Off to Bali. Will arrive around midnight. Hope Un’s are
there to pick us up. No problem. Actually not a bad flight the Arvo one even
though it was Jetstar. Had to sit on the plane for an hour because the
water urn had broken and the pilot was waiting for the paper work. Also they
had to get extra petrol as the re-fuellers hadn’t put enough petrol in. OMG.
Got to bed at Un’s at 3am Melb time.
19 June 2011
Yehaaa. Woke a little tired at Un’s hotel, our favourite
place in Kuta. Everything is pretty quiet. Little bit of wind around and some
swell. Euro style breakfast for us and then a surf on the beaches. Pat is
frothing. Spent most of the day chillin ’with Redo and Eric the local ding
repairers. I had time to squeeze in a massage. Cath did the nail thing and then
a cheap but great meal at Warung Indonesia.
20 June 2011
Slipping into the lazy days. Cath off shoppin while we think
about a surf. Pool looks OK. Have to walk at least 5 meters to it. Ahhh crap,
our favourite coffee shop Aromas has been pulled down for a hotel. Finding good
coffee nearby is a priority. Steve Palmer reckons Aromas will be rebuilt late
2011. Dinner at the night market. Murtabah, fried chicken and corn and satays.
21 June 2011
Pretty windy again, overcast mornings sunny arvos. Water
temp a bit cooler than normal. Still boardies only. Surfed Kuta area from the
reef. A progress. Noel and Dean due in this arvo. Noel and Dean arrived at 4pm.
Pat happy now!!!! Mmmmm where to for dinner tonight?......Nasi Campur at
Warung Jogya.
22 June 2011
23 June 2011
Not as much wind around today. Boys off for a surf at half
way. Cath and I kicking back!. Cath keeps feeding the cat and the
kittens. Funny they seem to hang around our room. Dinner at Lanai on the beach
front with Noel. Pat and Dean hooked up with Jack Homer.
24 June 2011
Day before the boat trip, trying not to peak too early but
everyone is getting pretty excited. The three boys are off surfing middle reef
and I am sorting last minute details. Spoke to Scuzz in the Ments and
everything is sorted. The boys are back from the reef after being smashed by
jellyfish!
Ahhh, the mozzie man, he comes once a week to fumigate. He
doesn’t wear a mask but his mate does. Cath and I have dinner at the Balcony – Ikan Pepes (steamed
fish in banana leaf).
25 June 2011
Yeah ha! Have booked a van to the domestic airport for
5.45am. If we leave by 6 we will be cool. You have to consider Indonesian
rubber time (jam karet). Pat, Dean, Noel and I have been staying in Bali for a
few days. Driver turns up at 6.10. He is the Indonesian version of Mark Webber.
So Made Webber with a dozen boards on the roof powers through Kuta faster than
his counterpart through Monaco. I am in the death seat and am starting to doubt
the wisdom of telling him we were late for the plane. Everything ends well and
we have time for breaky. Three hour transit in Jakarta left the boys to their
own devices and have snuck off to a VIP lounge. $8 – comfy chairs, food,
drinks, WiFi etc. Next stop Padang. Scuzz our skipper will do the pick up and
take us to his place.
Padang is a huge port and matriarchal society. It is also a
nightmare for earthquake and Tsunamiz. Not if but when!
Will board the southern Cross by speed boat. It had to leave
the river earlier because of the tide. Meet up with the boys who have
come direct from Melbourne via KL. We have to take two trips out thrught the
river to the Southern Cross. The crossing from the mainland to the Ments is
about 85 miles. It takes all night and we get tossed around in a massive
tropical rain storm. There are 8 air con bunks and a sauna box up top. I am in
the box and spend most of the night trying to stay on the bed and man it is
hot.
26 June 2011
Wake up near Telescopes and surf the right opposite.
Everyone is having a ball. The young boys are frothing. They have had two
surfs, jumped off the top of the boat, gone for a standup paddle down to
the other boat here with the Jeffrey Warrens before lunch. Richie Laing
finished the day with 5 surfs at 3 different spots. By the way Gado Gado for
lunch was awesome. The crew are really cool. They clean, organise, cook, drive
the speed boat. I notice the lads are preparing fish for tea tonight. Everyone
is stuffed by the arvo so some serious hammock time is called for. Pretty well
everyone has a siesta.
27 June 2011
A few of us surfed an outer rifles reef . Mitch schored 2
deep barrels. The next surf was close to the island and everyone enjoyed a
great right hander called pussies. Started to move to a new break and got
caught in a massive rain storm and wind shift. Came back to pussies and surfed
till night fall. After dropping anchor dinner included freshly baked cake and
ice-cream. Aki put on a slide show. Everyone is blown away with the quality of
the pics. Beers as usual but because of the excitement factor the whisky and
bourbon comes out. Brock and Jimma come over for a visit after having duelling
laser battles with Mitch. Such a good night with Aki doing the father/son and group
photos. The tall stories started ending in plenty of laughs.
28 June 2011
Lazy morning with a few boys surfing the right again.
Everything starts pretty early. Scuzz checks out the weather around 4am and
everyone is up around 6am. Our right gets crowded so we take off and end up
surfing Rifles (one of the crown jewels of the Mentawaiis). 5 of us out in
pristine surf with barrels everywhere. Pat has the best surf of his life
including standup styling tube. Dean reckons his legs wouldn’t stop shaking and
mitch gets a couple of super quality waves that would be at home in the best
surf movie ever.
The other boys surf another left and right but Rifles is so
good we move the big boat up there and after a rain squall everyone has a crack
(almost everyone). We beat all the other boats by about 4-5 hours then it
starts to get crowded so we take off south on a three hour cruise. I spot some
sea birds and wave the magic finger on the fishing rod. Bugger me if we
don’t get a run instantly (Noel thinks I have taken on some bystical
powers). Vic, the only guy that hasn’t surfed rifles, reels in a meter long
Wahu. We are doing well on the fresh fish count. Sashimi again tonight. The
ding repairer, Jap, is doing better out of Richie.
29 June 2011
Head South and for the next 6 days we don’t see another
boat, great waves , perhaps the best I have had on a Ments trip, Green Bush,
The hole and a host of other lefts and rights. Scuzz and Aki organised their
tradional bonfire/barbie on a deserted island and we BBQ’d some lamb.
July 5 2011
Managed to get Maccas on. It was crowded but not during the
lunch time session. Solid barrels, Mitch broke another board, I think he busted
four all together while Pat got pile driven into the reef and tweaked his
shoulder.
We squeezed an awesome surf in a t Lances Rights as well.
Managing to get all the Mentawi jewel surfing spots on was just amazing.
Ended up surfing Bintang’s all day on the last day with
Mitch, Dean, Pat and me. The other Boys had a crack at Lances Lefts.
The crossing back to Padang that night was sheet glass, what
a way to finish. Arrived back in Padang around 3 am. The deal here is you stay
on the boat till morning, wake up and have breakfast before heading to the
airport.
To do a father son boat trip is so cool but to get the Ments
firing with no crowds as well was bloody bagus. Thanks again to Scuzz, Aki and
the team. All i can say is what the boys have been saying since the trip
finished. “ I want to go back”
http://www.sumatransurfariis.com/
http://www.sumatransurfariis.com/
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