The Elkertons owned a prawn (shrimp) fishing trawler which ranged from Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria, down the length of the Great Barrier Reef to the river ports of northern NSW.
After the arrival of his younger siblings, David and Bernadette, his parents opted to set up home in a location that provided safe, permanent anchorage for their prawning business.
Eventually, he was suspended from Maroochydore High School for inveterate truancy, upon which Keith Elkerton insisted that his fourteen-year-old son commence full-time work as a deckhand aboard the trawler.
Gary spent the next two and half years diving from the trawler deck and surfing alone on the shark-infested, remote open ocean waves of the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland's isolated off-shore sand islands.
Encouraged by sponsorships from emerging surf labels Quiksilver and Rip Curl, and acknowledging his less than dedicated performance as a prawn trawlerman; the Elkertons decided that Gary ought to pursue a career as a surfer, rather than remain in the family business.
He also developed a close friendship with Quiksilver founder Al Green, who funded trips to Hawaii and Grajagan, Java, Indonesia (where an outside reef break was also dubbed "Kong’s").
Hawaiian film maker Jack McCoy's movie footage of Gary during these early surf trips and Quiksilver's advertising campaigns caused 'Kong' to gain notoriety for his matadorial bravado in big waves, his low body-torque power and his hard-partying antics on land.
Even before he had started as a full-time professional on the ASP World Tour, Gary's 'Kong' promotional logo (a giant gorilla wielding a surfboard in a clenched fist) had quickly become synonymous with brash, explosive surfing and a distinctively rebellious attitude to rules and societal norms.
Thanks to introductions made by Quiksilver's Al Green, Jeff Hakman and Mike Miller, Elkerton and his best friend James 'Chappy' Jennings, were assisted by many Hawaiian locals such as Mickey Neilsen, David Kahanamoku, Darrick Doerner and others, in acclimatising to the island's fearsome surf breaks.
In '87 he was beaten to the World Title in the last event of the year by fellow Australian Damien Hardman at Sydney's North Steyne beach on a technical interference call.
His second place behind the immortal Mark Richards at the 1986 Billabong Pro held at thirty foot Waimea Bay (and also at Sunset Beach) is regarded as one of the best all-time ASP contests.
[citation needed] Until his retirement from the Pro Tour in at the conclusion of the 1996 season, Elkerton was considered a perennial favourite to win contests in large or powerful waves.