Bali and beyond

Uluwatu, a surfer's dream.

Sorry for taking so long to make this post, as I'm sure some of you were eager to hear about my extraordinary trip to Bali, Indonesia, which I will talk about shortly. I've been slowly realizing that I don't have much time left in Australia, so I've been trying to make the most of it. There's been quite a lot going on around here with final exams and the World Cup since I returned home to Sydney on the 14th. I've lost plenty of sleep watching soccer over the past week and I plan on doing the same until I leave Australia on June 30th. It's hard to imagine that in a little over a week I will be making the long journey back to the United States, having spent more time out of the country than ever before. Enough about that though, back to the business at hand.

Going to Bali was without a doubt one of the best decisions I've made while over here. I learned so much about the area in such a short amount of time while there, and it's only made me want to continue to travel. It's quite difficult to describe the extent of the trip's greatness in words, but I'll do my best. Hopefully the photos will be able to do most of the talking, as I've included quite a few in this post.

It became obvious to me near the end of our stay that it's difficult to experience everything in Bali in such a short amount of time. I can only imagine the possibilities of being able to spend a full month or two there. That being said, we kept ourselves busy and had a remarkable trip. The surf, weather, and water temperature were all phenomenal and we felt blessed to experience such a different culture from our own. There was hardly anything I regret about the trip as a whole, and Bali is definitely somewhere I hope to return to in the future. The people we encountered were incredibly friendly and wanted nothing more than to help you have a great time in their country. On top of that, the prices were extremely cheap and I had a blast bargaining in the various street markets. I just feel like there's so much to say about the specifics of the trip that I won't even be able to come close to doing it justice. To put it simply, the experience was otherworldly.

In terms of a summary of the trip itself, we spent two days in the Kuta Beach area upon arrival, which is on the actual island of Bali. We surfed at the main beach break at Kuta and also surfed at a reef bottom beach break called Dreamland, which was about a 45 minute drive away. In order to get out there, we hired a driver to take us out there and wait for us while we surfed for a couple hours. It ended up costing less than ten dollars a person, pretty remarkable when you think about what the driver is making per hour. The surf our first couple days was good, but it would only get better. I didn't take many pictures those two days, as I was a bit cautious at first with my camera, but I eventually started to bring it along.

On the morning of the 6th we took a thirty minute ferry ride to the island of Nusa Lembongan, which is completely different from Bali in that it's much smaller and less developed. Believe it or not, they hardly even have paved roads on Lembongan. It's an amazing place to stay because it has access to multiple quality reef breaks that are all within a relatively small area. The crowds can become a problem though, as large numbers of local Indonesian surfers and tourists alike frequent the lineups. That being said, we got some amazing surf on Lembongan, particularly at a break they call Shipwrecks. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the break, as it is several hundred yards offshore and is only accessible by boat. After four days there, we headed back to Kuta Beach for another two days before returning back to Sydney. During those last two days, we made it back to Dreamland for a session and also surfed the famous break of Uluwatu on what an Australian surfer said was "not a great day." The waves looked fine to me, as you'll see in the pictures.

Instead of continuing to babble, I'm going to switch over to the photos. Without further adieu, here are some of the photos from the trip as well as captions to go along with them.

Kuta Beach before sunset. Always a very busy spot.

Small and fun beach break waves at Kuta just before dark. Don't be fooled though, it can get big at the right tide with enough swell, which happens often.

The garden outside our room at Bungalow Number 7, where we stayed on Nusa Lembongan. The hotel was right on the beach and all you had to do to check the surf was poke your head out the door. We had an excellent stay there and I would definitely recommend this hotel if you're looking for an affordable and enjoyable place to stay. We only paid ten dollars a night per person. It still amazes me how good the prices were. Meals were around five or six dollars.

The main street on Lembongan, very quiet, definitely an island feel to it.

The whitewater you see there is a reef break on Lembongan called Playgrounds, which sat a few hundred yards offshore from our hotel. The break is named for its fun and forgiving waves, which provided us with numerous great sessions. At the right tide, which usually seemed to be closer to high tide, the wave breaks both left and right and can serve up some fairly long rides. We got one session during a late afternoon there that I will never forget. It was head high and rolling through perfectly with a few small barrels, one of which I managed to sneak into. It tends to get a bit crowded at times, but when you get it right it's hard to beat this spot.

Another picture of Playgrounds, this time on a bigger swell. This was taken the morning we left to head back to Bali.

This is a Hindu temple behind our hotel on Lembongan. Beautiful architecture to say the least. There are usually people gathering here at most hours throughout the day.

This is a view of several bungalows on the Lembongan oceanside. It was taken on the skiff ride to our ferry back to Bali. The dark areas in the water are seaweed farms, which are protected by the reefs that serve as a barrier to the island. Seaweed is Lembongan's largest cash crop and is an integral part of the lives of many people on the island. When we woke up to check the surf we could sometimes smell the fresh seaweed being hauled up the beach. There are people working on the farms every day. The water is beautiful and crystal clear, which became most apparent when we went snorkeling our second morning there.

This is a reef break they call Razors, which usually can't be surfed due to its inconsistency, shallow bottom, and fast wave. We never surfed it, but it got some huge waves our final morning there when the swell was peaking, which was when this picture was taken. That morning we surfed at Playgrounds and a similar break nearby called Lacerations. The wave in this picture was probably 6-8 foot and might very well have been incredibly difficult and dangerous to surf, as nobody was out there.

Jordan and I with our Indonesian friend Alex, who works at Bungalow Number 7. He helped us out a bunch. I'll definitely try to find him if I ever make it back there.

Switching gears back to Bali now. This is a World Cup bar right on the street that runs parallel to Kuta beach. There were plenty of bars showing all the games. Notice the McDonald's on the side there. Indonesia has many of the same large chain businesses. They even had Starbuck's.

This was taken from the parking lot at Dreamland. Very nice A-frame peak right there. There were some very nicely shaped waves this session, but it had a tendency to close out when the tide began to drop. We still caught some great ones though, as usual.

This is a view of the cliff at the world-renowned beach/reef break Uluwatu. We surfed Uluwatu on our final day. The swell wasn't what it had been the day before, but we still got some amazing waves just a couple hours before low tide. The bottom was incredibly shallow, and just a few feet in some spots, which was a bit nerve-racking. There wasn't all that much power though, so it wasn't particularly dangerous.

A view of the Uluwatu lineup from the cliff. What an amazing left.

Another wave rolling through at Uluwatu, this time with a little bit of a barrel. The waves weren't as hollow as they can be due to the smaller swell size. They were still plenty of fun and had lots of drive though.

Jordan and I with our Indonesian friend Edie. He worked out front of our hotel in Kuta and helped us out a bunch with transportation. One of the nicest people we met the entire trip. He's also very dedicated to learning, as he reads books and newspapers constantly, both in Indonesian and English.

I think I've exhausted this post a bit, but I hope these pictures helped to share some of the experiences from my trip. I'm sure I've left out a bunch of details, but I'll definitely be more than willing to talk more about everything in person. It was a trip that no blog post can fully encapsulate. That's all for now. I'm looking forward to finishing with my last exam on the 24th and then being able to enjoy my last few days in Australia. Look for another post or two before I leave.