boat, we've got a group of like eight people and. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (39:54)
 Okay.
 
 Matt Waters (40:09)
 I was grateful of the experience of the instructors that were on the boat because as soon as we got in the water, they recognized straight away that the Mrs. and I were next level divers in comparison to the ones that have got four and five dives and they split us straight away underwater. So we ended up with our own guide and that was down to experience, them deciding to do that.
 
 Liz Parkinson (40:29)
 Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. You can, as an instructor, you can
 
 get on a boat and within about two minutes of watching people, how they set up your gear, you're like, either this is going to be a really easy day or it's going to be a really hard day. And on my ear, all my ears feeling okay. Cause I might, I might have to go up and down a little bit today. Um, or, or let's go to that dive site. Let's not go to that dive site. Let's go. We're going to go, we're going to hit up the Bonerex. It's going to be great. So.
 
 Matt Waters (40:41)
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 We're
 
 gonna go in the kindergarten area. Yeah, I don't mind saying it. I'll stand by it, you know.
 
 Liz Parkinson (41:00)
 Yeah.
 
 You said that I didn't say that. Yeah, no, no.
 
 And it's true. And it's true. you know, people are like, I, know, people say to me, ‚Åì what's the best dive you've ever done. And I've had some pretty awesome dives and I've seen some pretty cool things, but some of the dives that I remember the most are actually the people that I took down to see sharks for the first time and just their reactions or, or, you know, that, that to me, I remember two or three of them clearly. And, ‚Åì you know, it's, it's.
 
 It's always fun to see people, especially those who haven't done a lot of diving, experience it for the first time. It's so cool. It really is. It's definitely, it's definitely rewarding. But yeah, no, it was great. So it was a great experience and yeah, I loved working there.
 
 Matt Waters (41:49)
 May I agree wholeheartedly and I've done thousands of dives as well and after a while they just all mold into one but it's the faces of the people at the end of the dive when you break the surface again. They're the ones that make that dive stick in your mind.
 
 Liz Parkinson (41:55)
 Right, right.
 
 Oh yeah, yeah.
 
 I just, I just certified, um, the son of a stunt coordinator, her and her husband. I've worked for both of them out here and they wanted their son to get certified. He's 11 and we, did our course and it's challenging. mean, diving in the Bahamas invisibility, that's 150 feet and it's 79, 85 degrees. That's not bad. You know, it's pretty.
 
 a nice white sand, know, a couple of sharks in the background, you know, for a little 11 year old boy, it's like heaven. We don't have those conditions in California, which is, yeah. So I took this little dude out. We had to do a shore dive. There was like a four foot swell and he had to do it because we were on a timeframe. We went out and literally the thermal climb at 20 feet went from
 
 Matt Waters (42:35)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (42:57)
 like 63 degrees Fahrenheit to like 49. I mean, I was sitting there with my hands under my arms and he had to take his mask off and put it on. And I was like, oh, I'm so glad I'm not him. This poor little 11 year old dude and his face, little eyes are just like this in his mask. And I was like, are you okay? He's like, yeah, I'm good, I'm good. So I held onto him because I was like, okay. I took my arm from underneath, I took my hand from under my arm and kind of held onto his belt.
 
 Matt Waters (43:01)
 Ha ha ha!
 
 Ha ha ha!
 
 Liz Parkinson (43:26)
 And he took his mask off and as soon as that water, because that's right here, this is the bit right here, as soon as it hit his face, he was like, that classic like, losing your breath. And you could see him fighting it. He was fighting so hard, like don't go up. His instincts were so sharp. Anyway, he settled down, he closed his eyes, he put his mask back on and he cleared it. He's only a little 11 year old guy, the swells like this. I mean, I was like this in his mask, because that's how close we were.
 
 cool little dude man, he crushed it and he was so excited when we came up and he's like, Liz, ‚Åì next time can we go like somewhere better? was like, yeah buddy, don't worry. Like this is purely a certification. I will never ask you to do this kind of dive again. He's like, yeah, maybe we could like, you know, I don't have to see a lot, just like some kelp would be cool. And I'm like, yeah, no, don't worry buddy. Such a, such a legend little dude man, such a legend. ‚Åì So yeah, I mean, I get it. Like, you know, it's ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (44:05)
 Ha ha ha!
 
 Liz Parkinson (44:25)
 It's seeing him and then I took him out to Catalina with his mom and we went for a dive and he had his little GoPro and he held my hand and he's like, did you see that? Did you see that? Did you see that? What was that? Did you see that? It was so cool. And that's kind of, you know, when you've done, like you said, when you've done a lot of diving and been to a lot of places and been privileged and honored to see what we've seen, it's so much fun to see it through other people's eyes, especially kids. They're just, they have no fear. It's great.
 
 Matt Waters (44:49)
 Yeah,
 
 what's your legislation name on?
 
 Liz Parkinson (44:54)
 Yeah, his name is ‚Åì Liam McAulight.
 
 Matt Waters (44:57)
 Liam, welcome to the club,
 
 Well done.
 
 Liz Parkinson (45:00)
 Yep. Yeah. His mom is Shauna Duggins and his dad is Brian McAulay. They're stunt coordinators and directors, second unit directors here in Los Angeles. And yeah, the little dude. Yeah, he's great. Such a kid. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (45:12)
 days. Yeah and like you say
 
 you you kind of forget about how good it is under the water when you see the same stuff all the time and then you know shit conditions and a little kid is just over the moon to be under the water and exploring.
 
 Liz Parkinson (45:24)
 Oh yeah, it was awesome.
 
 Yeah, it was very good. He did really well. Yeah, I was stoked to do it with him. I think actually they're, they might be headed to do some diving in the Caribbean after Christmas. So I was pointing them in the right direction and telling them what to do. But yeah, it'd be cool. Who knows one day he'll be my little actor that I'll have to take down on a film set. And I'll be like, yeah, man, I got, I got, we're good. We're good. I don't have to worry about you.
 
 Matt Waters (45:50)
 days. So how did it start to what was the lucky break then that happened in you know you mentioned earlier on about being held back for a film in production?
 
 Liz Parkinson (45:50)
 So, yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Right, right. So, um, it was 2017, the beginning of around maybe the middle of, um, uh, James Cameron came to Nasal and used Stewart's, uh, company as his platform to test some of the things that he wanted to test for Avatar. And, um, I'd worked on some features before, but like I said, we were the location. So people came to us. Um, and so that's what Jim did. He, he came with his.
 
 Matt Waters (46:03)
 Thank
 
 Liz Parkinson (46:26)
 with some of his production team. And, yeah, for a week, they had some of their stunt divers out there and doing some stuff that they needed for different creatures and the color of the water and just the vibe, the, just figuring it all out. And, ‚Åì his safety coordinator is a gentleman called John Garvin, who I'm sure you're familiar with, Johnny G and John. Yes. Yes. He's another British guy that, that.
 
 Matt Waters (46:48)
 Yeah, he's out here in Australia.
 
 Liz Parkinson (46:55)
 made the move over to ‚Åì Oz. Anyway, he ‚Åì is Jim's safety guy. He took him to the Marianas Trench. ‚Åì But John also lived in the Turks in Caicos and he wrote Santum which was that big diving film that ‚Åì came out many years ago. And when I lived in Turks, I got certified as a technical diver through his dive company, because he's very techie and does all the rebreather and all that kind of stuff.
 
 And so I knew him, I hadn't seen him in like 10 years. And I was standing on the back of the boat and he was doing something and I was like, Hey John, do you remember me? And he's like, Holy shit, Liz Parkinson. I'm like, what's up buddy? And it was great. mean, I hadn't seen him in a long time. And, and we chatted a little bit and, obviously we, I'd sort of followed him as you do in modern life, like through social media and stuff. I know what you're doing. I know what they're doing. And so he kind of kept track of, know, and he knew I was a swimmer and I
 
 been diving with him many times before. So long story short, it was the last day and he came up to me with a pair of goggles because we didn't use a mask when we filmed Avatar, we used goggles and a nose clip. And ‚Åì he handed me both and he said, this is your chance, don't fuck it up. I was like, okay, I just been safety on the back of a jet ski just with my mat, who you just sort of met the back of.
 
 Matt Waters (48:10)
 Ha!
 
 Liz Parkinson (48:19)
 He was a marine coordinator and he is Jim's marine coordinator So all of his guys are brought jet skis and over from California and I was on the back of a jet ski with one of his guys So he came up and he said yeah, here's your chance So we went out to an area called Golden Key Which is a sort of a 20 foot shallowish area and one of Jim's camera guys and then Peter Pete Socorini who was Jim's DP is underwater DP Came out and there was a bunch of
 
 Matt Waters (48:45)
 Hold on,
 
 DP.
 
 Liz Parkinson (48:49)
 Sorry, director of photography. So he's the head camera guy underwater. Yeah. And ‚Åì we went down and they had us do a bunch of things, a bunch of swimming back and forth. A bunch of, Jim had all these ideas for different kinds of weapons he wanted to use. And we sort of stuck my foot in a rock and shot a couple. And it was great. And I met some of the stunt guys because they had come out for that. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (48:50)
 Okay.
 
 Liz Parkinson (49:19)
 That was it. We went back in the boat. Cool. Said goodbye to everyone. Didn't hear from anyone ever again. So I was like, you know what? If that was my chance on Avatar, I got five seconds on a camera. Like it was so great. mean, James Cameron's on our boats. I mean, he was so nice and Garrett Warren, who's a second unit director and stunt coordinator and reconnecting with old friends. was like, man, that was, that was an awesome week of work. Like I'll take that any day over doing resorts.
 
 ‚Åì so yeah, I didn't, was Christmas. It was just before Christmas and I was coming back from a run and I got a phone call. didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway. And it was John Landau who is, who was, he sadly passed away. He was Jim's business partner, his executive producer for Lightstorm Entertainment. And John said, Jim's seen some footage of you swimming and diving and he wants you to come out to California and audition.
 
 Do you want to do it? And I was like, yes, I do. That would be great. So I flew out to LA for three or four days and came to Manhattan beach, which is where we ended up shooting the underwater stuff and got into a tank. And again, another really bizarre moment in my life where I'm sitting there and a stunt coordinator comes up and he's like, okay, I want you to act like a squid. I was like, I'm sorry, what? Like just be a squid. was like, and
 
 Matt Waters (50:20)
 Ha ha ha.
 
 Liz Parkinson (50:46)
 do a breathe up in a minute and we'll go. Yeah, about two minutes being a squid. was like, okay, what was this? I was like, whatever. So yeah, long story short, I thought I was like, well, that was it. mean, I looked like some sort of having, it looked like I was having a stroke underwater and I was like, then it's never gonna work. But I was in another guy who works, who worked and was, is one of Kirk Krack's performance freediving instructors and.
 
 we kind of buddied up because we were doing the same things together and we walked around the studio and we saw some of the early performance capture being done on land in the land stages. It was amazing. I mean, was like, this is like Hollywood. This is like the biggest film ever. I mean, it was so cool. I mean, everything, was just like everything just, and even now, like I think of what we did on Avatar compared to other film sets I've been on. It's just huge.
 
 ‚Åì and yeah, I didn't, flew back to the Bahamas. I was again, like, if that's all I get, how amazing was that? I mean, what a, what a tick. And then January, middle of January, I got another phone call and I was like, Hey, Jim really likes you and wants you to come on avatar. Can you, can you send your passport information to our production company? Cause we're going to set you up for a visa. And luckily in Nassau, they have a, they have a U S embassy there.
 
 So minor problem, my passport didn't have any pages. So had to go that Saturday. I flew to London, got a new passport, came back to the Bahamas, went back to the embassy. Just a minor glitch. Classic, classic, classic in my life really. That's how I roll. And yeah, I got a working visa. then 2018, a month later, two months later, I came out to California and started, I was on the...
 
 Matt Waters (52:21)
 Ha ha ha
 
 Liz Parkinson (52:37)
 the set of Avatar, which was again, I walked onto the set and it was just like, it was wild, dude. It was so crazy. It was just so big and impressive. And just the people that I worked with were incredible. They're like the best at what they do. And they were hired for very specific reasons. So there were Cirque du Soleil performers who were breath hold people who were specific at specific moves that he wanted. And, you know, it was like the first time in a long time that I'd been underwater with people where I didn't have to worry about anybody else.
 
 All I had to do was make sure that I did not exhale bubbles, that I did not break the surface until cut was cold. And I knew that if I was going to be there, the camera guy was going to be there. My fellow stunt performer was going to be there. The safety was going to be there. I didn't have to worry about any of that. It just do what you're there to do and do it fucking well. Like, okay, I can do that. That's very, I'm a sprinter. I can swim from this side of the pool to that side of the pool really quickly. But when I start having to go back and forth, it just becomes too much. But this was like.
 
 Matt Waters (53:25)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (53:37)
 get in the water and do it well. was like, okay. And ‚Åì it was amazing. And it became a family. Avatar was, wow, two years of my life. And I work on sets where I might meet the same person every now and again, just because I happen to be on a project with them last year or this year or water.
 
 what are people kind of stick together and are kind of involved in the same kind of things. But this was like two solid years where I got to know the kid actors parents. I got to know the voice coaches. got to know the makeup and hair so well. we just, Avatar 3 just came out this last Friday, but we saw it a few days before it was released. And ‚Åì it was kind of like a weird reunion of this family that I'd been with for so long, but like seriously five years have passed since we shot it.
 
 and people have like two children now. mean, lives have changed, but yet it's still like exactly the same. It was such a bizarre sort of weird sort of world that we were in for the night, but it was great. And ‚Åì yeah, it was an amazing film to be a part of.
 
 Matt Waters (54:35)
 Yeah.
 
 Did you have,
 
 did you know when you got that call and you to get run back to the UK and then come back over and get your visa or all that kind of thing. Was there a moment of a kind of similar situation of going from training in South Africa to training in Hawaii where all of a sudden you're like, holy shit, I'm a very small fish again.
 
 Liz Parkinson (54:53)
 Yeah, yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah, definitely. That's a very good ‚Åì correlation between the two. Yeah, it definitely was a trajectory, you know, like this and then the same thing, but completely different and similar to this. Like I just become so used to what I did. But I needed a change, ‚Åì a work change. And I knew that I just didn't know because I love diving and I love the water.
 
 ‚Åì I just didn't know how to take that to another level and not even a next level. It's just a new level. Like how do I do water in a different way? How do I, how do I maintain my passion for what I do? Cause that's where I'm most, I'm the most happy. Like I'm not an office person. My brother and I used to joke all the time. He's like, Lizzie, I just got a promotion. So I'm going to have a big window in my office. I'm like, that's so cute. I don't have any windows in my office, but you know, whatever floats your boat. ‚Åì
 
 So it's just like, was, it was definitely, it took an end to, and it was a challenge as well. And I love challenges. I love the challenge of the unknown. I love that feeling of like, it's like not fear, but the slight anxiety of what is this going to be like. And I think that's sort of the cool part about what I do now is that I know what I can do and I love.
 
 to meet new people and work with new people. But there's always that little level of how is this going to go? Like, how is the person going to be that I have to work closely with or opposite or in front of or whatever. yeah, so it was, it was, it was similar to like the Hawaii thing. just, it totally changed my life. ‚Åì And, but it, everything preceding that sort of led me to this point, cause I don't think that I would have been.
 
 as good as what I do now if I didn't have what came before me. it, yeah. Similar to my swimming. Yeah, similar to my swimming. I would not have got where I was if it wasn't the coach who then was able to let me go and go on to bigger and better things.
 
 Matt Waters (56:57)
 Yeah definitely, We're definitely, mean it's one of those, sorry.
 
 Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's such a, I think also ‚Åì anything that's, you know, sport orientated, outdoor orientated as a career, it takes ‚Åì a bit of, of an adventurous soul. And if you stop in one spot doing the same routine day in, day out, it's okay for a while. But unfortunately, at some point that while becomes too long. And, you know, the boredom kicks in and
 
 Liz Parkinson (57:31)
 Right.
 
 Agreed.
 
 Matt Waters (57:38)
 you know, adventurous
 
 Liz Parkinson (57:38)
 Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (57:39)
 souls, need that excitement. You know, if the excitement's lost, then you do need to move on.
 
 Liz Parkinson (57:41)
 Yeah. Yeah.
 
 There's a friend of mine sent me this poem once and it said, I wish that God had made me twins. And the premise is just that one of them would have been like the soul that can stay at home and lead the normal conventional white picket fence life. And then the other one's off jumping off mountains and flying to the moon. And I just wish I had both. I wish I could be both sometimes, but I'll definitely stick with the trajectory that I'm on now. I'm not sure could do the other way. I admire people who can, but each to their own, each to their own.
 
 Matt Waters (58:16)
 Well, ‚Åì my set of my story is nothing like yours. Like, you know, the adventurous stuff you're doing, but, you know, going from working in the dive industry as an instructor and running dive operations in a remote location and then coming here and ‚Åì effectively working a desk to set up my own travel company was, it was novelty and exciting. But after a couple of years, it was, it was almost torture because you're not outside, you're not doing what you want to do.
 
 Liz Parkinson (58:28)
 Yeah, there you go. Right.
 
 Yeah. And let me ask
 
 you this. Did you find it was weird to you, you had been met the dive instructor. It's almost like, did you find it weird? Like you were almost giving up an identity and you had to reestablish an identity. Did that ever like, did you ever think about it like that? Because I went from Liz, I went from Liz the swimmer. That's all I'd known. And I wasn't swimming anymore. So I didn't have that. And it kind of left me lost for a little while until I found diving and it was, it was horrible. I didn't like it at all.
 
 Matt Waters (58:47)
 Mm.
 
 100
 
 Yeah,
 
 100 % agree. Yeah, it felt terrible. I it was great when I first got to Australia because I was still doing expeditions. ‚Åì I think the big kicker for me was when COVID kicked in and it just stopped travel. So I couldn't do what I do.
 
 Liz Parkinson (59:16)
 Yeah. Yeah.
 
 I know that was COVID wasn't interesting. I mean, I just saw an email the other day about some of the ways that people used to cover themselves to just go out to the grocery store and the stupid like lining up outside a grocery store so that only eight people could be in there at one time. I mean, what were we doing? Anyway.
 
 Matt Waters (59:40)
 Yeah. Used to
 
 have over here, they had like hotspots on the floor that were a meter apart and you could queue on the hotspots. But if you offer off a hotspot, you'd get some Karen shouting at you, you know.
 
 Liz Parkinson (59:47)
 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
 
 you
 
 So yeah, dude, I was just
 
 in Athens. I just did the Athens marathon. I was over there and they still have some of the the the disks on the floor. It's like it gives you slightly like PTSD when you see it because you're like, my God, you don't want to stand on it because you have to for like two years. But yeah, I noticed that I was in some of the museums. It's like, please mind your distance. Please be six feet apart. was like, I scraped that shit off the fucking pavement, man. Yeah, right, right, right. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (1:00:00)
 Sorry.
 
 You
 
 Yeah, throw it the bin where it deserves to be. Yeah, there we go.
 
 But yeah, I mean, going on from the travel company and doing the podcast and the podcast actually started because of COVID. And it was that boredom and trying to, you know, wanted to keep that, that link in with the with the industry, you know.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:00:23)
 Yeah.
 
 I've never been asked to do more Skype chats to school kids in my life than did during COVID. I was getting bored of my own story. was like, I can't do this anymore. ‚Åì Yeah, right. And I mean, I love it. Kids are great. I love talking to kids. ‚Åì And some of them, it's always, you always have that one question, which you're like, wow, you know, and I hope, you know, I hope, and I've been, it's been great because I've...
 
 Matt Waters (1:00:43)
 Ha ha ha.
 
 Yeah, just rinse and repeat.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:01:06)
 I've spoken in different places around the world and I'll have people come up to me and be like, I was in the Bahamas and you took me on a dive and it changed my life. And I'm like, wow, I mean, that is like you said earlier, that's almost kind of cooler than anything that I've really seen. You know what I mean? It's just having that human connection. And I think that's part of why the film industry is so great because you take people out of their reality for a short period of time and you transport them to this world, be it Pandora, be it...
 
 Matt Waters (1:01:23)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:01:34)
 Wakanda forever, be it Thai cave rescue, be it Marvel, whatever the situation might be. And ‚Åì it's interesting, because when I lived in the Bahamas, we lived in a touristy area. We lived somewhere where people were happy because they were on vacation. So 95 % of the people that we interacted with were typically having a pretty good day. They were out in the sun, they were on vacation. And so for the last sort of...
 
 I don't know, my adult life since finishing college, I'd lived in Hawaii, I'd lived in the Caribbean all over, I'd lived in the Bahamas, and I lived in places where people were typically quite happy. Even the locals were happy because they lived where they lived. It wasn't until I came to Los Angeles, I was like, this is not a vacation spot. Like these people are really grumpy. And it is, it's so true. ‚Åì So I think film work is a way to escape reality a bit.
 
 Matt Waters (1:02:14)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:02:28)
 and it's fun to watch people's reactions. I just went with a bunch of mates on Saturday to see Avatar and it was so much fun to hear their reactions and what they thought of it. And, you know, this crazy, cool world of Pandora that Jim came up with and has sort of, you know, let the world see like a little window into his imagination. It's pretty cool.
 
 Matt Waters (1:02:49)
 We're bugged in for... I think maybe the 27th or 28th? I think we're going to the IMAX to watch it. Yeah, we got to get bugged. Yeah, yeah. So is there any... When you watched it, is there any character in it that you think, holy shit, that's me?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:02:59)
 cool, yeah you need to let me know what you think of it. Yeah, cool. Yeah, the visuals are stunning.
 
 Yeah, yeah, for sure. But I'm not going to tell you who that is until you've seen it. Yeah, yeah, I definitely...
 
 Matt Waters (1:03:12)
 Hahaha ‚Åì
 
 My
 
 brother's an ex-jockey and when he was racing horses as a sideline to earn some more money, he'd help out on some of the film sets in the UK. there's a couple of the old medieval movies where they're having battles and you'll see three horses fall over all at once and they're all him. He's on all of them, they just superimpose it all.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:03:19)
 Okay, wow.
 
 cool.
 
 He's on one the ones. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Or you kill yourself. That's always a cool one. When you like shoot a gun and you kill yourself. Yeah, that's also cool. You're like, I was the killer and the dead person. That's awesome. Yeah, that's pretty cool. But yeah, it was good. It's a fun ride. You'll enjoy it. It's a great, it's greatly entertaining. And like I said, the visuals were very cool.
 
 Matt Waters (1:03:41)
 Yeah.
 
 Ha ha ha!
 
 Yeah, that's pretty cool.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:04:00)
 It's just so much fun to, it's funny because I work so close with the water people. I even know when they're the double in some of the shots. And I wasn't even, and I'm not in that shot, I wasn't in the tank, but I can tell just because the way they move. I'm like, yeah, that's Chris. That's Mike. Yeah, yeah, that's Emily.
 
 Matt Waters (1:04:08)
 really?
 
 Yeah, so they're using
 
 you guys that are doing all the swimming and they actually moving and all that kind of thing to then superimpose the CGI.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:04:22)
 So it's motion capture. ‚Åì So yeah, so basically, ‚Åì yeah, we had like, you know, how video games are made, which I guess most people can probably relate to a little bit more. And so Jim just took that technology basically and put it underwater. And yeah, so we will be programmed as one of the characters and they have a scene and the actor will perform the scene as how they like using their face and all that kind of stuff and action as well. ‚Åì And then the stunt.
 
 Matt Waters (1:04:24)
 Okay.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:04:51)
 team will come in and basically redo it so that, know, like, you know, my background is swimming, so I'll do some of swimming stuff. So as a stunt performer, your job is to serve the actor and make them look good. And that's basically what we did. We, you know, we portrayed them on screen ‚Åì in the way that makes them look strong and powerful. But they did a lot of their own action. I'll say what, the actors ‚Åì were phenomenal.
 
 They were in the water doing breath holds like, know, Sigourney did a three minute breath hold once. It was, you know, pretty impressive stuff.
 
 Matt Waters (1:05:28)
 So what was what's the
 
 Where does the decision come from to put the actors underwater for real? Because it's such a CGI orientated movie, I suppose one of questions would be, why wouldn't the actors just be able to be CGI'd underwater rather than doing it for real?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:05:50)
 So CGI and motion capture is a little bit different. So the motion capture allowed ‚Åì the cameras to actually, all the movement is a human movement. Even the creatures, anything that's alive underwater is all a human movement down to the whales, the sharks, the squids, everything is a human movement. They would just ‚Åì use our motion and build a creature on top of that as opposed to CGI, which is just go in and create something that they want there.
 
 Matt Waters (1:06:19)
 Gotcha.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:06:19)
 We did
 
 all the motion. So when you see the biomass swimming through, that would be somebody moving through the screen ‚Åì in the way that Jim wanted his creatures to be ‚Åì visually seen. And ‚Åì then the animators would come in and use our motion and the way we moved to create what you will see in the end product. So yeah, he was really specific in saying that.
 
 You know, there's no AI, there's no CGI using this. It's all motion capture. It's all human movement. Like the way that Natiri moves, the way that Renal moves underwater, the way that ‚Åì Sierra moves underwater is all a human person doing that. And then the creature, like we would walk onto the set, into the volume already as that thing. So he already created the world and we would walk into it as that.
 
 as that. we're basically filming on Pandora. was amazing. And then they come in and the animators would do work their magic. And that's way above my pay grade. I wasn't obviously a part of that kind of stuff. I don't know where I wasn't part of that decision-making process when it came down to who does what. ‚Åì We just went in and performed the movements that were required of that character or that creature. And then ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (1:07:23)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:07:48)
 and then they sprinkle their magic dust.
 
 Matt Waters (1:07:48)
 But
 
 what about the actors as well though? What I'm trying to find out is why the actors actually have to go underwater for real to do, it?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:07:59)
 yeah,
 
 100%. They were right there with us. We spent on the water stage, I think it was like six or seven months, we were first unit where we had Sigourney underwater, Kate Winslet underwater, Sam and Zoe and all the kids. They trained for a year in breath hole training to be able to do the takes and the time underwater that was needed for the recordings of their facial movements, of their hand movements, of their swimming motion.
 
 Absolutely, 100 % the actors were very heavily involved in the one-on-one underwater time. ‚Åì From little ‚Åì Trinity, who when she shot with us, she was six, seven years old. She was doing a minute and a half breath holds. To Sigourney Weaver, who would do like a three minute on action take. ‚Åì Cordage, who was underwater more in way of water than the film.
 
 the film's coming up now, because obviously that was the emphasis was water on that one. there, mean, there is water in this one, that the new one that's coming out or is out. ‚Åì So yeah, it's, ‚Åì they were very heavily involved and Jim wanted that. He was really specific in having the real live humans be the motion. He wanted it to be as human as possible. And when you see what these, these people look like on the screen in 3D, it's
 
 It's just amazing. The clarity and the visuals are just incredible. yeah, they were very much right there with us and they were great and it was fun to work with them and they all did a really awesome job. And ‚Åì you know, it's so nice to see the end product and I hope that they get a lot of good accolades for their work that they did. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:09:48)
 Yeah, I'm sure they will.
 
 So when it comes to training them for breath hold, mean, breath holds, and I'm in and around the water all the time, but I am absolutely shit at it. You know, you know, don't don't float on the surface. I think like a do gone. ‚Åì But, you know, when it comes to actors and actresses that may not even, you know, be comfortable near the water, let alone in it, how do you get them through to?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:09:59)
 It's a...
 
 Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:10:14)
 a level where they're holding breath sufficiently to do all this filming.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:10:18)
 Right. And that's a really great question. And that's the other side of my job. Whereas, you know, sometimes I'm in front of camera and the other times I'm training the actors. ‚Åì on Avatar specifically, the actors were trained, ‚Åì before I got to the film set. So Kurt Kroc of Performance Freediving, who I'm sure you're also very familiar with, ‚Åì took the actors and, ‚Åì there was a, you know, I'm sure there was a heavy, interview process to make sure they got.
 
 who they wanted and who they needed and the looks and all that kind of thing. And then he took them into a training program where he trained the kids. Trinity, Jack, all of them went through this and Sigourney, they all went through this training program. And I think that they worked with him for about a year before we got to the set. And then it was a case of just maintenance. So we would see some week after week after week.
 
 and then others we would see sporadically. And it was a case of maybe the day before they come in or they come in a couple hours before and safety was a huge priority on the set. Obviously you do what you can do. We can cut whenever we need to. ‚Åì But yes, training an actor on other shows that I've done will fall entirely in my department where it's up to me to get them to where they need to be.
 
 And ‚Åì it's just like any kind of training, physical training, it's a process and there's techniques involved. So you start off with just basic breath ‚Åì breathing cycles and then you build up and you build up and you build up. Sometimes I get an actor for two or three days beforehand and I work with them and it's very intense and it's very sharp and I time it with the camera guys. I knew who's doing what and it's a whole process.
 
 Um, and then sometimes I have them for a couple of months beforehand, so it's a lot more leisurely. They can take their time. Um, and that, that's the best that happens mostly for features where they're required to be in the water for an extended period of time. And so they need that, you know, it's one thing to hold your breath for one day, but to then come back Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, it can get quite exhausting. mean, you know, by a Friday afternoon, being in the water for 14 hours a day is draining in itself. We'll hold your breath every, you know, 10 minutes.
 
 throughout that day, it's a lot every day of the week. So it's definitely a process and to your point, and you had a good point there, some actors love it and they're like, this is amazing. And they wanna go on and they wanna get certified and they wanna do it. And some actors are like, I do not wanna be here. I do not wanna do this, make this as painless and as fast as possible. Or I don't even know why I'm diving. I don't even know why I'm doing this. Can my double not do this?
 
 It's very dependent on the person. And so that's another reason why I love it because it's, can be challenging. ‚Åì it can be a lot of fun. I've had some great conversations. I've had some really good laughs. And then again, you know, some of them are doing it and it's a challenge. It's hard. It's not like, you know, they have to learn skills that they're doing and they have to look really good at doing it. ‚Åì and then similar to taking someone diving for the first time, you get to see them. I'm right next to them.
 
 the whole way through the process, I take the responsibility of the breath hold onto my shoulders, and then all they have to do is focus on their performance. And then when they get done and it's a wrap, they're like, that was so, it's so cool to see they just get so excited because they've done it. I mean, it's a huge accomplishment for them, the acting is the acting, that's their job, that's what they're getting paid to do. ‚Åì But they've also done it in a way that they've never had to do it before.
 
 And acting underwater is like photography underwater. It's not the same as it is on land and there's definitely challenges within that. So it's, it's a lot of fun to see them come out the other end. and sometimes I'm not only training the actor. I'm also training their double who's down there doing the stunts for them. And, ‚Åì so yeah, it's, it's, it's a dynamic, ‚Åì situation.
 
 ‚Åì But yeah, we just work through each project as it comes and we take our time and, you know, I've done a lot of resort courses.
 
 Matt Waters (1:14:32)
 If you
 
 ever had any big egos that you've been around the water long enough to recognise that all this talk on the surface, when we get you in the water, we're going to see exactly who you are. Water is a great medium for getting rid of those egos, isn't it?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:14:41)
 Yeah. ‚Åì
 
 The water is an equal light.
 
 Water is an equalizer for sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah, it's an equalizer. No, I won't do that. But you know what? I'll be honest with you. I'm quite lucky because, you know, swimming and holding your breath for three minutes underwater is not like riding a bicycle, which you've been doing your whole life down the sidewalk or down a road or in a forest or whatever. So for the most part, I've had actors and doubles who are
 
 Matt Waters (1:14:50)
 Yeah, you don't need to name names, but you
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:15:17)
 who are very ‚Åì understanding and very considerate and they respect, we respect each other. mean, they're there to do a craft and it's my responsibility to get them to a place where they feel comfortable that they can do it and that in itself is a responsibility. then to me as well, I'm there to support them. so yeah, I've been quite lucky. ‚Åì
 
 But water is definitely an equalizer for sure. You can tell within about 30 seconds whether it's going to be a really hard day or it's going to be a really easy. I think I've said that before. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:15:50)
 Yeah, yeah. I know where you're coming from.
 
 So moving into, you know, doing all the Hollywood stuff, has there been, you know, that route that you've spoken about, you know, getting into such a big production as well, and a very well known production. Has there been any kind of hurdles that you've had to overcome outside of the route that was laid in front of you?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:16:00)
 Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:16:19)
 there's been any difficulties within the system itself.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:16:24)
 I mean, Hollywood is a very challenging world to live in. ‚Åì It's not an easy place to survive. You have to learn to hear no quite a lot. I mean, I've heard no more times than I've heard yes, for sure. ‚Åì But you just gotta kind of put it on your shoulder and be like, that's great. I'm gonna just suck it up and I'm gonna, you know, and it's not because you may not be the right person for the, you may not have the right look, you may not.
 
 There's lots of factors that go into it. ‚Åì It's a lot about who you know. It's a lot about, ‚Åì you know, your ability and your skill level. ‚Åì Yeah, I find it, it's a hard world. You need to have a thick skin for sure. ‚Åì And learn to take, don't take things too personally. I learned that as well. can't, when they say no, the worst email to get is like, thanks.
 
 Thanks for the audition, but we're gonna release you. You're like, oh great, so that means that I'm now gonna be looking for work again, that's great. But yeah, I mean, and it's also a feast of our famine, know? Like sometimes when it's good and it goes and you've got two or three jobs coming up and it's great, and then you may not work for like three months and you're like, am I ever gonna work again? Like I suck, like why isn't there, why isn't someone calling me? you know, so it's very much that.
 
 It's not like a desk job where I know that Monday through Friday, I'm going to get paid and da da da. It's not like that. So, ‚Åì you know, even working as a dive instructor, I knew that I had two days off a week. knew that I had a paycheck coming in, so it wasn't going to be a problem. Like sometimes I'd have to like button down the hatches a bit, but for the most part, like, you know, I was going to be okay. But this world is not like that. It's you, you know, ‚Åì it can be a bit cutthroat, but, like I said, it's a small world, but what a world in.
 
 everyone that I have had the fortune to work with ‚Åì are really great. And you start to learn who some of the key players are and you get jobs. And yeah, you just gotta stay positive. This year has been a particularly bad year for the film industry. So this year has been a bit of a struggle, but it's okay. It's okay.
 
 Matt Waters (1:18:34)
 I suppose.
 
 So do
 
 you think that your name's now there in the Rolodex of people when they're looking? As soon as a movie comes up that involves water, then your name's got to be in there, hasn't it?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:18:52)
 I think maybe for some people it is, certainly not for everyone. I'm not the only person that does this out here. There are some pretty talented women and men who do water, who are, you know, well known to coordinators, directors, all that kind of thing. ‚Åì But ‚Åì yeah, I mean, I like to think that when I work, I, you know, I work hard and I try and do a good job. ‚Åì so I like to think that, you know, if
 
 if someone needs to hold their breath for five minutes and they're tall and blonde that, you know, I'll get the call. I'd like to think that. So yeah, but it's a, but yeah, it's, it is fun and it's so rewarding when you, you know, you get to, you get a job and you get that call and it's like, okay, this is fine. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. Or then when you go to the film and you see it and like I've
 
 Matt Waters (1:19:23)
 Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:19:42)
 worked on films that I didn't see for like, I almost forgotten that I had worked on them. I'm like, oh yeah, we did that film, didn't we? And it comes out and you're like, oh my God, that was such a good time. Or man, I remember that. So yeah, it can be very rewarding. You just have to keep going. You just have to keep plugging away and stay on top of your skills and your fitness.
 
 Matt Waters (1:19:47)
 Ha
 
 Yeah.
 
 You say Matt's in the industry as well, is he?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:20:13)
 Yep. Matt is a Marine coordinator. He's been in industry a while. So basically he's a department head where if there's anything that involves water, he has a huge fleet of boats and anything that's on the water, on a shore where they're looking from water, underwater, around the water. He works closely with production coordinators, stunt coordinators, and figuring out who they need and what they need and the movement of boats and not just
 
 in shot, also he's got huge platform boats, which carry the cameras that are used for filming for boat chases, all that kind of thing. And he's got a crew of guys who are amazing Marine guys who can drive anything and do everything in the water. so, ‚Åì yeah, so that's what, that's what he's, he's been heavily invested in the film industry for a long time. He was, he is, he was Jim's Marine coordinator on Avatar and
 
 He also was on camera a fair amount too with Pete and his team in the water, which was great. And he has dabbled in stunts as well. You know, he's 6'2", so I think he may ‚Åì have partaked in some Baywatch stuff at some point, I think maybe on the movie. He may have been thrown off a couple ships in SEAL Team or...
 
 Matt Waters (1:21:25)
 I was going to say, you need a remake of Baywatch series, don't you?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:21:36)
 been involved in some explosions where they need a guy to be thrown off the back of a boat who can swim in a big, you know, military outfit. But yeah, so yeah, he's involved in the industry too. when there's no work, it can be challenging, but yeah, but it's fun. It's fun. And it's great because we're both water people. So some of the times we'll get to work together, which is cool, and travel to different countries and stuff like that. So yeah, it's fun.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:22:07)
 Outside of the filming, ‚Åì you've got other stuff lined up. think we touched on it briefly at, well, last episode I think was DEMA, wasn't it? Yeah. And Mark, Mark Evans was super excited to announce that you're going to be doing some MC for them.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:22:17)
 It was, Demi-Yep.
 
 bless him. ‚Åì
 
 I love Mark and Penny. So I've ‚Åì done, and I think that's actually where I met you in Australia when I came down to the Dive Show. ‚Åì So, yeah, I've been presenting ‚Åì and a lot of people are very interested in the film industry. You know, it's kind of a cool, ‚Åì it's slightly different than, you know, algorithms of computers and the new, you know, pair of fins that's been designed.
 
 So yeah, I've been doing presentations to schools and to dive shows about, you know, free diving ‚Åì and the film industry and what it's like to work on these big productions, which is really fun. And it's great talking in front of people and seeing how excited they get about it. And I sometimes feel weird talking in front of people because I'm like, this is so boring. And people are like fascinated, like what's the temperature of the water? And I'm like, that's what you want to know, but sure. Yeah.
 
 It's warm. like it warm, man. If I'm in it for 14 hours, that shit better be like 95 degrees. awesome. So, yeah, better be hot and there better be a hot tub on the deck too. But ‚Åì yeah, it's been really fun. I love interacting with people and ‚Åì yeah, I've been asked some really cool questions and I was at the dive show in England a couple of years ago and I had just come off Thai cave rescue. the story of the Thai boys in Thailand ‚Åì when they were trapped.
 
 Matt Waters (1:23:22)
 Ha ha.
 
 Yeah.
 
 course.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:23:47)
 in the cave, right? And one of the productions of film, the feature was shot in Australia. And then Jimmy Chin and his wife did the documentary for Disney Plus and we did the Netflix series in Thailand. And ‚Åì I was in England and I'm talking about this incredible feat, which was even cooler because when we shot Avatar, it was happening. So Jim would walk off the pool deck and come back and be like, they just rescued another kid. Another kid just got out.
 
 And we knew that it was happening, but it wasn't until I was in Thailand and I read Rick Stanton, who was the main British guy, one of the main British guys, him and John Volanton. Yeah. So Rick wrote in the book and John Garvin wrote a letter to Rick, which he put in his book about sitting on the deck of Avatar, watching us perform while Jim came onto the stage saying that, so it was kind of like this weird circle that I kind of figured out. ‚Åì but I'm in England presenting and then literally I just.
 
 started talking about Thai Cave Rescue and the only production that Rick was not a part of was the one that we did in Thailand and he sat down in the front chair in the front row of this presentation. I was like, ‚Åì okay, this is I'm now telling this man about what he did. It was really bizarre, ‚Åì but it was ‚Åì it was a great story. It was such an incredibly cool thing to be a part of even more so than I think the end product like it was cool and it was a mini series and it was it was beautifully shot and
 
 I got on well with all the actors and the production was amazing. Everyone was really cool. Spent three or four months in Thailand, which was again fantastic, but just being in Tham Luang cave and being seeing that. And I would never, if I wasn't part of a film, I would never be allowed to be in that situation. So that's also something that the film industry gives you. It gives you that ‚Åì ability to be part of something that a general tourist or general people are not allowed to go to that place because it's sacred or.
 
 they're not allowed to dive on those, you know, in that area. mean, Matt did the movie Pearl Harbor and he was allowed to dive on the Arizona, not inside her, but around the outside. it's not, it's not, it's a, you know, visibility's here. It's, it's kind of gnarly water, but still just, you don't just get to do stuff like that. So for me being a water person, having the access to bodies of water that I would never normally get a chance to be in, ‚Åì but because I'm on a film.
 
 Matt Waters (1:25:57)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:26:11)
 I get to do it. I'm like, yeah, I'll take, I'll take that bonus. That's pretty cool. So, ‚Åì yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:26:12)
 Yeah.
 
 So when you were filming
 
 in Thailand, was Miko involved? Miko Pasi? He's the white guy with the dreadlocks. He's from Finland and he lives in Koh Tao. He was part of the rescue team. So he was in chamber nine.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:26:22)
 Nico Pasi.
 
 He
 
 may, he may have come onto set. ‚Åì He wasn't a character in our show. We had, we had the original boys played their actors in the opening episode, which was kind of cool. And coach Eck, who was the coach of the team, he'd come to set every night again. And several of the Thai guys who were involved with the rescue worked on the film, but it was a Thai centric and they really protected that. So.
 
 I, he may have been invited to come and see it, but I don't, I don't remember, ‚Åì meeting him or like, didn't, none of the, none of what I would say, Rick or any of those guys, I never met any of them there. I met them subsequently afterwards, but, not on set. So yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:27:17)
 Yeah, yeah, you remember
 
 me if you met him he was in fact he was Probably the third or fourth interview that I did when I started this podcast. We broke his podcast cherry. Yeah I lived well, I live like half a mile from where he lives in Kotel ‚Åì Yeah, we'd end up at the same bar at the end of the week, you
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:27:20)
 Yeah.
 
 ‚Åì cool. Yeah, brilliant.
 
 No way. Yeah. I mean, was. Yeah,
 
 it was it was quite extraordinary, you know, and and the the cave community is smaller, smaller, even still within the dive industry. within it, you so yeah, I knew a lot of the people and ‚Åì Richard Harris, who was the anesthesiologist, Doc Harry, who's your Aussie guy. He doubled himself in our show.
 
 Matt Waters (1:28:03)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:28:03)
 So I
 
 spent a lot of time in the van, many hours I spent with Doc sitting and talking about it. And ‚Åì yeah, he's such a good dude, such a good dude. So yeah, was good. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (1:28:13)
 He's a lovely fellow. And he's doing all that. He's doing the
 
 rounds at the moment with the cinema doing his latest docco.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:28:20)
 That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 We spoke a lot about, I know he wanted to get into sort of the film world from a doc, I think a documentary standpoint and sort of telling his story and telling other stories, which is super cool. So yeah, I can't wait to see it. It hasn't always, there's no way for me to see it now. So I have to wait till I get a little.
 
 Matt Waters (1:28:43)
 Yeah, it's so
 
 good. They've done such a good job of it. You know, it's fantastic. he was there, was probably six, seven months ago now when he was in Sydney doing it. So I had a catch up with him then. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:28:48)
 Great.
 
 Okay. cool. Yeah. Yeah. I saw him at the die show as well. We, ‚Åì
 
 we ate a lot of donuts for some reason in the tank in Bangkok. So we had a donut, a cup of coffee together in Sydney as you do. I don't have any photos with him. The only photo I have is one of me stuffing my face with a donut. And I just did an article for Steve and Frank for alert diver for this next quarter magazine. And
 
 Matt Waters (1:29:08)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:29:23)
 He was asking me for handy pictures with him and I was like, only have this one. He's like, nevermind then. Thanks. Thanks Steve. Thanks Steve.
 
 Matt Waters (1:29:28)
 Yeah,
 
 there's not many kind of photos that I'm not one for selfies, but when I do them, it's usually stupid face. So I can't really use it for anything.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:29:38)
 Yeah, I know. And that's the thing, like, you know, on a film set, there's NDAs, so I can't, you know, and also I'm in the water. So if you're on land, you can like, if you're doubling something, like, hey, can I have a photo? But it's only if we're having a break or if we're in a tank or something and someone kindly snaps a photo quickly. But I've got a couple cool selfies with a couple actors who I'm like, yeah, it's pretty fun.
 
 Matt Waters (1:30:05)
 BAM
 
 I've got a few questions written down on it.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:30:11)
 No, Merzman, no, I'm very impressed. This is fun. I enjoy this.
 
 Matt Waters (1:30:14)
 So, you know, one of the big things, I mean, people that are listening to this, ‚Åì lads and lasses that want to get into like progressing their careers in diving and moving possibly into filming. I think they'll be listening to this to get advice. So if you were to look back to when you first grabbed the opportunity to get into what you're doing now, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to yourself?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:30:45)
 to continue grabbing those opportunities because it's such a, you sometimes don't get a second chance. And in, and in the world of diving, like scuba diving, like it's really fun to be an instructor. And I've had so much fun traveling the world and diving in different oceans and lakes and all kinds of things. That's great. But unless you're going to go into becoming a course director or follow the path sort of more corporate, eventually you reach a point where you're like, okay, I, you know,
 
 You kind of get tapped out of doing four dives a day. Like it's a lot. I mean, it's, know, and, and, and your interests change or you want to do something else. ‚Åì so just keep your options open, but, but also, also follow your passion. Like I have a lot of kids who say, I really want to go into conservation. I'm like, listen, conservation, need money for conservation. So think about going a perspective of where you go into business or a finance degree, because conservation is always going to be there. You're always people.
 
 Every non-profit is always going to need help. They're always going to need people backing them. you can do that alongside. You can do it as like a side hustle for the time being, but establish yourself and what you're good at. ‚Åì And then you can be of service. I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well, but... ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (1:32:02)
 Well, I think you're
 
 kind of hitting the nail on the head there because it's a shit paying industry as an instructor and it's an even shitter paying industry if you just want to do conservation. So you need something that's going to feed the bank account.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:32:11)
 Yeah.
 
 Right. You need
 
 and follow your passion. If you want to get into the film industry, if you want to get into film work, keep diving and try and figure out ways of either getting a degree where you become a PA or you start at the bottom. I put my time in as a dive instructor. I've spent a lot of many hundreds
 
 thousands of hours in the water to get to the point where I feel comfortable where if I'm asked to do something I can say yes I'm comfortable doing this or no I'm not comfortable doing that but yeah you just got to grab opportunities if they come your way don't be afraid to fail because I failed a lot I failed so much that you are going to fail and honestly my failures have been my greatest lessons I've I've definitely gone down the wrong path and if you ultimately want to get there maybe the route you took was not the best way to do it
 
 There's no shame in coming back to square one and just going in a different direction. mean, in the real world, no one actually cares. No one, everyone's involved in their own lives, doing their own thing. You got to look out for number one. So yeah, just be flexible. Have the, ‚Åì have the compassion to yourself to know that you're going to make a mistake, to know that it's not going to work some ways and that you don't have to succeed in every single thing you do. That, you know, if I had.
 
 If I had gone the Australia route, I would not be where I am now. If I had decided to become a course director, I would not have been where I am now. So you can't really have a goal, but be flexible on how you get to that goal. That's my best advice. I kind of still make it up as I go along. I'm not. I don't know.
 
 Matt Waters (1:33:52)
 Hmm. No, it's great. Yeah. It's kind of,
 
 you know, like I've got an acronym that I live most of my life by, which is JFDI. I just fucking do it. And sometimes you've got to do that. And I think the ability that we've got, you know, is if you're qualified as an instructor, you can actually jump out of being an instructor and try something. And as you say, bail, jump back in. There's always going to be a requirement for instructors.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:34:05)
 Right.
 
 And jump right back in, yeah.
 
 Right, like I just said, I certified Liam and it's fun to go back. It's actually a lot more fun to go back than do it every single day. It was great to take him out, you know, sit there and you watch me and you do the skill and it was fun. It kind of gave me a kick. was something different that I haven't done in a while, which was awesome. And I'm like showing this kid a new adventure and you, you know, getting him started on his path.
 
 Yeah, my best advice that I think I probably still follow today is that I have stuff that I want to accomplish. I have no idea how I'm going to get there. ‚Åì But I'm also, I've learned now not to be afraid to fail because I will continue to do that, but it's how I got where I am now. So it kind of worked a little bit. So I'm just going to stick with that, think.
 
 Matt Waters (1:35:12)
 Yeah,
 
 that's great advice. Just keep going at it. How does it sit with like, just thinking back to film sets and producers, directors, whatever that make the decisions on what they want as a specific shot? ‚Åì Has there ever been any kind of scenario where you've actually had to pull up and say, on a moment. This is a bit of a safety issue here that we've got to actually discuss.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:35:15)
 Right, yeah.
 
 ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (1:35:40)
 Do you get much pushback on those kind of scenarios or is it all kind of?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:35:42)
 Never
 
 for safety, never for safety. Safety is number one priority across the board. It doesn't matter if we're on land or if we're in the water or if you're unsure, always best to speak up and to ask. ‚Åì And there's no dumb questions. You just have to ask. ‚Åì Again, in the stunt world, we work with ‚Åì
 
 with stunt riggers who set up the stunts. And for the most part, we do get time to practice, be it on wires or structures being moved underwater on hydraulics and we have to swim underneath it. It starts off really slowly and it's built up and, you know, ‚Åì people will ask, producers at the ADs will ask us, the assistant directors will ask us, like, how do you feel about that? Is that good? ‚Åì When it's me performing, you're like, yep, we'll just go through it really slowly.
 
 So there's a lot of communication. Communication is really important. ‚Åì And then with the actors too, making sure that they're comfortable. again, that's another part like, okay, we're gonna, the double is gonna show you what to do. So I take the actor down, their double will do whatever it is that the stunt requires or the action requires. And then we'll take them through step by step, tell them literally exactly, you're gonna hold onto this piece of truss. You're gonna grab onto here with your,
 
 with your arm, slide it on your elbow and then swish your body underneath. You're going to spit your regulator out here and we mark it so they know exactly. And we do it in slow motion. We do it until we build it up and we build it up. So especially working with water, production companies are really mindful of the safety factors. Obviously we don't want anything bad to happen and you can cool cut it anytime. I mean, at the end of the day, you're the person holding your breath underwater.
 
 It's kind of on you. doesn't really matter who's calling the shots. If you can't your breath, you got to come up. mean, it's, there's no like two ways about it. It's not like you can just like hang from the tree for another, you know, a couple of minutes while they're fighting beneath you. You don't got two minutes. So, ‚Åì yeah, it's interesting. ‚Åì question and safety is, a huge part of it. And I have no problem saying, listen, I think we just need to slow this down or, ‚Åì because, you know, I want to make sure that.
 
 that everyone's happy and also that it works well because it's a lot of time and money and energy that goes into these things. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars that go into setups and rig sets and you don't want anything to break. don't want it, you just, step-by-step process, like anything really, like if you're working on construction sites and things like that, like safety is a huge progressive. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (1:38:07)
 Hmm.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:38:27)
 Yeah, I mean, I don't have a problem. And like I said, the production companies are great. Like you always have safety meetings before we start and you know, they always come up and say, listen, if you don't feel something's good, you just speak to me. And that you just got to be comfortable with communicating that you're not happy and go from there.
 
 Matt Waters (1:38:43)
 Yeah, because as an outsider,
 
 you kind of imagine it that it's this, you know, dictatorship of we've got to get this shot done. Let's get it done. As you see in the movies and how it's portrayed. And it sounds much more collaborative than than.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:38:54)
 Yeah. I mean,
 
 to a certain, it can be, I mean, it can be like, okay, we need to get the shot. have, you know, an interesting scenario that some people may not know, like children under a certain age, we call it pumpkining out. So they pumpkin out, meaning Cinderella, they're done. Like when the pumpkin hits their little logo is at six o'clock in the evening, that's their pumpkin time. They're off the set. Cause you can only work them a certain amount of hours.
 
 And within that amount of time, have to have a certain amount of schoolwork involved. So you may only get a kid for like 45 minutes and that's all you've got. you know, there's, yeah, the joke is sit around and wait. And we do a fair amount of that as well. I think most industries do, except it's just kind of one of those things that have been tagged into the film industry, hurry up and wait. But when it goes and we have a timeframe and we need to get the shot.
 
 and it's two o'clock in the morning and we have a kid that needs to go home. Like it's like, we need to get the shot because we're not coming back to it. What do we have to do to get it happen? And so yeah, there can be urgency and you have to be adaptable in those moments. You have to know that if something's not gonna go right, that you have the support team behind you that's gonna be there in case you are gonna be underwater for another minute and someone's gonna recognize that you're gonna need a regulator.
 
 And I'm not going to come up to the surface to break it because I have to be ready for the kid. But if I'm under a tarp for four minutes, I haven't done a breath up for four minutes. I need air. So, you yes, you, you definitely, there is definitely, there can be sense of urgency for sure. A hundred percent. mean, it is a business and time is money and, and they, they need to get things done. So, ‚Åì yeah, ‚Åì it can be like that, but, ‚Åì it's, know,
 
 Safety is number one.
 
 Matt Waters (1:40:46)
 Good to hear, good to hear. Hey,
 
 you know one thing we're not touched on yet, digressing slightly, ‚Åì sharks. Sharks and shark confirmation and all that kind of rubbish. Talk to me about shark.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:40:54)
 Sharks, love me a shark. Love me a shark. Yeah, sharks.
 
 Sharks, they're very cool fish. Yeah, sharks. We have some very different sharks here in the California waters than I did in the Bahamas. Although that being said, the Bahamas is the most amazing shark diving. mean, for anyone, I mean, I know you guys have some big guys and gals down in your neck of the woods, but.
 
 Matt Waters (1:41:04)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:41:23)
 the diversity of diving in the Bahamas with different shark species is extraordinary. you know, tiger sharks and white tip sharks, oceanic white tips, lemon sharks, bull sharks. I've done some work on Discovery Shark Week and so spent quite a few months swimming in various parts of the Bahamian waters with various different species, holding my breath and free diving down and brilliant. mean, I, I, my, I've always, I think I was
 
 I always loved them, but it wasn't until I got to Stuart Coves and I was actually able to interact with them in a way that I got to see exactly how they moved and exactly what they were that I really sort of fell in love with them. ‚Åì And yeah, I work with a couple nonprofits where we raise money in different capacities to support kids' education and funding for
 
 scholarship programs to educate kids and help them get internships at different universities or classes during the summer, shark angels being one of them. And yeah, it's, it's always a huge part of my life. ‚Åì Being in California, it's a slightly different process than it was when I was in the Bahamas, just cause it was in my back door every day and I had access to the sharks in a way that I don't hear. But that being said,
 
 There's a lot of ‚Åì work done here in California from both science, just cause it's obviously the Pacific and it's slightly different, different species, Catalina diver supply to cleanups and all kinds of things that they do up and down the seaboard ‚Åì in protecting sharks and all different stuff like that. So yeah, I've continued to do it and as much as an advocate of them as I can be in the places that I am now, I am.
 
 ‚Åì always, there's always more to do and I wish I could do more, but for right now where I'm at, yeah, I just do what I can. And like I said, support fundraising programs and we run marathons and do races where we get sponsorship through, ‚Åì different companies and stuff to support. As I said, internship programs and things like that. So yeah. Yeah. Happy days.
 
 Matt Waters (1:43:33)
 Happy days. Hey,
 
 I've got a buddy that if you're interested, I'll hook you up with her. She is one of the founders of Daughters of the Deep. And they're always looking for high profile female divers to be what they call a sister of the sea, just as a bit of a kind of idol for the kids that are coming through to look up to. But they focus on funding.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:43:47)
 cool.
 
 I love that. Yeah, I love that.
 
 Matt Waters (1:44:02)
 ‚Åì funding and promoting female divers in remote locations so they do quite a lot of work in Indonesia training up the local women or girls that come through to become instructors it's a very successful charity
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:44:07)
 ‚Åì cool, yeah that's awesome. What a great idea.
 
 You know, being involved in shark conservation, there's so many people that do it. And I think a lot of people do it in a different way. So people like, oh, do you know so-and-so? Do you know so-and-so? What do you think of so-and-so? And I'm like, well, look, I don't know that person, but I know what they do for conservation, be it sharks, be it ocean, it whatever. And they have their own way of doing it. And I don't think there's any right or wrong way. If you're bringing respect and knowledge and education about a plight, be it...
 
 ocean plastics or shark finning or whatever it is. And you're doing it by going out and speaking to kids. If you're doing it by artwork, by picking garbage up on the beach, it all adds to the greater good. And so ‚Åì it's always fun to hear what different people are doing and the interactions they have, because you just never know when you're going to say something or do something that's going to spark a little eight-year-old brain who will be like,
 
 I was going to say the next Elon Musk, but what I meant by that was come up with some really good ideas. And we'll mean that, know what I mean? You know, I was going with that to, to, to do something that's going to change something else. And you just never know when that, when you bump into that or make that impression. So yeah, it's great. And, you know, there's a lot of people that do it, but, um, you just gotta keep going. And, um, I love that.
 
 Matt Waters (1:45:21)
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:45:41)
 very much like to meet them. There's some really cool ideas that people have, different nonprofits and stuff that they work with to bring awareness to the ocean.
 
 Matt Waters (1:45:51)
 I'll hook you up with Kate, she's been on the show as well. She's based down in Melbourne. But you won't get a word in edgeways once she starts talking, she loves talking. She's so passionate about it.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:45:55)
 sweet, cool. Yeah, that's awesome. That's so great.
 
 No,
 
 it's cool. That's great. We need more people like Kate. We need more people to be passionate about things that really matter. Yeah, yeah, so.
 
 Matt Waters (1:46:07)
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 She's actually one of the,
 
 she's captain in one of the Sea Shepherd boats as well. Yeah, she's pretty cool. Yeah. I'll hook you up anyway. What you got on the, what's on the horizon? You got anything coming up?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:46:17)
 no way. Cool. That's awesome. Yeah, please do. That'd be great.
 
 I, I, you know, never want to like throw it too far out into the universe, but, yeah, I, I know of a couple of projects that are coming up potentially. I haven't signed anything yet, but, I have, been informed that my skillset may be needed. So I'm going to just, you know,
 
 feed that into the environment, into the ethers of planet Earth and see what happens. ‚Åì But yeah, ‚Åì like I said, this year in Hollywood hasn't been great. ‚Åì A lot of work has gone to Europe and other parts of the United States. So it's all got to do with ‚Åì tax incentives in the state of California and things like that. So it hasn't been a super great year, but that's okay. Hopefully 2026 will turn itself around. We're coming off, you know, the backbone of strikes and all kinds of
 
 things that happened in the different unions out here. So with any luck, 2026 will turn around. But I've got a couple speaking gigs, which I'm excited to do. I'll be in England in the of February, March. And then at the dive show here in Long Beach in California, I'm going to emcee that show for Mark and Penny. And then I'm going to go with them to, ‚Åì I think, Atlanta or Atlantic City to do it on the East Coast the next weekend.
 
 And then I'm actually going to Singapore to speak at ADEX, which I've never been there before. So I'm pretty pumped to do that, which will be cool. So I have a couple of things like that on horizon. Yeah. So I'm stoked. We're to do like a little free diving workshop and just talk about, you know, similar to what we've spoken about today, but in more free diving detail. And yeah, so some cool, cool little adventures. I closed the year out here.
 
 Matt Waters (1:48:02)
 Happy day.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:48:22)
 with a couple of marathons that I ran, was a lot of fun and working again with Patty aware to try and get us on the program for some of the majors to try and use that to kickstart some fundraising efforts for their marine programs, which would be fun. So working with them on that. I'm hoping to come down to Sydney to maybe do the Sydney marathon. heard it's a good one. Yeah, I heard it's a good one.
 
 Matt Waters (1:48:43)
 Oh yeah.
 
 What month's that in? I can't remember. Okay. And then, yeah, you might be on the Go Diving Show in September. No, it's September, isn't it? The Go Diving Show in Sydney. I think it's
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:48:48)
 It's at the end of August typically.
 
 So just when you're leaving the winter and springtime.
 
 I think so. I think
 
 awkwardly, awkwardly, think it's two weeks afterwards, which is a little bit too long for me to take. I don't know the exact dates, but if it doesn't happen this year, then I'll definitely try and do the Sydney Marathon in, I guess, 2027. It just became a major, so it's one of the seven marathons to do. So it's kind of like a bucket list thing. So yeah, so a couple, a couple of fun things.
 
 Matt Waters (1:49:22)
 Yeah.
 
 You're a freaking age, lady.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:49:33)
 don't know
 
 about that. I'm not winning these things. I'm just like poodling along with everyone at the back being like, I'm so good. I think running marathons has actually somehow restored my faith in humanity because although you're doing something incredibly hard and a lot of people like, why the hell am I doing this? Everyone is doing it and you're all doing it together. You're kind of suffering together, but people are so encouraging and races like New York and London.
 
 Matt Waters (1:49:37)
 No, but the thing is you're getting involved.
 
 Hmm.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:50:00)
 There's millions of people that watch these things and everyone's like generally having a good time supporting people doing something hard. And I think, I mean, I think that's kind of cool. I don't know. just, you know, it's better than driving in LA traffic on the four or five at five o'clock with people honking and flicking you off every time. I was like, I do that to me this often. I was like, I just want to, this is like, buddy, calm down. There's nothing. he's just like, I'm like, just calm down. It's okay. You're going to be here for maybe 12 seconds longer than you.
 
 perhaps want to be. But you know what? Nakatomi Tower is right there. How cool is that? So he didn't like that bit, but I did. I did. Nakatomi Tower. Because, okay, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Thank you. I don't know. I don't understand.
 
 Matt Waters (1:50:34)
 Yeah, yeah. ‚Åì
 
 Yep. Even though though Bruce
 
 says it's not.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:50:46)
 You see, it is a Christmas movie. There's Christmas carols and there's a Christmas, I mean, I don't even know. And someone said, yeah, but you could do that storyline at Easter. Yeah, but they didn't. They did it at Christmas. It's a Christmas movie. Home Alone could have been shot at Easter. People go on vacation at Easter time. It could have been spring, but they didn't. They shot it at Christmas. Just saying. Anyway, I just drove past Nakatami Tower. It's not called Nakatami Tower, but I don't know what it's called. So they had a, it's funny.
 
 Matt Waters (1:50:50)
 the trim.
 
 Ha
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:51:16)
 They had a security guard at the front gate, at the front, just on the road, being like, no, photos, go. People pulling, no photo. Yeah, yeah, because people want to take pictures of it.
 
 Matt Waters (1:51:21)
 Really?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:51:27)
 So anyway.
 
 Matt Waters (1:51:27)
 I bet it's on the tour as
 
 well and it do the LA tour
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:51:31)
 Yeah, you gyro out
 
 of people in the car. It's like, and that's that place, and that's that place, and that's, I remember a friend of mine said to me, I worked with Kevin Costner once, and she said, can you ask him if he has a house in wherever she lives, somewhere in Ohio? He's like, Liz, I've never even been to Ohio. Like, I don't know, I don't know, like, she's like, but it's on the tour. He's like, great, that's awesome. I own a house in Ohio somewhere, that's awesome. So, I don't know how true they are, but you do see that, you do see, and everyone's like taking their pictures, and then taking their pictures. It's funny.
 
 Matt Waters (1:52:00)
 Crazy Town.
 
 I didn't see much of that when I was over there because it was too wet. Everyone was inside. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:52:02)
 Yeah, crazy time.
 
 Yeah,
 
 you guys went to Palm Springs, right?
 
 Matt Waters (1:52:07)
 Yeah, yeah. Well, two Canadians that I spoke of earlier, they flew down for three nights and he saw that, you know, it was going to be pissing down. said, right, we're getting a car. We're going to Palm Springs. Brilliant. Let's do it. And it was so much better. know, glorious sunshine. Beautiful.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:52:19)
 Mm.
 
 Great.
 
 Yeah,
 
 I mean, people, it can get pretty steamy there. mean, during the summer, it's like the desert. It can get like 120. Like it's no joke. Like Palm Springs in the summer. But when it's gnarly in LA, ‚Åì I guess it's a lot of people drive back and forth a lot. So I've never been, I really want to go that. I think Frank Sinatra had a house there. You can go and do the Frank Sinatra house tour in Palm Springs. You can add it to your to-do list for the next time you're over here.
 
 Matt Waters (1:52:34)
 Yeah.
 
 that.
 
 Well, were with her. We're only there for the night and one night. Was it one night? Yeah, one night, one night, one day. So for us, it was, you a bar followed by an amazing steak dinner at the casino there. And then randomly, we thought, fuck it, let's have some more drinks and have a play in the casino. And yeah. And then Josh, who was the guy that organized it all. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:53:10)
 ‚Åì cool.
 
 Did you win?
 
 Matt Waters (1:53:24)
 Well, we had to support him on the way home like scaffolding. was three parts pissed and good time.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:53:31)
 Sounds
 
 like a really good friend night out. Yeah, that's awesome. So good. I'm glad that you had a good time. I did text you. I was like, just so you know, I wasn't lying. It's pretty wet here.
 
 Matt Waters (1:53:35)
 yeah, so much fun, so much fun.
 
 Well, I was kind of hoping, you know, like the show you were saying, oh, you have to send a photo to the sunshine. And I was hoping to get some sunshine, you know, at Redonda Beach. No way. You know, the hoodie was up, I had the draw cords down, I was freezing. But then, hello Palm Springs.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:53:55)
 No.
 
 So I'm just down
 
 the beach. I'm from where you guys were. I'm down the beach towards Malibu, probably 20 minute drive from where you from where you guys were. Yeah, I mean, it's a pity because it is a fun area. There's a lot of cool bars and restaurants all in this all in this part of ‚Åì sort of the beachy LA area, which is very different from like West Hollywood, obviously Beverly Hills, all that area. ‚Åì But next time, I mean,
 
 Matt Waters (1:54:08)
 Yeah.
 
 there.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:54:28)
 LA is kind of cool to fly to Sydney, so I'm sure you'll be passing through here again.
 
 Matt Waters (1:54:33)
 mate, in fact, July, July next year. The Mrs. and I and her brother, we're going to Vegas for his 50th. So, Jazz and I will be doing possibly a night stop in LA on the way back through. So we might hit you up some guidance on where to be.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:54:39)
 Go!
 
 No way.
 
 Let me know, let
 
 me know for sure. I'll come meet you guys up. And a buddy of mine, he's in O in the Bellagio in the Water O Show. If you guys want tickets. Yeah, I took Penny and Mark Evans to it and he'll come out and he'll take you behind the scenes. He was on Avatar with me. He's one of the main Water Stunt guys. He did all the Pychons movements and stuff. when you're in that planning phase, let me know.
 
 Matt Waters (1:55:00)
 is he?
 
 ‚Åì that'd be awesome.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:55:18)
 and they have a 7 p.m. and a 9 p.m. show. You can have dinner in the Bellagio and then watch the show or vice versa. It's a great night out, take you behind the scenes. Because the hotel, the Bellagio, was built around the theater because it's all the hydraulics of the stage is moving and stuff. And he's in it and he'll come out and say hi to you and stuff. So yeah, definitely keep me posted on that and I'll get you guys sorted. Yeah, it's cool.
 
 Matt Waters (1:55:32)
 Yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 That would be awesome. We've already said
 
 that we're going to go to the show and Mark is a massive fan ‚Åì of the show as well. I think that's where I first saw my ‚Åì first ever Cirque du Soleil actually at the Bellagio.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:55:54)
 Bellagio, yeah.
 
 So O's been there, I think, pretty much since it was built. So may very well have been O that you saw. ‚Åì But yeah, Benoit is in it and he's awesome. He plays the butler and he has his own character role. So he'll come out and say hi. And like I said, if you go to the 9pm show, he can take you behind the scenes and show you all what it looks like, you know, how they make all the stages move and the fire come out. It's so cool. It's a really interesting.
 
 Like I said, took Mark and Penny ‚Åì and Kelly on it when they were out and we had a great dinner and then saw the show at nine. So yeah, let me know. Yeah, please do. Do you know where I'm at? Just say, Hey, we're planning. And then I'll, I'll email him and I'll text him and just say, Hey, I've got my mates coming out with, needs like three tickets or something. Yeah. Pleasure to you. Yeah. Cool, man.
 
 Matt Waters (1:56:26)
 yeah may I 100 % I'm gonna hit you up on that one yeah yeah
 
 Yeah, that'd be awesome.
 
 Did Beno√Æt do O in Sydney? Have they done it in Sydney? Perfect.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:56:48)
 I don't think so. I don't think so. He's,
 
 he's French, clearly his name is Benoit. ‚Åì he was the first male synchronized swimming world champion and he, he, so he's a world champion. His husband is an English chap who's the world champion flipper, like on trampolines, you know, this long fit. He's the world champion flipper.
 
 Matt Waters (1:56:54)
 Yeah. Yeah.
 
 ‚Åì yeah?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:57:15)
 And he's like Cirque royalty. He doesn't work in Cirque anymore, but he was the Phoenix in Mystique. And his picture was on the side of like the huge MGM hotels, like insane. Like he was everywhere. And then their daughter, who's 10, she just got her world record tech for aerial acrobatics. And they, these
 
 kids throw her up in the air and she flips. So all three of them are world champions, one for France, one for the UK and one for the United States. So they're pretty awesome family. I just saw them, Ben and Ross came to watch the avatar they sat next to us and it's so fun. ‚Åì He's a really such a good dude. He's so cool. So I'd love to hook you up with him. He'll show you good time in the O stuff.
 
 Matt Waters (1:57:51)
 Let's eat.
 
 That's awesome.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:58:11)
 for sure.
 
 definitely. Yeah, definitely. Let me know. Definitely. Let me know. ‚Åì but yeah, and even, and even when you're in LA, come in, we'll go grab a drink or dinner or something. It'd be fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. cool. Well, do you, mean, is, do you want to, do you want to know about anything else or anything that, I don't know.
 
 Matt Waters (1:58:14)
 percent.
 
 yeah.
 
 Yeah, 100%.
 
 What do you want to tell me about? What's the gossip?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:58:37)
 of gossip. ‚Åì So don't tell anyone but no I don't know gossip. I'm the last one I'd be another last one to hear about anything. I'm like I'm like the last person to hear about anything even in my own family so I'm like not the gossip person to come to. ‚Åì But yeah good chat.
 
 Matt Waters (1:58:40)
 Hahaha
 
 haha
 
 Well,
 
 where do you see yourself in 20 years from now though?
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:59:00)
 Great question, 20 years. I mean, you know, it's such a hard, cause I couldn't tell you 20 years ago where I'd see myself now. Maybe 20 years is quite a long time. Cause I'll be fucking old by then. Jeez. I mean, you'll be old too. I know, putting in a solid effort. ‚Åì I think five years from now is probably more practical for me to wrap my head around. ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (1:59:01)
 you
 
 Yeah, you'll be catching up with me.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:59:29)
 I'd very much like to be established in this industry, ‚Åì stronger than I am now. I have some adventure goals that I'd like to accomplish. ‚Åì So that don't involve diving. ‚Åì But some of them involve water, but not in the conventional sort of paycheck type of way. So I've got places I'd like to see and I've got a couple athletic.
 
 Matt Waters (1:59:44)
 Okay.
 
 Liz Parkinson (1:59:56)
 things that I'd like to take off my list. So the only problem is I just need some money to do it, because that's the clincher. mean, people like money doesn't buy happiness, but you know what? It kind of does in a lot of ways. And to be able to do these things would make me very happy, but I need money. So I'm not sure if I quite believe that statement. So I'd like to have ticked some of those bigger ones off my list within the next five years.
 
 Matt Waters (2:00:23)
 What are we talking about
 
 here? What are you wanting to do? Where do you want to go?
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:00:29)
 ‚Åì I mean, again, it's like putting those things out into the, into the universe sometimes has backfired on me a bit. So you'll know when I do it, cause you'll be like, Liz, can I interview you on my cool podcast? And I'll be like, yeah, sure. We can definitely do that. ‚Åì but, but definitely, but established in this industry, ‚Åì a little bit more, ‚Åì there's parts of having been a stunt performer, the best advice I ever got.
 
 Matt Waters (2:00:36)
 Okay.
 
 Ha
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:00:58)
 was from underwater DP, director of photography, Pete Socorini. And he said, you know, there's the best thing that you can do is learn everybody else's jobs. So that when there's a lens change or when there's a lighting change, you understand how that's going to change how you look on camera or how your actor looks on camera or how the scene's going to be set up differently. And if you're one step ahead of that, it just puts you in a stronger position when it comes to communicating with the director, communicating with the A.D.'s and communicating with the fellow people you work with as well as actors.
 
 So I really like the idea of cinematography. I find it a fascinating part of this industry. I love seeing how and why the directors, and it's interesting because they all do it very differently. So, you know, some directors work better this way, some work better that way. And I kind of like to sit there sometimes and watch how they design a shot and be like, I wonder why they would do it like that. Because if it was me, I probably would do it like this.
 
 But I'm just observing and learning and it always makes so much more sense how they're doing it. I'm just, I'm trying to like be the devil's advocate and be like, I wonder if they did it like that. Would the shot look better on camera? But they also know who this who's editing it and how the editors like it. So it's such an interesting world, how shots and how the beauty of the shot is. I think when you watch Avatar now, you're gonna, you're gonna see just visually how beautiful it is and how it all came together. I think the
 
 an editing of beautiful shots, especially establishing a film in the beginning and the way the angles are used can really ‚Åì make a strong platform for the rest of the film to be built off of. ‚Åì And I sometimes see that in TV shows where they have a lot of money for the pilot and they chuck it all in there and they have, it's amazing. And then as the story progresses, it just gets weaker and weaker and weaker. You're like, you guys shot your whole load in the first barrel, you? And they're like, mm, yeah, kind of.
 
 Matt Waters (2:02:51)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:02:54)
 Maybe not, don't put it quite like that, but you know what I'm saying. ‚Åì but yeah, so I really love that. I love that idea. love, actually, I love video, but I really love still photography. And, ‚Åì I was lucky on the movie NIAID, the story of Diana NIAID, who she was the American who swam from Cuba to Florida. we were, we shot that in the Dominican Republic where I found one of my dogs and, she, ‚Åì
 
 Matt Waters (2:02:56)
 there.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:03:24)
 We shot, she came to the tank one day and we shot in this huge tank. also shot in the ocean. And for some very random reason, I was given a camera and told to just take behind the scenes photos. And it was so interesting to see it from that angle. Cause I'm always like in it or I'm, so in it. I'm with the actor, but to be on the outside observing it was really interesting. And I quite enjoyed that. ‚Åì and that was also cool because Jimmy Chen.
 
 who is him and his wife Chai, who did ‚Åì the movie about Alex Honnold, who free soloed El Capitan in Yosemite. They were the directors and it was the first time that I'd ever worked for a husband and wife directing team. It's always had just been a person, a man or a woman directing. So was quite an interesting dynamic that I hadn't worked with before. ‚Åì
 
 things within the industry that interest me. I don't know if it's something that I'll go into full time. I'm not sure how long I'll be doing what I'm doing or where it's gonna take me, but I'd like to think that in five years time I'll be in this film industry and hopefully have set myself up in a way where I'm still doing something that I love. And hopefully in the water, throughout the trajectory of my life, I sort of started with swimming and then I became a dive instructor and now I'm working in stunts.
 
 Water has always played a huge part. So I'm not really sure where you go. Where would you go from underwater stance? What would you do? What's the next step? What do you think? mean...
 
 Matt Waters (2:04:57)
 think
 
 it's just pushing it more and more and what you're doing now. I you've got an excellent foundation and you've been working on one of the most iconic movies of our generation, of several generations. In fact, the most up-to-date generation of movie making ever. So, be proud of it and flaunt it and hey, UK, guess what? This is me. Europe, this is me.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:05:00)
 Yeah.
 
 Right, right.
 
 Right, right.
 
 Matt Waters (2:05:27)
 this
 
 is me, this is how to get me and this is how much I've cost. Put it out there.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:05:31)
 Yeah.
 
 Where do you see yourself in five years time?
 
 Matt Waters (2:05:38)
 ‚Åì very good question. well, I picked up the role of sales management for Apollo Australia earlier this year. In fact, it was at, ‚Åì Oz tech in May when I was filming, ‚Åì podcast, reels for, for, ADEX, with John Thet that and, ‚Åì Mihiri and all those. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome people. But now I've got this role and I'm, you know,
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:05:49)
 Great.
 
 No way. How cool is that?
 
 Nice. Great.
 
 Matt Waters (2:06:06)
 organizing sales within retail, but also to several countries, defense ‚Åì sectors, ‚Åì and the emergency services in Australia. So over the next five years, it's mapping that out and expanding it and, you know, with the idea of making a lot more money and going on a lot more adventures. know, money. Yeah, yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:06:29)
 Well, there's that. Yeah, right. You see, it always comes back to adventures.
 
 Making money to have adventures.
 
 Matt Waters (2:06:36)
 Yeah, yeah. And doing more more of the cool shit that I like doing as well, you know, talking to people on this podcast, going out and doing adventures. I've got an expedition in in May. We've got a full boat going to Tubbataha Reef and Jill's coming with us, Jill Heineath and Nays Bagai. Yeah, I've got a full boat and we're going to go and have some fun and see some cool shit. You know, that's what it's all about.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:06:43)
 Yeah.
 
 cool.
 
 are lovely. ‚Åì chill. I love to.
 
 Jill is a very cool human being.
 
 Matt Waters (2:07:03)
 Yeah, yeah, love her to a pieces. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:07:05)
 Great girl. Yeah,
 
 she's just such a good soul and she always has a huge smile on her face. I mean, she's just got such a cool story too. mean, her story is just, wow.
 
 Matt Waters (2:07:17)
 Yeah, and the way Nays has put
 
 it across onto film as well is just fantastic.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:07:21)
 Oh, I know.
 
 So she did her in Santa Barbara. They did sort of the release of her film and we're an hour and a half south of Santa Barbara. So we drove up to watch it with her and I've read her book and I'm actually sitting next to her watching the film and there's certain parts I'm like, oh my God, does she make it? I'm like, Liz, of course she makes you sitting right next to you. But she's...
 
 Matt Waters (2:07:45)
 Ha ha ha ha!
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:07:49)
 You know, I always think like people say you have mentors and yeah, I've been very fortunate and I have incredibly cool people in my life who have helped pave my path. It's not something that you do alone and I think it's also a testament to yourself as a human to allow people to help you and mentor you to get you to places that you want to be because that's not their path. They're just sort of helping you and you're using them as a stepping stone in knowledge and education and friendship to get you to where you want to be.
 
 And I think for me, Jill is one of those people. And we were in Sydney and we were sitting at the end of the talk show and it was myself and Doc Harry, Steve Batchel, the crowd, all of us were sitting on the couch. And ‚Åì What's His Name said, ‚Åì God, I've just gone completely blank.
 
 Matt Waters (2:08:40)
 Leslie.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:08:43)
 Pete Mesley was there, no, the MC. Yeah, yes. Said to all of us on the couch, if you could do one of the other person's jobs, who's would it be? And both Steve, who I've worked with before on BBC and Jill both said, I'd like to do a day in the life of Liz. And I mean, I still like it kind of, I'm like really? Because I don't think I'm, I think.
 
 Matt Waters (2:08:46)
 Anthony.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:09:12)
 I would love to do, I would love to do, I mean, if I could, if my life could be a little bit of what Jill's done in her is I'd be like, you know what? That was a pretty good ride. So, yeah, she's cool. Has she been on your podcast?
 
 Matt Waters (2:09:23)
 Well,
 
 yeah, yeah, I had both Jill and Nays here in Sydney and we used the studio. So we did an in-person recording in the studio there. It good fun.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:09:30)
 ‚Åì sweet.
 
 They're cool. Yeah, that must have been then when we came for the show, because they were both there for that. Or was it earlier?
 
 Matt Waters (2:09:44)
 ‚Åì
 
 Which show was it? No, I think it was that show. What year was that? That was last year, wasn't it?
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:09:51)
 It wasn't
 
 this last year. wasn't 2025 is 2024. Right, right. OK, cool. Cool, cool,
 
 Matt Waters (2:09:55)
 Yeah, yeah, so that's when it was, yeah. Yeah,
 
 yeah, because it was like literally straight after the show and in fact was it straight after the show? No, just before. So it was a couple of days before the show and we went and used the studio.
 
 we've been going for two and a quarter hours. Yeah. So I think we should wrap this up.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:10:10)
 Yeah, yeah. I just
 
 had to beat Christina. I'm a little bit competitive, so I have been watching that timer tick by and I'm like, I just gotta beat her, that's fine, I'm good now. Okay, bye, no, just kidding. Bye. But thank you so much for having me, this was really cool, I loved it. It's so nice to chat to someone, it's so nice to chat to someone who's in the dive industry, because that's kind of where I started and it's so cool to, you know, we know a lot of the same people and...
 
 Matt Waters (2:10:17)
 Yeah, ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:10:39)
 You know, when you speak to divers, there's just a level you don't have to explain, you know, with my friends here, like, so tell me about diving. I'm like, well, what do you want to know? It's a huge thing. And ‚Åì one thing I, we didn't talk about, which I would love to just mention because it's becoming quite a cool thing and I'm not sure if you've done it. So I wanted to pose this question to you. Have you ever tried a Avelo?
 
 Matt Waters (2:11:04)
 Oh, yeah, look. Yeah, I was on the I've not tried it. And there's a reason for that. I was on the I was on the the web call when they first introduced it to Australia. And, you know, I was thinking about how to hit them up maybe a year before that as well to say, hey, come on the podcast and let's talk about it. But I got ghosted. But I was on the web call. And it's got a lot of people on there. And
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:11:13)
 Okay.
 
 Hmm.
 
 Matt Waters (2:11:33)
 They were just skirting around how you could use the systems. So I asked the question, so look, if I wanted to buy one of these, what's it gonna cost me? And.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:11:43)
 Right.
 
 Matt Waters (2:11:43)
 straight away it was like, it's not for sale. It's you can only rent it. So you've got to get a license to be able to use it. Then you've got to rent it from a particular store. And if you go overseas, you've got to find a particular store that has them in place so that you can rent them. So that's why I never bothered diving on it because, you know, they were just chasing money in my opinion, to start with. And I didn't need a, you know, a non weighted system or
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:11:59)
 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
 
 Interesting. Okay.
 
 Matt Waters (2:12:11)
 minimal weighted system to go diving. ‚Åì That's very long way of saying no I've not dived on it.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:12:13)
 Right, interesting, cool.
 
 Yeah, I was going to say yes or no would have been fine, but we didn't do it that way. We didn't do it that way. Well, I know I have done it and I'm actually an instructor on it. ‚Åì And yes, ‚Åì up until very recently, you haven't been able to purchase it. I believe now you can purchase it. I think that the progression of what it is and how it's advancing is such that, you know,
 
 Matt Waters (2:12:21)
 ‚Åì Yeah, yeah, I saw that you have now.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:12:47)
 this time two years ago, I don't think they were in a position where, you know, there were still so many things that, you know, it's a dive industry, nothing ever changes in the dive industry. And now someone's come along and telling you that you don't need to carry around a heavy tank and this is a new system and this, and people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, but we've never done that before. I'm like, yeah, but it's change and it's progression and it's different. And I think a lot of people don't, don't like that. but I, ‚Åì I have dived it and,
 
 I don't know, maybe what it's gonna take Matt is it's gonna take me coming to Australia and taking you diving with me on that. How does that sound? You diving with me on a-
 
 Matt Waters (2:13:26)
 Yeah, go for it.
 
 Well, we'll have to go up north then because diving in Sydney is fucking freezing.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:13:33)
 Or we
 
 could just, you know, we could meet in Hawaii or Cancun. I mean, I'm thinking, you know, they, they, we, do it here in Catalina. My God, it's like February in Catalina and you're like, Oh, but you're going to be in photos. So would you mind not wearing a dry suit? And I'm like, okay, so it's going to be like a 15 minute dive, right? Cause that's just cold, dude. It's like 55 degrees. Like what are we talking? I mean, you can see like that far ahead of you. Um, but yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (2:13:35)
 That's more like it. Yeah.
 
 Hmm.
 
 Ha ha ha.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:14:02)
 Well, this that conversation to be continued because we could do it Maybe I'll bump into you somewhere around the world and we'll go and dive it together. It did take me a couple of times to try it ‚Åì For me to like get it and then I was in Maui and I was actually with Lyndon, know, Lyndon Walbert ‚Åì She ‚Åì Lyndon mermaid and she was going to do she works with Avelo She does a lot of their social media. She has all their social media stuff and she was just getting her rad course So that's the equivalent of their open water
 
 course that you would have to do to be able to dive it. And it's just a learning curve. mean, it's not a huge, ‚Åì it's not a huge learning curve by any means. It's like getting your certification. It's, it's just how you set it up and how you do various things at certain times. ‚Åì and why you do that. And we just would take the tanks and go diving in Maui when I went to get my instructor cert. and it was great. And I, after like five or six dive, was like, okay. I get, I get.
 
 the feeling of what they're trying to sell, but I think it works better in warm water. So to your point, I think we should probably find a nice warm spot in the world to try it. Yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (2:15:08)
 Yeah, sounds good. Well, you
 
 know, this Apollo job that I told you all about the military arm of it, I'm getting to dive on some really cool shit. And one of the really, oh, yeah, just when we when we finish this and you're getting bored, have a look at there's an American company called Patriot three, and it's Patriot and then the number three, Patriot three.com. Have a look at some of the stuff I sell. And there's also
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:15:14)
 Yeah.
 
 yeah. Are you gonna make me jealous? You're not gonna make me jealous.
 
 Okay.
 
 Matt Waters (2:15:38)
 We're talking about the Avelo and the buoyancy system. There's a ‚Åì guy here in Sydney that's designed a buoyancy system that will automatically control buoyancy for you no matter where you are in depth and no matter how much weight you have on or drop or pick up. So you can control it so that if you want it to be at 10 meters and pick up 25 kilos, the system won't...
 
 allow you to be dragged below the depth that you want it to be set up. And conversely you can drop 25 kilos from your hands and it will ‚Åì expel air to make sure that you stay at that depth that you've set.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:16:22)
 Well, isn't that just so nice for you? So cool. Fucker. Well, you know what? ‚Åì that's great. Good for you.
 
 Matt Waters (2:16:24)
 It's awesome, isn't it?
 
 Yeah,
 
 yeah. So when we meet up and have this, you know, chat about and dive with the Avelo in warm water, then I'll bring one of those systems and we can have a like, let's try this one against that one and see how they go. ‚Åì
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:16:42)
 Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, you just pipe down sir. You just pipe down sir. ‚Åì
 
 cool
 
 man.
 
 Matt Waters (2:16:53)
 done now, and you're now that have extinguished your Avelo
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:16:56)
 Yeah, now I'm like, now my pride's been hurt. So now I'm like, yeah, fuck off. I want to go.
 
 Matt Waters (2:17:03)
 I tell you what, we will. We'll wrap it up. We're getting on two and a half hours now. just, yeah, let everyone know where they can find you. know, they want to follow up and look at you, then where they're to find information about you, your socials, all that kind of thing.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:17:04)
 ‚Åì
 
 ‚Åì Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry.
 
 Yeah, so the best place to find me and I'll be honest with you, I'm not great on, ‚Åì like, guess it's called X now and Tik Tok, but I'm pretty strong on, on Instagram. So my handles @LizParkinson1 the number one. So it's pretty easy. Lots of shark stuff, lots of movie stuff on there. ‚Åì drop me a DM
 
 all the social media handles are basically my name with the number one at the end of it. So it's pretty straightforward.
 
 Matt Waters (2:17:45)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:17:47)
 ‚Åì and then IMDB, my name, that's got a huge profile of information about me there. And, ‚Åì yeah, always, willing to chat to people email, like I said, phone people and, ‚Åì but
 
 Matt Waters (2:17:58)
 Hmm.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:18:00)
 it gives you a fairly good idea of what I'm up to and where I'm at. yeah.
 
 Matt Waters (2:18:03)
 Yeah. And you're
 
 available for work and after dinner, speaking events and all that kind of malarkey.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:18:08)
 A hundred percent, man. Yeah, I'm happy to. get, I get people, I do a lot of stuff through zoom and you know, if I'm not working that day, I'm happy to do that. And it's cool too. I love doing podcasts cause it's more than just like me. It's I'm more than like just a talking head and I'm telling you about something. I love the interaction. I love being on panels. Cause I think that audience person interaction is so great. Cause then I feel like I'm actually answering questions that people are interested in hearing.
 
 Matt Waters (2:18:09)
 Yeah.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:18:34)
 And like I said, like you've asked me questions that have made me full today. I would never have. Volunteer that information maybe because I just don't think number one people will be that interested or I'm just like, I've never really thought about people wanting to know. Cause legit you asked me two questions. They, no one's ever asked me before and I've done a lot of this. So, ‚Åì it's quite fun. Yeah. I like that. It's good. Happy days.
 
 Matt Waters (2:18:51)
 Happy days, happy days. All right, well it's been an absolute
 
 pleasure. So thank you very much for your time and hey folks, ‚Åì thanks for listening in. Have a great Christmas and a happy new year. Ciao for now.
 
 Liz Parkinson (2:19:00)
 It's been fantastic. Thank you.
 
 Happy New Year's, take care.