BALIAN
COSTS
Car Legian to Balian – 400
000R
Gubug Balian Bungalows –
425 000R including good breakfast.
THE ARRIVAL
Nyoman pick us up from
Legian at 11am to drive us to Balian. The journey took about 2 hours and I
slept most of the way.
We settled into our room
then I was off for a surf.
THE SURF
Balian has a number of
surf breaks - a beach break which is okay when it is small, an outside right
and left wave, an inside left and a river mouth right. There are others around
but that is hidden knowledge. Haha!
14 September
A mid day surf with head
height okay waves as wind was not too strong.
A late afternoon surf
which wasn’t as good as earlier.
15 September
Really fun over head
height surf early morning with only a few out.
2nd morning
surf – okay but a little crowded and I was tired though the waves were good.
16 September
Head height and half waves
which were heaps of fun though a little bumpy on wave face with only a few out.
2nd morning
surf - Just me and the waves of double head height. There was too much water
movement and way too bumpy – one wave only to come in.
17 September
An early morning surf that
started off okay and got better and better. There were good outside lefts and
mid lefts mainly all to myself.
18 September
An early morning surf on
my own. It was a little infrequent but there were good outside rights and lefts
at over head height. The inside left was good too.
A mid morning surf with good
outside and inside lefts at head height.
19 September
An early morning surf on
outside rights. It was a little infrequent but good. There were only a few other
surfers out.
Mid afternoon surf with little
wind on small and some fun lefts.
20 September
It was small and very
infrequent looking waves today. I decided to have a laid day from the waves and
recharge the batteries.
21 September
An early surf mainly on
the outside rights, The waves were glassy and good but infrequent.
A mid morning surf with
the wind blowing cross-shore a bit but it was fun on the inside lefts where the
wind was lightest.
22 September
An early surf on the outside
rights and inside lefts. The rights were a bit straight but still fun and it
was getting bigger as the session progressed.
A mid afternoon surf at
high tide on inside lefts. There were some good waves but I had to be picky as
there was a lot more power in set waves and some were shutting down early.
23 September
An early surf in good size
waves though it was a bit random. There were some waves.
A late afternoon surf on
small inside left waves. A bit crowded for a so so wave. The session was cut
short when I had a long swim after my leg rope snapped.
24 September
An early surf in head
height glassy waves on the outside lefts. The crowd was already crowded but it
was my lucky day and I seemed to be in the right spot at the right time so I
had a fun time.
.A late morning surf. The
waves were a bit weak and small but it was fun.
A late afternoon surf with
Wal. It was small and a little windblown but there was some okay waves.
25 September
No surfing today. It was
small and it was great to have a break.
26 September
No surf as too small.
27 September
Early fun surf. Heaps of
waves were that were so glassy on the outside rights and lefts.
The 2nd morning surf was a
bit bumpy with heaps of waves and fun on the outside and inside lefts.
28 September
A mid morning surf for
about an hour. The wind was cross shore but the waves were still fun and the
crowd was small. Nice for last surf.
THE MASSAGES
I had a number of massages
at Ayu’s massage. All good and relaxing and soft – 100 000R. Bella’s massage was
too hard for me.
THE SHARK
One morning, I was sitting
way outside by myself waiting for the set waves. The ocean was smooth and
glassy. Suddenly and 10 metres to my left and further out to sea, a 2 ½ metre
shark breeched out of the water. The shark spun about 3 times horizontally and
parallel to the water surface. In its jaw it had a large fish. The shark landed
with a loud thumb on the water surface then disappeared. I wasn’t particularly
worried maybe because the shark already had a meal and I didn’t feel it was
interested in me. I continued surfing and didn’t see the shark again though there
was a lot of continuous water movement caused by fish.
THE ACCIDENT
Jacinta and I were having breakfast when below
us and walking along the road were three guys. One guy was holding the side of
his face and the other guy was carrying two surfboards. The guy holding his
face was Steve from New Zealand. I met them at the entrance of the hotel to
check if he was alright. He wasn’t alright. He had a large cut in his cheek and
a small one above his right eye. His surfboard had flicked back at him when he
fell off a wave and the fin cut through his cheek and the other fin cut him
above the eye. Both cuts were deep.
The guys helping him
weren’t too sure what to do. I sort of took over as Steve was going into shock
from the injuries. I sent him to his room with one of the guys to get out of
his wet gear and put warm clothes on. I went to reception and organised Wayan
to get a bike and one of the staff to take him to the clinic in the village as
he needed medical attention.
Back at his room, I
checked told him what was happening and checked that he had money and his phone
on him. I walked him up to the reception where Wayan had the motorbike and
staff ready to take him. His friend had gotten out of the water so he went to
change his clothes while I organised another motorbike.
After breakfast, I had a
surf. When I got back, Steve was at the pool. He had six stitches on the cheek
and two above the eye. He was all good but no surfing for two weeks.
THE HIKE
Jacinta and I walked into
the village to the supermarket. Jacinta needed to buy a few things and I
continued onwards for a hike.
I walked to Jalan Mejan
and followed the road to Mejan Beach. The houses along the edge of the road had
bougainvilleas spilling over the walls in a festoon of bright colours. Further
along there were rice fields bright green shallow cover of water. Just before
the beach there was a small temple perched a little back from the cliff edge.
On the black sand beach, I walked to the edge of the point and after removing my shoes I waded around the
point in waist high water with small waves to the another smaller beach.
I strolled along the beach
to a small waterfall on the further end of the beach. I sat down on the rocks
to put my shoes back on and surprised a large monitor lizard which promptly ran
up the cliff face.
I followed the lizard’s
trail and climbed the cliff. Near the top, There was a large hole in the cliff
face. I descended into the darkness of the hole and emerged inside a large
cave. The cave was about five metres wide, 4 metre high and about 20 metres
long. I walked over the rocks in the semidarkness to the ocean side of the cave
entrance.
To the east of the
entrance was a small arch under the next headland. I walked carefully over the
wet and slippery rocks to a close proximity of the arch. There was only a four
metre water filled distance from the edge of the rock to the beach on the other
side of the arch. Unfortunately, the tide was still high and the water was deep
with set waves running strongly into the arch. I didn’t want to backtrack so
into the water I jumped and swam trough the arch. It felt a bit nervy and I was
soaked but I got through.
I walked across the beach
to another cave on the next headland. This cave was full of bats. There were
two exits on the other side – one large and one small. To get to the large
exit, I would have had to scramble over the rocks and too close for comfort to
the swirling bats. I took the lower way to the smaller exit. I had to crawl
over the sand and under the bats that were flying about a metre over me. The
small entrance was clogged by sand and the aperture was only a half metre in
height. I crawled tightly through it. On the other side there were two pairs of
feet. Two young girls were standing there and nearly jumped with fright when i
said hello from halfway through the exit.
I must have looked a sight
being soaking wet and covered with sand. We had a short chat and they decided
to try going the way I came.
I walked along the beach
and up the stairs into Mina Gajah Resort and followed the path to the road and
continued back to my hotel.
A great hike with heaps of
fun and surprises.
UP IN THE MOUNTAINS
I told Wal and Desty about
a pretty place towards the mountains with rice fields and warungs. We decided
to go there in Wal’s car. I had an idea where the warungs were but we missed
the turn off and after about 3 hours of back and forth driving with gave up and
headed back to Balian.
The scenery was pretty, we
laughed along about our adventure and drove for so long that we were only ½
hour from Lovina in the north of Bali.
THE PEOPLE
Simon and Mark from South
Africa – touring Bali in car. Nice guys who joined us for dinner and spoke of their
travels in South Africa and Mozambique.
Jenelle from Maroubra - A
pleasant sun worshipper that was touring around Bali.
Steveand friends from New Zealand, Auckland, Steve had the
surfboard fin in the face.
Jeff. Mark and Marty –
long time friends living in Balian. We had chats , dinner and surfs together.
Shaun – I have met him a
few times. He showed me great surf photos of east coast of Bali in the dry season.
Cameron – lives Bali, wife
Indonesian, has a place in Sumbawa, chatted over coffee.
Wayan - who works at Ayu’s
- not married yet – needs girl first.
Jason and Layla from Sanur
– Jason shapes surfboards, has done a lot of surf travelling, knows Rodney.
Layla from Jogjakarta is Indonesian with some Arabic blood. A nice couple . We
had dinner together at Tekor
Greg – from Margaret River
- met in Balian previously.
Lozza – met a number of
times.
Bryan and Maureen – known for
a long time. I had a lot of surfs with Bryan.
Wal and Desty – known them
for ages, Always good to catch-up, chat, eat, surf and laugh.
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