ABC's News Breakfast’s affable weather guy, Nate Byrne sailed into a storm of homophobia earlier this year.

But you can’t keep a good meteorologist, oceanographer, Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant and keen knitter down for long.

He tells Matthew Myers about landing his dream job and dealing with that Mardi Gras controversy. >>

When Nate Byrne left his job as a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy to present the weather on ABC’s News Breakfast, it was a corner turned and a childhood ambition fulfilled.

“When I was around five, I told my mum I wanted to be a weatherman,” Nate reveals to DNA.

“I knew I had to have a job and thought, ‘Well, that dude only does five minute’s work a day! [Laughing] It morphed onwards from there as I got more interested in science and, eventually, the weather.”

Since 2017, Nate has been a familiar face to millions of early risers tuning in to ABC’s News Breakfast, where he presents the weather with serious meteorological cred and a cheeky grin.

Nate’s story began in the beachside suburb of Mullaloo, north of Perth, Western Australia.

“When mum and dad built the house, they were living on the outskirts of civilization,” Nate says. “There was no freeway back then, and Mullaloo Beach was somewhere people would camp for their holidays. Now those suburbs go on forever. We weren’t in a beachside million-dollar mansion, just a typical Perth home, and all my childhood photos are of playing on the sand dunes, because that’s what WA is – sand everywhere!”

Growing up by the ocean could explain Nate’s eventual career in the navy but it wasn’t quite that straightforward.

"You could call me a faggot all day long and I’m not going to lose sleep over it. You’ve got to try harder than that! I’ve been to war. I’ve served my country and I’ve got medals on my chest."

“It evolved in a weird kind of way,” he says. “My grandad was in the Royal Navy in the UK, which is the only family connection I had to the navy. He didn’t push it onto me but, as a kid, for some reason I was really keen on being a Scout. I think I’d read too many Enid Blyton books about boys tying knots and all that fun outdoors stuff! My local scout mob were actually Sea Scouts, so I started there and got interested in sailing.