Rob Hobson and Anthony Carroll have a lot in common - they are both FIFO workers, they are family-oriented... and in their spare time, they like to dress up as pirates.
When I sat down to interview the pair, they had requested a video call - when I picked up, I could immediately see why.
"We've got our pirate and captain hats on - are you surprised?"
I was.
The men told me they met seven years ago when they first started working together, and had since joined forces to make videos which would make kids smile while they were on site.
"When I first started working with Anthony, he made travel videos, they were pretty amazing," Mr Hobson said.
"And then I thought - I could do a better job than him. So I bought his camera off of him and started making little videos for my kids."
"I'm gonna jump in here," Mr Carroll laughed. "His videos were terrible and I decided to help him make better videos for his kids."
Deep down we are really just big kids.
- Anthony Carroll
When COVID forced FIFO shifts to extend, Mr Hobson, who hails from Dunsborough, decided to make his videos more engaging.
So Mr Hobson donned his captain hat, and Mr Carroll dressed as an unruly pirate, and they began a new venture.
"With COVID I was trying to make more videos for my kids to watch while I was away - if they were missing me, they could watch the TV, and there might be other people out there who would get a kick out of seeing me being silly."
Mr Carroll added that his niece and nephew began missing him while he was away, which made his role in Mr Hobson's videos all the more important.
"They live in Melbourne and miss me heaps cause of all the lockdowns - it's a great way to connect with them, and I've even gotten my nephew into an episode for a guest appearance."
The videos range from silly skits, to instructional videos on things like 'how to ride a bike', all filmed in character and with plenty of laughter.
"We have filmed a lot of our videos in Mandurah, both of us love it there and the beaches are great backgrounds."
The two pretend sea captains became increasingly popular on social media, and soon, they were filming happy birthday messages and personalised videos for fellow FIFO workers' kids.
"We started out doing the videos for the kids in our lives, and now we're doing it for everyone's kids," Mr Hobson said.
"We also want to encourage other people who work away to get in touch - we can maybe make a big video with special guests with messages for their own kids."
"Deep down, we are really just big kids ourselves - that's why it works so well," Mr Carroll said.
Mr Hobson quickly agreed with this sentiment, adding "it took a while to get used to looking like a peanut on the internet, but we love it."
For more content, follow Captain Bobbo on YouTube.
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.
