"Alright, so, we're back with another 'day in the life' today here in Western Australia - and today is looking like a bit of a ripper," is an introduction that millions of Tik Tok users have become familiar with over the past year.
The man behind the iconic line? Mandurah's Dylan James O'Brien.
Dylan skyrocketed to Tik Tok fame after his 'day in the life' videos, documenting his beachy, WA southwest coast lifestyle began pulling millions of daily viewers, who began commenting that his life was like 'the real-life Outerbanks'.
Each video begins with an aerial shot of Dylan getting out of bed, and follows him from beach-to-beach with guest appearances from his friends, and his dog Ollie.
Now working full time as a lifestyle influencer and vlogger, Dylan told the Mandurah Mail that growing up in Mandurah helped him find his life's purpose.
'Real-life Outerbanks'
"We grew up on the beaches in Mandurah, Halls Head, Seascapes - I spent most of my early childhood on the beach and in high school I got into surfing with my mates," he said.
"The ocean and being in the water are kind of the core of my life - on social media I have always posted surfing content and stuff like that. Then I started doing the 'day in the life' on Tik Tok to show off the Aussie lifestyle."
Dylan said he would film himself heading down to the beach with his dog, swimming, watching the sunset - and he started to notice his follower count rise.
"People really liked watching the videos and I really liked making them. It just kind of grew a following really quick.
"I've always kind of worked in the creative space - I only graduated high school last year. I did a lot of filmmaking and photography, and I aspired to be working on social media but was normally behind the camera.
"It's only been the last few months I've taken it fulltime and started to make a bit of money out of it. It's just come out of nowhere - being paid to do what I love every day."
As the videos continued to grow in popularity, Dylan sat down to reflect heavily on his 'why', and what kind of impact he wanted his videos to make.
"My videos are just what my mates and I have been doing for the past five years. The whole premise is positivity, spreading that really positive message and looking for light.
"I have seen a lot of my fanbase positively affected by my lifestyle, I have people messaging me saying they have been getting outside more and out in nature."
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A frequent guest appearance in Dylan's videos is his 14-year-old dog Ollie, who he said was his "best buddy".
"We got Ollie as a newborn when he was only a few weeks old in 2008 - he grew up with me at the beach and fell in love with the water.
"He's kind of the star of my videos," Dylan laughed.
Many Tik Tok users have even started making lighthearted parodies of Dylan's videos, with comical and unglamorous 'days in the life'.
Cold nips
At the end of 2021, Dylan had the idea to bring one of his favourite things down to Mandurah - a social group called 'Cold Nips'.
"Two guys from Perth, Jian and Ryan, started Cold Nips back in 2019. They started just ten of them going to the beach every morning, and they started a social page for people who wanted to get involved."
Cold Nips is an early-morning beach gathering which happens weekly, where participants all run into the water together at 5.45am, before gathering at a local cafe for their morning coffee.
"Now, the guys get like 700-800 people weekly at the Perth one - just going to the beach, enjoying the sunrise and meeting new people."
Dylan decided to reach out to Jian and Ryan, explaining that he thought Cold Nips would get a large following in his hometown.
"I reached out and told them I reckon we'd have a pretty good group in Mandurah - I expected around 50 people to show up at our first one at Avalon Bay - we got about 400 people straight off the bat."
Dylan said he was "blown away" by the turn-out, and within a few months, they had built a community of like-minded people.
"Mandurah has a pretty beautiful coastline - I knew bringing it down to Mandurah it would naturally get a bit of a following.
"It's about building right community and pushing outside of your comfort zone. When you first get down there it's cold, windy - it's not the most enjoyable thing to talk about. But as soon as you actually put your head under the water and get out, you feel like you've just had five coffees."
The more Cold Nips Mandurah grew, the more Dylan was able to see the positive impacts of the group up-close.
"It's just a natural high - kind of the whole thing, being outside in the environment, enjoying the little things - it improves your mental health."
Surfing into the future
When he thinks about his future, Dylan said he wanted to continue "living his best life", which involved many more sunsets, surfs and laughs along the Mandurah coastline.
He added that with borders opening up, there would even be some travel plans on the horizon.
"Going ahead, I'd love to do some travelling and inspire as many people as I can reach.
"I love Indonesia - and I reckon Hawaii is a pretty hard dream destination to get past. I'm planning a mates trip to Hawaii.
"In saying that, WA is pretty amazing. I'm so blessed to call this place home - there is so much to explore here that I haven't explored yet."
- Follow Dylan's socials @dylanjamesobrien
- To join Cold Nips, visit www.coldnips.com.au
Samantha Ferguson
Samantha Ferguson is a journalist at the Mandurah Mail. She is an entertainment, sport, crime, community and education journalist with a special interest in investigative pieces and human interest stories.
Samantha Ferguson is a journalist at the Mandurah Mail. She is an entertainment, sport, crime, community and education journalist with a special interest in investigative pieces and human interest stories.
