Wildside TIMES #6

Arriving at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, you first notice the heat. It’s more than humid; it’s a wet heat. The shoulder of the wet season still sees rain on most days, and the intense temperatures turn that rainfall into humidity. You can’t escape it. You have to breathe it in… while doing that, you might find yourself breathing in some clove vapours, as the most popular Indonesian cigarette, Gudang Garam, is made from cloves, and the sweet smell is everywhere.

My son Rylan and I were to be based in Bali and made surf strikes from there. The drive from the airport to the famous wave called Uluwatu was quite surprising, as I realized the extent of the development over the last 15 years. Kuta Beach, the surfing hub, was once a tiny fishing village with a small, indigent population. Until the excellent surfing locations were discovered 50 years ago, and people from around the world started arriving. The last 15 years have been intense, apart from the brief hiccup of C19.

Rampant Development

There are so many good waves here, world-class waves around every corner, and many people want to ride them. But, of course, these people need places to stay and food to eat. If the waves aren’t good, they want other things to do. Such is the heartbeat of development that has seen a village turn into a city in half a century.

I wasn’t too shocked by the rampant development. We live in a village that is developing so fast as it is here in St Francis Bay that maybe I was more in tune. However, I was surprised to find a deck with a bar and a pool constructed on top of a rock at Uluwatu. That was either an engineering feat of dexterity or an unprofessional fly-by-night build. Either way, it was awesome.

We were staying at Blue Point Hotel on the cliffside. On the first day saw about 80 surfers in the water at Uluwatu, and my son and I ventured out. It was fun, and Lewis Hamilton paddled out to join us, fresh out from the Australian Grand Prix. The water was between 26 and 28 degrees, and the air was a constant 32 degrees. It was wildly different to the fresh autumn mornings of Cape St Francis.

Off To Sumbawa, via Lombok

Our next mission was to go to Hu’u Beach in Sumbawa. Home to the world-famous Lakey Peak, this was to be our home for a week. Unfortunately, we missed our direct flight, so we had to go to Lombok to connect to a flight to Sumbawa. We sat at Lombok’s Zainuddin Abdul Madjid International Airport, a fairly grim little place that would make our Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha seem elegant for an extra 8 hours. So a destination that is 40 minutes away took us 9 hours to get to. The airport itself, Sultan Muhammad Kaharuddin III Airport, is another rough affair with lots of angry people wanting to carry your surfboards for a fee. And then a two-hour taxi ride through dark mountain streets with dogs and people on the roads everywhere and trucks bearing down the hills. It was exhilarating, to say the least.

Sumbawa is an arid Indonesian island. Dry and scrubby, but it comes alive along the shoreline. Lakey Peak is a world-class wave, and surfers from all over the world congregate in front of it in a few homestays and tiny guest houses. We stayed in the back room at a local home. The lady who owned it was called Vivian and was lovely. It was just a room with two beds, a large bathroom and a surfboard rack. And air conditioning. All that the two surfers needed.

Lakey Peak

Days were spent surfing Lakey’s, adjusting to the power of the waves, and eating at a local wrung called Fatmahs, one of the

highlights of our travels. Eating Western food in Indonesia is easy, with pizza and burgers on every menu. Still, it must be remembered that the meat quality is not that good in outlying areas, away from cities, places like Hu’u Beach. So fish is always a good option, as is the chicken satay. Otherwise, the Indonesian menu items of nasi goreng and mie goreng are the best options. Delicious avocado everywhere, and a list of dessert items all containing bananas.

Into The Jungle

Then we went to the jungles of Java. Firstly, we had to launch onto a speed boat in Jimbaran Bay, and then we got to see just how bad the plastic pollution in Bali is. It is pretty unbelievable. It is hard to understand how it got so bad and how we allowed it to happen. It is catastrophic, and four or five enthused and energetic groups have launched full-scaled programs to rid the beaches of Bali of the invading plastic, but everyone has given up. There seems to be no way to stem the tide. We are all to blame; we drink water from plastic bottles in Indonesia, and then we throw them away, hoping they go to a landfill, but they don’t. They end up in the sea, and we moan about it.

On the eastern shoreline of Java lies Plenkung Bay and the world-famous surfing break known as Grajagan or G-land. The reef is nearly 2 kilometres long, and the bottom is razor-sharp coral, barely covered by water. It is a treacherous wave, but the jungle mission is a wild experience with incredible backstories of discovery and tragedy. We stayed at the awesome Jawa Jiwa surf camp, with the beach a few meters away from us. The waves were big on day 3, and we ventured further down the bay to a wave called Tiger Tracks, named after the tigers that used to roam the area.

On the second night in the camp, I was awakened by strange noises outside the bungalow. I watched a parcel of wild boars head towards our cabin. They seemed peaceful, but there were some big daddies around, and they were looking after some newborn piglets, so I kept my distance.

There were other sounds during the night, of monkeys thrashing in the treetops and different sounds that I couldn’t recognize. I remember staring deep into the thick, impenetrable undergrowth of the Javanese jungle and feeling that the jungle was looking back.

Uluwatu and Home

Our final days were spent back at Uluwatu - The name Uluwatu comes from ulu, meaning ‘lands end’, and watu, meaning ‘rock’ –and it was balmy, crowded and friendly. We stayed at Mamo Hotel and Ayodhya Hotel Uluwatu, with their own attractions, foibles and drawbacks. Still, they were both comfortable for two surfers who were either surfing or eating or on Instagram, one of us. We sipped on Sprite and Bintang beer as our age decreed, surfed, and chilled, preparing to return to St Francis Bay’s winter weather.

It’s not a bad idea to get out of St Francis Bay during the chilly winter months. For more information on travel to Bali and for some very affordable options, please contact:

The Travel Collective.

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