Two weeks ago Queensland’s Todd Waters snuck back into the country to have a plate in his collarbone removed, before returning to Europe to prepare for the 2014 World Motocross Championship with his new Red Bull ICE1 Racing Husqvarna team.

MotoOnline.com.au caught up with Australia’s most recent international export to find out what’s been happening, how the operation went and how feels trading the warm Gold Coast sun for the snow and sleet of a European winter.

Todd Waters recently underwent shoulder surgery in a whirlwind trip home to Australia. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Toddy, it’s a bit of a surprise to see you back in the country as we weren’t expecting you back until Christmas-time. What’s happening?

Yeah, I’ve just wrapping up a two-week break here getting the plate removed from my collarbone after I broke it at a round of the Sunny State Series at Townsville earlier this year. The ICE1 team wanted me to get it out and it was probably the best operation I’ve ever had.

I walked out of hospital thinking ‘it’s not even sore’. I’m not allowed to sweat or anything, so I’ve pretty much just been renovating our house and enjoying the sunshine while I’ve got it.

You’re about to fly back to Europe now. What are your plans between now and Christmas?

This next month is going to be massive and the next step in my career. I’m flying over to Austria to spend a week testing at the Red Bull facility. We’ll be doing base-testing, VO2 Maxes, blood tests and so on to find out exactly where I’m at, and then create a training program for me. I can’t wait – I’ve got 100 questions to ask them about diet and training and stuff.

From there we head to Belgium, but it’ll probably be too cold to test properly so we’ll head to Spain, test the bike and get it all dialed in. After that we’ll be back here for the Christmas break and get some off-season training in.

How’s it all working out with the team over there?

Yeah it’s been great. I did a week of testing with the team and my teammate Tyla Rattray straight after the des Nations, and everything’s going really well. It’s been awesome being able to pick Tyla’s brain. He’s lived in Europe before and he’s from a different country as well, so he’s been through everything and all the dramas with visas, buying a car, and setting ourselves up.

Yeah, how’s that all going? As well as the cultural and language barriers, you’ve effectively got to set your life up from scratch again.

Oh man, it’s gnarly, but it’s exciting as well. We’ll be living in a new complex on top of the KYB factory in Lommel, and no joke, I can ride my pushy one minute down the road, past the entrance to the Lommel track, and on the next corner is where the ICEONE factory is.

It’s an awesome setup, especially after living in Australia where you don’t think twice about driving four hours to go riding for a day.

Waters will spearhead Husqvarna’s MXGP return alongside Tyla Rattray in 2014.

Damn that sounds like a wicked set-up! Now that you’re starting to getting yourself sorted, have you worked out your goals for next year?

The first year will be a learning year and getting used to the tracks. I want to get some good results, but it’s such a long championship that the big thing is to stay injury free.

The des Nations this year was encouraging, though. Even though I went down at the start of both motos I was fifth or sixth speed-wise and I holeshot the qualifying race. And that was after training on sand tracks for the whole lead-up to the race and sitting on the start line packin’ it.

That’s one thing I’m going to have to work on is believing that I belong there and not get intimidated by all these big-named riders around me.

The nice thing about being in Belgium is there’re no distractions. I don’t know anyone and I don’t care if I don’t have any friends there; all I want to do is train and stay focused on my goals.

In a way it’s like being 16 all over again. All the tracks are new, you don’t know everyone’s riding styles, it’s a totally different way of living – it’s already been an eye-opening experience and we’re still five months away from the start of the 2014 season.

Awesome. Well all the best for your pre-season testing, mate. Stay warm over there and we’ll see you back in Australia over Christmas.

Too easy, thanks mate.