A hike around the tracks
at Kincumba Mountain with Jacinta. It looked like it could rain, and we did get a light shower during our walk. We followed a number of tracks; some Jacinta hadn't done before. It was very quiet for the whole hike.
That evening, we had a dinner at a Terrigal restaurant to celebrate
Kara’s graduation. The food was great though the weather was a bit chilly ... for December!
19 DECEMBER
I had a mountain bike ride at Kincumba Mountain on a number of the summit tracks.
20 DECEMBER
A bike and hike to
the last waterfall on Tank Creek in Brisbane Water National Park.
This was a longish ride and a very rough hike. The bike ride was on the trails that lead to Rocky Ponds. It was fun due to some good downhills on a rough surface. there was a need to be aware of fist sized stones.
The hike started on an obscure track on the right just before reaching Tank Creek. The track followed a 'dry' creek, and it was heavily eroded and overgrown in sections. I followed it until I reached the last waterfall on Tank Creek. There were views of the Hawkesbury River from here. The waterfall dropped in a number of drops. I hiked along the creek coming across lots of waterfalls, cascades, areas of flat rock and dark pools of water. It was worth the effort.
On the return journey, my bike derailer broke and I had to scooter the bike 4km back to the van.
I drove home via the bike shop 'Bikeworkx'. The workshop was closed till January. I checked anyway and they decided to fix it. It was ready by the afternoon. Unlucky but lucky day.
22 DECEMBER
A surf at Wamberal Beach. A small crowd of friends with good lefts and rights. The rip was a bit strong and overall, it was fun.
23 DECEMBER
A surf at Wamberal
Beach. The tide was very high and not much was happening but just on the peak of high tide it started to break, and I had about twenty minutes of okay waves on my own.
Afterwards, had a snorkel at Terrigal Haven. A nice surprise with a lot of fish, two large catfish and a small shark. When I got out of the water Jacinta had arrived with coffee. The perfect morning.
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 friendsfrom 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 togetherat 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.
A surf check of North Avoca Beach and Wamberal Beach were
not very inspiring despite being very little wind.
I drove to the Haven, had an ocean swim, a coffee, a read
and a sit in the early morning sun.
Back at home, and a group decision lead to an outting at
Avoca Lagoon for some kayaking. It was Mr Archibald's first attempt at
kayaking. He didn't settle to well with myself but was fine with Kara.
We had a fun time paddling the kayak around, posing for photos
and being silly. We saw some kangaroos playing in the water on the small island.
It ended with a big feed from the fish and chip shop when we
got back home.
23 November 2017
A surf check at North Avoca - tide too low so back later.
I drove to Bouddi NP and parked at the top of Wards Hill and
rode the tracks off Maitland Bay Road.
The tracks were fun curving here, there and everywhere with
some hard sections. The return ride was easier as I was able to go the steeper
rocky sections.
There were a few points where the view lookout north across
the Broadwater and Brisbane Water. There was a track at the base of the
escarpment which I'll try hiking along on another day.
At one steep and rocky section, I got off my bike to walk it
but tripped over a tree root, fell on a log, rolled over the log and into the
bracken fern. Luckily, I landed where I corked my thigh on a ride a few days
ago ... nah, it hurt. Anyway, I escaped with three series of scrape marks and a
cut on my left leg.
I checked Copacabana Beach next. the conditions were nice
but the waves were breaking only a few metres from shore.
I drove back to North Avoca and had a fun and small surf.
The waves were okay and I had fun using the gopro5 as well. The videos were
okay but I need to use different settings for surfing photographs.
Back home to tidying, mulching and mowing the yard.
24 November 2017
I checked the waves at North Avoca but it was too small and
crumbly.
I call Paul to meet up for coffee at the Haven. I had a bit
of time to spare so I went for a snorkel around the rock pool.
As soon as I was in the water, I saw a stingray. The water
visibility was okay but still a little murky.
Next, there were a lot of different fish, another stingray
and a Wobbegone shark. The shark was over a metre in length. I followed it for
awhile and enjoyed watching it flowing low over the rocks and seaweed and in
between crevices.
Wobbegong is the common name given to the 12 species
of carpet sharks in the family Orectolobidae. The word wobbegong
is believed to come from an Australian Aboriginal language meaning "shaggy
beard", referring to the growths around the mouth of the shark of the
western Pacific.
Wobbegongs are bottom-dwelling sharks, so they spend much of
their time resting on the sea floor. Wobbegongs are well camouflaged with a
symmetrical pattern of bold markings which resembles a carpet. The camouflage
is improved by the presence of small weed-like whisker lobes surrounding the wobbegong's jaw, which help to
camouflage it and act as sensory barbs. Wobbegongs make use of their relative
invisibility to hide among rocks and catch smaller fish which swim too close.
Wobbegongs are generally not dangerous to humans. However,
they have bitten people who accidentally stepped on them in shallow water or
underwater divers who have poked or touched them. Unprovoked, they may also
bite those who swim near their hiding spots. Wobbegongs are very flexible and
can easily bite a hand holding onto their tail.
They have many small but sharp teeth and their bite can be
severe, even through a wetsuit; having once bitten, they have been known to
hang on and can be very difficult to remove.
After the snorkel, I meet up with Paul and Chris for coffee
at the Cove Cafe.
Next, I headed over to Avoca Point to join up with a number
of old friends whom I went to school with, surfed with or lived in the area I
grew up in. Ray arranges the get together and it is always a lot of laughs
chatting about past, present and future.
Finally, I was back home and then took Kara and Mr Archibald
down to the Haven Beach. By the time we left, I was feeling a bit
sun-out-of-it.
Later, Jacinta and I had a few drinks and dinner at the
Beery at Terrigal and listened to a pleasant two man band.
Started the day with an early morning surf. It was smaller with a few sets at the
beginning but a long lull on the low tide peak. Still, it was fun. :)
I had breakfast with the girls and after that, Jacinta and I had a motor
bike ride to town for a few supplies.
Back from the shops and it was back in the water for another
surf. There were more waves this time with a few good sized rights on the sets.
Jacinta and I walked to Toms Garden for afternoon coffee. Such a pretty setting in the garden.
We walked to Telor for dinner. I had a tasty beef rending and icy cold draught beers.
We took our malaria tablets tonight in preparation for North Sulawesi. Our first stop after Manado will be Tangkoko National Park with jungle treks as the main attraction. Jungle = mosquitoes = maybe malaria. So, better to be safe than sorry.
1 July 2017
I slept well last night but for me the malaria tablets night is always one of vivid dreams.
I had an early morning surf. There were some long lulls but there was a nice head high right when it came
through. There was only a few surfers out in the water.
Talking with Cam in the water about the shark sighting yesterday. He said that the shark - 2 metres - breached the water fully right in front of him. Scary stuff. everybody paddled in but after an hour people started paddling out again. Including yours truly.
I had breakfast with the girls.
They sat by the pool and I went for a walk to check the surf. Just as I was at the hotel exit, Wal and his wife Desky drove in. I met Wal 10 years ago in Balian and he is now living in Bali. We chatted and
then had a surf together. The cross shore was stronger but there were still some good waves amongst it.
Kara and Jacinta were having lunch at Pitaya when I got out of the water so I joined them for lunch. So hungry.
Back at the hotel, I visited Wal and we chatted of past, present and future. The girls and I had drinks at the hotel bar with Mick. Since I met Mick here he has only drunk milkshakes but tonight he had a few beers.
The girls and I had a great dinner again at Telor.
A flat surf day this morning with very light wind and an incoming tide. The ocean was looking very glassy.
I walked along the beach at Toowoon Bay and entered the water where the sand meets the island for a snorkel.
The water was a bit weedy to start with a strong current moving over the shallow sections.
As soon as I put my head under the water there were fish zooming over a sand and rock background.
I snorkeled out towards the sup riders on the point first. I didn't get as far as the sup riders as the visibility deteriorated too much. Along the way, I saw fish, pretty coloured rocks and seaweed, stingrays and a small shark.
I backtracked and crossed the narrow channel between the beach and the island. It was hard going as the tide as working strongly against me. I did see lots of fish feeding amongst the seaweed.
I continued onwards close to the rocks and small waves. The tide and waves pushed me in and out but eventually I got to the deeper water and saw a massive blue coloured groper.
I fed the fish sending them into a wild frenzy and went in via the beach.
One unusual event was a large fish that followed me nearly the full length of my snorkel.
I warmed up with a coffee and relax at the kiosk at the surf club over looking the bay and beach.
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