Stephen Evans |
Friday, 1 February 2008 9:00 AM |
I have a friend who declares that he’s never had sex as good as his best surfing sessions – it’s the sort of comment that speaks volumes about some part of his life. Given he spent most of the 60s and 70s as a local rock star, he’s obviously had some very good surfing sessions.
An aspect of modern surfing is surf travel. I remember at some point in the early 70s going to see a slide presentation by some local surfers in a community hall in Avalon. They had just returned from Bali with images and tales of an idyllic tropical lifestyle and deserted reef breaks with large and perfectly formed waves – years roll by and life moves on.
My surfing buddy and I and our wives (sans enfant) arrived at Denpasar airport and loaded the 9ft plus surfboards onto an airport taxi for the trip to a small but attractive resort on the less popular part of Bali out along the east coast. As usual, the driver was a wealth of information about shopping, antiques, restaurants and he assured us that he knew of a secret surfing location that had a perfect right hand point break. Sceptically, we agreed to meet him early the next morning so he could show us his secret surfing location.
Next day, we drove through the volcanic hills that run down to the sea along Bali’s east coast, plunged off the main road and through villages awash with children, chickens and mangy dogs, finally, along a track through a quiet, dark coconut grove. Eventually we reached the ocean and behold – it was exactly as described. A perfect 6-8ft right hand point break, wrapping around the headland into a small bay beach.
We surfed there for a couple of hours until the tide changed the shape of the waves – it was so perfect all we could do was laugh and wave to each other, hoot and holler as we took the drop, then carved across a broad blue face 12-15ft high, finish by tucking and trimming into a fast barrel to flip out in a rush of spray at the end – then paddle out and do it all over again and again.
Afterwards, we sat at a roadside warung opposite our secret turn-off, eating nasi goreng for breakfast, washed down with hot sweet tea, talking about sex and surfing and which one gives a better rush. Looking out at the endless parade of overloaded passing trucks, I watched as a mini bus jammed packed with young Japanese surfers and their boards laughing and waving, turn down the secret road.
As Australian property companies make inroads into emerging Asian markets, we should keep in mind the valuable surfing lesson – no matter how worldly wise you may be, there’s still a lot to be learned by listening to the locals and the fact is, we’re probably not the only ones passing this way.
Stephen Evans is general manager of management services, at Gleeds.
Stephen Evans |
Friday, 1 February 2008 9:00 AM |
