TRAVEL: PLANE TRIP We arrived in Denpasar airport at 10.20pm to plenty of strange looks as we exited the airport with our ‘monster-size’ boards. Now, to get our boards on the roof of the taxi... The taxi lights are just held on by magnets, so the roof signs were gone in a flash, but thank god we took our own soft racks, as the straps the driver pulled out were barely more than frayed string. We spent the first couple of days in Sanur. Day one: eat, rest, explore. The winds were blowing, so no SUP options here. From what we had read, this was likely to continue this time of year, so day two: Grab a driver and mount a bigger expedition. First stop was Serangan Island with plenty of waves, but it was still too windy, so we headed to the west. Padang Padang. What a gorgeous place! We parked the car at the top of the hill and climbed down the stairs, emerging through a cave to view a beautiful sheltered cove with sparkling turquoise water and a perfect little right-hander peeling across the inside reef. We were in the water in a flash. It had been three days since we had SUPed, so we were busting! What a fun little
surf we had that day - waist to shoulder-high, right-hand peelers for the next hour, until the tide got so low that we were surfing over only a foot or so of water. It was time to get out and pack up for our move up to Balian. Day three: We had an early morning pick-up in a vehicle with roof-racks, a bit of a rarity. After two hours of terrifying driving, we were halfway up the west coast and were thrilled to drop down the steep little road into the village to a view of a perfect rivermouth break. It was a solid 4ft with some bigger sets and since the wind was already into it we settled ourselves into our gorgeous little bungalow and headed down to the river for flat-water exploration. The scenery was divine - locals fishing, washing, watering their cattle, all beneath the lush tropical vegetation that fringed the river. The cattle and the locals were wide-eyed when they saw our unusual craft, so I don’t think SUP was common around here. We had booked seven days in Balian and the ‘surfer package’ included two day trips up the coast to Medewi, which we had visited 15 years before. After a chat with
some new-found German friends in the adjacent bungalow, who advised that conditions were going to be even bigger the next day, we made arrangements to hit Medewi together. Medewi is generally smaller than Balian and for our first serious surf we didn’t want to go straight out into something too big. It was a good decision. Medewi had changed dramatically since our last visit. The wave was the same, but back then Jason was the only guy out for most of our stay. Not so this time! The little cul-de-sac at the end of the laneway that leads to the beach was packed, and the water was even more packed! But boy, did we have some fun. Getting in down the seawall and over the loose boulders was a bit of a challenge and getting out was a bit treacherous too, but Jason scored a couple of screamers all the way from miles out the back, right through the crowd to the very end section full of kids on the rocky beach. I, on the other hand, was sitting nearer the shore and was struggling to get anything due to the crowd and my polite nature. It was dog-eat-dog out there to get a wave, but I ended up scoring a perfect one
with a photo to prove it, thanks to the friendly locals who run a great surf photography service - 100 images on CD for $20. The following day, Medewi was packed again, but this time our photographer friend took us to a beach break a bit further down. It was a heavy shorebreak to get through but he was on the money with the waves. We had lefts and rights all over the place and there were only about five others out. We surfed till our legs could hold us up no longer, and then collapsed into the car for the ride back to our beautiful riverside abode for an afternoon of napping around the pool. (Hmmm, time for that complimentary massage that came with our package.) The next week was a blur of surfing the waves of Balian. In the mornings on the lower tide the inside left suited me perfectly. It was a little over head-high and fast and the rip to get back out was nearly as fast as the wave! As the tide got higher the swell got bigger (and so did the heavy shore break) so I got out and played cameraman. Jason got so many perfect left-handers I lost sep/oct 2012
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