Indo Part 1: Kuta and Scooters

Sorry mother. You made me promise two things when I left for Indonesia, and in my first day I broke them both. One – don't ride on a scooter, and two – don't go to any night clubs.

I have never been one for the “short vacation” style of travel but with university wrapped up and winter sneaking on in like the cold unfriendly creature it is, I decided to head for the warmer waters of Bali for two weeks. True to my usual travel form I have gone alone and with no idea what I'm doing. I figured I would meet some other surfers on the flight over, I mean it's Perth to Bali right? No such luck though, it was all families and couples heading over for their annual 3 day Kuta vacations! I don't usually go to the most touristy areas but as I stood outside the airport sweating trying to juggle my surfboards I found myself uttering those two dreaded words to the taxi driver... “Kuta, please”.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bali, Kuta is a town right near the main airport and is the hub of tourist activity. Situated next to a nice stretch of beach it's home to many hotels, bars, nightclubs and a whole load of obnoxiously drunken Australian tourists. I figured I'd spend one night here, find my feet and figure out where to go next. Finding accommodation was my first issue. It was hot, I was sweaty and the streets are narrow and filled with crazy scooter drivers and erratic traffic. Lugging my boards around was no fun so I went into the first budget accommodation I could find.

“Chempaka Losmen”, the sign read out the front. The first thing the guy at the desk tried to tell me was “minimum three night stay”. No thank you I said and went to leave. “Wait!” he tells me. “We only have one room with no bathroom.” He takes me to the room, it's dingy, dirty and FULL of a whole swarm of bugs. No thank you I tell him and go to leave.

“Wait!” he yells after me yet again. “ I have one other room!” This one is a little better (not by much) and I figure it's only for one night. I didn't realize at the time but I am the only person staying here, which is never a good thing. It has been alright though, all my stuff is still here and I don't have bed bugs. I'm still no good at using the squat style toilet in the bathroom though. Apparently co-ordination and leg muscles are two things I'm missing.

Now mum, I know I promised you I wouldn't ride on a scooter. Traffic here is crazy and my travel insurance doesn't cover scooter mishaps. But I met up with a friend of a friend from Hawaii who is stuck in Kuta waiting for his lost surfboards to be delivered by the airline and he has a scooter. We went to go find surf, him driving, me on the back and both of us holding surfboards. It was pretty fun, dodging and weaving through all the traffic and people, trying to hold onto my board without it sticking out and hitting something or someone. We did ride through a huge swarm of bugs on the way back though, that was not so much fun. I'm pretty sure I swallowed a few.

And mum, I know I said I wouldn't go nightclubbing here either. But I was curious. I was only going to pop in and see them for a few minutes. It was everything I expected, giant neon five story music blasting packed out drunken tourist dancing craziness.

It's day two of my trip and I'm sitting having a coffee waiting for my friend to wake up. Today we plan to get the five hour ferry over to the neighboring island of Lombok and hopefully score some good surf. I know it has only been one day, and I know I'm only in Kuta, but so far I really really love Indonesia. The local food is amazing, the people are friendly, the water is warm there is a certain Asian third world chaotic charm to the place. And I promise again mother, and I mean it this time, no more scooters.

Courtney Wins in West OZ

I usually cover surf events in Hawaii so it was a treat to watch one in my local area. The Margaret River Telstra Drug Aware Pro is now a six star event and runs every year in early April in Western Australia. I worked with Courtney Conlogue last winter in Hawaii so I was cheering for her as she surfed her way to the final of the event. My AAA press pass was great. It got me everywhere except into the VIP tent with the free food and booze (darn it!). I ended up paying $8.50 for a powerade and a tiny piece of cake.

The women's semi finals saw Sage Erickson defeat local favorite Felicity Palmateer and Courtney Conlogue take down Australian Rebecca Woods. I was sitting on the beach taking photos as Courtney paddled in from her heat. She was super excited as she walked up the beach. She stopped in front of me, looked kinda confused and said,

"Ooooh I left my extra board out there!"

Here's a photo of her moment of realization! She paddled all the way back out to pick it up and then got the jet ski to drop her back to shore.

The women's final ran in less than ideal conditions. It was really small. For a good 10 minutes of the heat the girls just sat out there. It looked like a lake. However both competitors rose to the challenge, running neck and neck up until the end when Courtney sealed the deal posting a 5.7 to add on to her earlier strong score of 7.

The girls were all smiles on the podium, both complimentary of each other in their speeches.

"Winning the Margaret River event was amazing.", Courtney told me.

"I was able to have a chance to share a final with Sage Erickson, who I competed against a lot at home in NSSA before we were on the WQS. This being the second 6 star event of the year, I am off to a pretty good start and I am now looking forward to Bells.".

Congratulations Courtney and good luck at Bells! Full story coming soon to the WSSM website.

Pictures Below:

1). WA local Felicity Palmateer in the semis

2). The cheque

3). Sage Erickson heads for the podium

4). Courtney Conlogue in the final

South for Study Week

Here is a pic of Margaret River doing its thing last week. I know, "study week" is meant to be for studying, but there was no reason that I couldn't surf AND study. Honest. Except now I have a really gross ear infection and am sitting in the library at uni trying to catch up with all my school work. It feels like there is a small dying creature living inside my ear, and it's pretty angry in there! It was worth it though :)

Japan

The Japanese are some of the most friendly, polite and helpful people I have ever met. I was lucky enough to spend some time traveling through Japan last year. I started in downtown Tokyo then caught the trains all the way up the coast as far as Apia for snowboarding. My sister lives in the Fukushima province teaching English to little school kiddies. The hospitality I received in her village and as a guest teacher at her schools was wonderful. One of my best memories is of catching the train alone up to a small fishing village north of Sendai. No one spoke english but I somehow managed to rent a bicycle and cycled all around the sleepy little town.

After a stressful weekend my sister has safely evacuated from Fukushima to Osaka. Nuclear emergencies strike in us a fear unparalleled. The fear of an unseen, uncontrollable toxic danger. My thoughts are with all the people of Japan, with a special little prayer going out to the sleepy fishing villages along the north coast and the people in the Fukushima area. Stay safe.

Quokka adventures

For all my international people here is a mini kangaroo, officially known as a Quokka. This little fella (or sheila) is about a foot tall and even more adorable in real life. They are found on the small island of Rottnest just off Perth. Every time I see one it takes a whole lot of self control not to try and stuff it in my suitcase. I've been holidaying at Rottnest (Rotto) since I was a little kid and I still rekon it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. Yesterday some mates and I took a day trip on their boat to the island for some Sunday ocean fun.

I get chronically sea sick. Doesn't matter how long I live on a boat for it still happens. I even threw up on anchor once in the Caribbean. The ride to Rotto took over an hour but I made it without bringing up my breakfast. Once we arrived a few of our group went diving but I opted to take the small tender half way around the island on the hunt for some surf. I found toe biter midget sized waves to surf. On the positive side the only other critter sharing the waves with me was a big fat seal. No weekend warrior crowds. I got beat on the ride back in the little tender though. Thought I was going to get thrown out a few times and my back is killing me.

I felt pretty crook when I finally got back to the big boat but I still wanted to go diving. I was scuba certified in Panama but it has been years since I've been, so I sorted my gear and headed out. Once I made it down to the bottom my mask started to fill with water. Being seriously out of practice I tried to clear it the wrong way and the whole thing flooded. I was holding onto my dive partners arm shaking him and pointing up to the surface. He had to grab my mask and show me how to clear it. I almost panicked down there. Then to top things off my slightly infected ears wouldn't equalize which resulted in a bad headache. I gave up and came back to the surface. I tried to signal the boat to pick me up for 15 minutes by waving my fluro yellow swim fin in the air but no one noticed. In the end I gave up and went back down for a while, it was easier to be on the bottom of the ocean with an earache than bobbing around in the waves on the top. We eventually got picked up.

By the time we started back for Perth it was evening and I was wiped. I focused really hard on the horizon the whole ride back and tried to find my happy, non nauseous place. We had almost made it back home. I could see the lights of the wharf getting closer and closer. Then we got the radio call. Our friends who were sill over on Rotto on the smaller tender had broken down half way round the island and needed rescuing. We turned back and headed into the black ocean to retrieve them. Luckily a few fish had been caught while scuba diving and we were forced by extreme hunger to gut and cook them on the boat ride back. The broken down tender was tied to the main boat and towed back. We finally arrived at the marina around 10pm, salty, stinky and ready for bed. On the bright side the evening produced a beautiful sunset and I got to spend a little time hanging with the quokkas.

Bellow: Me passed out on the boat, my friend Matlida watching the sunset.

Staying Sane

Week two of no surf. This is the cost of getting educated! Perth is suffering from its usual sun kissed summer flatness plus I've been so busy with university and writing. There seems to be no immediate end in sight either, the soonest I can get South may be in a week or two. Luckily I discovered a big, old orange wave ski (ocean kayak) behind our shed. Once I sprayed off all the poisonous spiders with the garden hose and cleaned it up it didn't look so bad. I've been hitting the beach early every morning kayaking, swimming and rock running. It took me a while but I found the most perfect sized rock and now I keep it at a set spot up by the sand dunes. If a rock is too big you can't pick it up, if it's too small you start to float too much and it's hard to run. These morning beach sessions are helping me cope with the shock of returning to studying, my poor brain is like "what are you doing to me???"! C'mon summer it's time to finish, I love you but I'm ready for some waves.

Out and About

I vowed to write posts every couple of days. I guess it's only been a bit over a week right? Being away for 3 and a half years means a whole lot of stuff piles up. I want to be a kid again so I never have to do any paper work! Since being home I think I have only spent about one week in Perth. I can't help it, down South is just so damn lovely. I also had a bit of true Aussie outback time up in Kalgoorlie a few weeks ago visiting my good friend Jacci and her kiddies. My mum came along with me. She grew up on a sheep farm not far from there and gets all stoked to go inland. Me, I feel like a fish out of water, but there is definitely a certain charm and presence about the Australian bushland. The 8 hour drive I could have done without though. You can just drive and drive for hours out there and it's all so still and quiet. We drove in a back way and had the jeep stocked with water and supplies just in case we broke down. Recently in the area a guy died when his truck got bogged and he tried to walk for help in the heat of the day with no water. That's how unforgiving the land can be for those who come unprepared.

Kalgoorlie was just as I remembered, hot and red. And full of poisonous stuff. On the drive back home we stopped at an old dam in the middle of nowhere for a swim. At least there is some water, and no crocodiles! I stopped for a walk along the water pipeline that runs beside the road just like I used to as a kid on our desert camping trips.

In summer Perth is flat like a big fat pancake. I did score a little cyclone swell which apparently lit up the Margaret River surf region like a big happy christmas tree (check out the pics at http://soggybones.com/taming-the-temptress-bianca/ ). I got there a day late. Last Sunday I headed North of Perth to a little town called Lancelin which is known for its sand boarding and surf. We scored some fun windy little waves and the stretch of beach, accessible only by 4 wheel drive, was so beautiful. Miles of perfect white sand, crystal clear blue water and hardly any people. But for now I am up here in Perth taking care of business and getting ready to start studying again. I've been working a few laboring shifts as a removalist, not sure how good I look in a fluro tradies shirt and over sized shorts but hey, whatever pays the bills! I am also still living off a consistent diet of meat pies and lamingtons. Gotta love Australia!