About two weeks ago we had a really big swell pushing through. It had been on the cards for about a week and we knew heaps of lineups were going to be good. We took a gamble and drove way up north to get acquainted with this wave. Happy hunting

Warming up before the biggest contest of the year for me. BUCS. I will be surfing at Fistral from the 18th – 21st on my Firewire, in my Xcel wetsuit and donning my Electric sunglases

It crazy how quickly time flys. Thinking back at it now, I remember landing and having only my boards and being completely disorientated because unlike being home there is no real schedule when you are on the road. It kind of just happens and you have to go with it. In what felt like the blink of an eye the 5 and a half weeks were over and I was about to get on a plane and fly home. I’ll be honest it was the best 5 and a half weeks I have had in a very long time. Its nice to be able to switch off and just be. I feel a bit repetitive in what I say at times but I am truly blessed and grateful to be able to do what I do. I love my life. I love the people in my life. I love living!

More than anything over my last week and a bit I just enjoyed. I guess in a way I wish I had surfed more but by this stage I was a little surfed out so I was just enjoying spending time with friends. Taking in the culture and trying take in as much as I could before my inevitable departure. Spending time at my uncle Sam’s Villa was amazing and I can’t thank him enough for that. The place is seriously the coolest place I have seen in all of Indonesia!!  Thank you Sam, from the bottom of my heart. Partying at Single Fin for my birthday was all time, some crazy cats hang out in that place!! ( Fisher, Bennets, Mr. Alley Cats Nathan, Koby) real loose individuals. Vividly remember Fish walking behind the counter at MacDonald’s and serving people food. #idiot Surfing all the different waves. Eating crazy food. Almost being run over or run off the road several times. Its funny how me and the boys spoke about time and how one second you are here, the next you are there.

I want to say thanks to Jay, Alex and Marco for taking the time to surf, hang out and talk with me; without you boys the trip would have been shit!! I hope we can meet again in another part of the world and share waves!!

For everyone else. Be appreciative of your day. It could always be worse. Don’t waste time worrying about things you can’t change, but do change the things you can for the better. Happy hunting fuckers.

Here are two videos from the trip.

Week two has been fun, it was Alex’s birthday which quite frankly was hilarious. We went out for it and had a really funny night (apart from Alex almost getting killed by the bouncers outside Alley Cats) basically he took a piss in the street which understandably anywhere else in the world isn’t that frowned on. It’s wasn’t even in the street, it was in the corner of an alley. Word to the wise; ‘don’t do this in Bali’ next thing we know there is ten guys surrounding Alex basically wanting his guts for garters, and they weren’t discreet about it. I was standing to the side just trying to get us to move on, Alex is being pushed and shoved, cops a slap in the mouth, tempers are rising but we were slowly pushing forward and out of it. On our way out I see a guy approaching with a fucking MACHETE wrapped in toilet paper, I decided to discreetly apologise to him on Alex’s behalf, say we wish to cause no harm and are on our way. He shed a warning and left into the shadows with his machete, we pushed Alex through and we were on our way. The night from there picked up and actually ended being pretty fun. Alex picked up which was the most important thing. I actually want make another word for the wise; avoid at all costs La Vida Loca. I swear that place is the devils lair. I was blown away!! In every sense of the word.

The next day started like something out of the hangover. Jaron thought he had been robbed and everything was a bit gloomy. It’s the shittest way to start the day especially when you are operating on 3 or 4 hours sleep. There is nothing worse than the feeling of being robbed. As you can imagine everyone was a bit down and generally off it with LIFE as a whole. Anyway it was moving day and we were getting ready to head over to ‘Bobbys Palace’ above Uluwatu on the Bukit. We headed over to this cool little place for a pitstop, everyone needed a feed. It’s this really healthy traditional Warung. Goes by the name of Warung Bu Mi or as we call it Bumi’s, filled up the engines and headed back to Jaron’s. To the astonishment of everyone including himself he hadn’t been robbed he had just had a drunken moment of hiding brilliance and forgotten about it. It was crazy how the mood and atmosphere changed and all of a sudden everyone was happy again. #smallvictories

Moved to Uluwatu, I swear the drive there was absolutely horrendous.so much traffic and a bike full of stuff. I though I was going to die!! We moved in and got settled its was an amazing place, I’ll be honest writing this I am pretty eager to move back into there…

We headed down to single fin, a cool bar above Ulu’s and the boys had a few beverages. I’m still T Total in case anyone was wondering. Anyway the night goes on, nobody picks up. Me and Alex are the last men standing, at 12o’clock last orders are called and we head home. Only to find my bed has been taken #jayisadarkhorse I didn’t even see the lad leave.

The next few days we just Surfed, Trained and Ate. We had a little swell come through and hit up a few dawn strikes, we ended up finding this amazing slab with nobody out. I’ve actually been really lucky this trip, I’ve not hand incredible waves but heaps of fun waves, and being able to surf solo sessions with just Jay, Alex, Marco and Myself has been a fun path of rediscovery in terms of what I love and hate in surfing. People say hate is a strong word but it’s a true emotion and there are things I hate but more things I love… I really missed going out and just surfing. I’m looking forward to coming home, playing with surfboard designs and doing a lot more surfing for fun. Don’t get me wrong I still get frustrated when I don’t do the best turns or surf the way I know I’m capable of but I find I’m enjoying surfing more by just going with it.

Last year for me I had to accept some hard truths and I think the reality of that has opened my mind to the other possibilities and things I want to do with my surfing and life. The reality is I’m never going to surf on the world tour, surfing for me at this point isn’t where I see myself making a living but accepting that had made me love my surfing again. I just want to be recognised as a good surfer and a good guy doing what he loves. it sucks to accept a childhood dream isn’t quite going to be but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on surfing. I’m just seeing things clear.

Josh Piper decided to show his face in Bali, and for the first time ever we actually got on really well haha. We had a good days surfing, spoke heaps and ‘frothed’ on what we are both currently doing. It’s was a long way from the way we hated each other in school. Ask was saying a week of surfing, eating and training and also watching Sasha mess up getting back to Aus, ( she is the worst traveller EVER)

Next stop for the gypsys…

Sumbawa

It’s funny getting to Bali, from the second you get off that plane the heat and humidity hits you like a crisp slap in the face; although it’s more of a ‘moist slap’ it still wakes you up and shouts ‘Welcome to Bali’

You walk through the airport to pick up your visa and that’s when you realise everything in Indonesia is run around the money.. From there you’re on to baggage reclaim, I had a bit of a ‘mare with this. Bloody JetStar only went and left my bag of clothes in Singapore so for the first two days I was stuck in a pair of jeans and a vest. Luckily Jay lent me some shorts. ( very very short shorts )

The first three days here in Bali were awesome. Got fun waves, rode a bunch on the mopeds and ate some cheeky good food. It’s a pretty cool place as far as places in the world go. Got to surf Keramas the first day. It wasn’t great but there were waves, it’s blew any day at Fistral out the water so I was frothing. After surfing so little over the last three months it’s been weird trying to find my feet again. My surfing after the first three days is definitely feeling better though!! Still got a long way to go. We surfed Gangga which was also very fun and a couple surfed at Brawa, in the lazy three days I surfed more than I did in three months at home!!

Thursday was a great day, my surfing was feeling the best it had and things were looking up.. Until we ventured into Kuta, I swear that place is hell on earth. Unless you are pissed out of your mind it’s really not a very fun place at all!! Anyway riding home from Kuta with a girl on the back of the bike and things took a turn for the tragic. These two Indonesian guys drove up behind us and snatched the girls bag. In an attempt to hang on to it she’s gone one way, I’ve tried to steer the other way and then her bag strap has snapped. Wheels collide and my scooter goes sliding out from under me. We both ended up covered in ‘rosties’ but nothing we won’t survive. Just very very very irritating.

Spent the last three days out of the water waiting for these to heal but hopefully back in the water tomorrow with the swell picking back up again. So in a nutshell week one has been mixed with ups and downs. This place isn’t anything like travelling Europe haha. Hopefully the next weeks bears more fruit!!

Yew