Drank quite a few beers yesterday arvo after kicking of with a guiness extra stout at G spot on Bali's South East and was a little concerned how I'd feel today. But I don't know why, I never seem to get a hangover from Indo beers. Only takes 4 or 5 Japanese pints of any Japanese beer other than Sapporo Premium (not the one licensed and made by Coopers) and I can feel a bit crappy the next day.

I woke at 4am, alarm set for 5am, but I felt fine. Watched the second 1/2 of a movie I feel asleep watching the night before and got a call from the missus on Skype at 5am (6am Japan time). She was taking our niece to Tokyo Disneyland today. The inlaws & niece all took turns to ohio gazimus me on video chat. My niece was just about climbing the walls with excitement, well rolling around laughing n stuff under the dining room table. As you would if you were 5 years old and headed to Disneyland, hell I was just about doing it the first time I went at 33

Plan today was to check the reefies out front at 5:45am and if small call Gustie for a lift over to G spot again, whichis what we did. Surprisingly it was only about head high and not looking enticing with a about 4 kts onshore. I grabbed the coffee I planned to get yesterday and talked to Sharky from Kalbarri and his Californian mate who had been in Bali for 4 months. They reckconed it was the smallest they'd seen it ever, I said, "should have been here yesterday" haha...nah I didn't, but said it was a lot of fun yesterday.

We talked surf talk for about an hour watching, hoping for the wind to drop like it did yesterday. They bailed to surf a bank North of Padma they said looked alright and I thought it was a good opportunity for some exploration. I always like to explore a part of the coast I havn't explored before each time I come.

Two or 3 years ago I posted a link to some instagram pics an Indo bloke had posted of a major development site on the South East coast. The pics showed a rockwall that had been built and some very serious limestone cliff excavation to make a road down to a little white sand beach with waves breaking on an offshore reef. That became the mission for the day.

I'll have to post some pics when I get home, for some reason my photo's program on the Mac is not importing pics from the camera SD card from the last few days. Maybe there's a limit or something coz there's over 1500 pics and video files on it now. Maybe 1500 is its limit or something I don't know...but anyway, this place is architectually...hmmm maybe not architectaully. But whatever the definition is for hardcore earthworks is, its very impressive what they have accomplished. I just hope they don't go too far and cover the place in concrete the way they did at dreamland. If they are able to find balance between their no doubt pricey hotels, restraunts and plant some greenery. The place will be magic. It is bound to be very expensive though at the equivilent of $3.50 toll just to enter. Ulus/Padang Padang is $1 and the otherwise most expensive toll I am aware of is $1.10 for the Nguh Rai to Nusa Dua toll road over the mangroves.

More interestingly though was the surf potential where G spot was about head, this place had the occasional double head sets. I think it would have some pretty serious waves most days and I look forward to checking it again if the missus and I come in January and I'm chasing more swell. Hangon, wait...it might even be good when we head back again tomorrow coz today was actually pretty deent ; )

After that we came back and checked out Suli's hotel, built on the site of my missus and I favourite hotel the "Green Garden" on wana Segara, not to be confused with the one that still exists on Jalan Kartika thats owned by the same guy, who also owns Febri's. Suli's has an epic view of the Tuban reefies and the food drinks are well priced. But I much prefer the old style hotels with lots of nice gardens. Its now a pile of concrete covered in nice tiles and fake grass beside a rooftop swimming pool with no shade for the pool. One of my prerequisites for any Bali accomodation is the pool must have a shady spot in the arvo. So I'm unlikely to ever stay there, but certainly a bloody good spot to do a surf check in the morning, with or without binoculars.

One day left, fingers crossed for light winds in the morning. Either way, I'll be out there...cheers!

Ok I lied...story to come later after grilled ayam and motivational bintangs.

Yeah Yeah, either way I'll be be out there...wind or no wind, rain,hail or shine, meteors crashing into the earth, death stars firing farking laser beams. No worries, I would of been out there...But! You can't surf if there is no damn swell. Very small today, Ulu's was about waist to chest high.

We set off for the place we went to yesterday & it was closed for a hindu full moon ceremony. Thought ok, will check out green ball and it was tiny, like waist high with inconsistent chest high mooshing a short distance across the reef. We popped down there for a look coz my friend had not been there before. For those in the know, if this place is small, pretty much the whole of Indo is small. Although of course clean chest high waves walling up down a reef would be a lot of fun. Just not with the 5 or 6 million frothing at Ulu's, the only place that would of been "ok" today.

The other day when we checked out the place with the major earthworks. I'd thought the limestone groyne I'd seen amongst a bunch of pics of the project had been used to extend the beach out and subsequently covered up. Until we found it a bit further around, another massive project with roads cut into the ciiffs. At least this place was only 40c to pop down for a look. Its going to be very interesting in years to come to see these projects when completed. I can't help but wonder how they are going to obtain enough water to operate hotels & stuff. The West coast has heaps of water trucks topping up water supplies for smaller hotels. They're going to need a desalination plant or something. Really incredible to behold the scale of excavation they have done to create flat land for future tourist development. Of course the infrastructure for all these projects seems to be a second thought.

Anywayz...lurkers, circle jerkers and everyone else. Thats pretty much the end of this years Bali trip, hopefully be back a week or two after new years. I'll upload some pics when I get home. Cheers for reading my blahh'og...havagood1

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MickPC said..
Yeah Yeah, either way I'll be be out there...wind or no wind, rain,hail or shine, meteors crashing into the earth, death stars firing farking laser beams. No worries, I would of been out there...But! You can't surf if there is no damn swell. Very small today, Ulu's was about waist to chest high.

We set off for the place we went to yesterday & it was closed for a hindu full moon ceremony. Thought ok, will check out green ball and it was tiny, like waist high with inconsistent chest high mooshing a short distance across the reef. We popped down there for a look coz my friend had not been there before. For those in the know, if this place is small, pretty much the whole of Indo is small. Although of course clean chest high waves walling up down a reef would be a lot of fun. Just not with the 5 or 6 million frothing at Ulu's, the only place that would of been "ok" today.

The other day when we checked out the place with the major earthworks. I'd thought the limestone groyne I'd seen amongst a bunch of pics of the project had been used to extend the beach out and subsequently covered up. Until we found it a bit further around, another massive project with roads cut into the ciiffs. At least this place was only 40c to pop down for a look. Its going to be very interesting in years to come to see these projects when completed. I can't help but wonder how they are going to obtain enough water to operate hotels & stuff. The West coast has heaps of water trucks topping up water supplies for smaller hotels. They're going to need a desalination plant or something. Really incredible to behold the scale of excavation they have done to create flat land for future tourist development. Of course the infrastructure for all these projects seems to be a second thought.

Anywayz...lurkers, circle jerkers and everyone else. Thats pretty much the end of this years Bali trip, hopefully be back a week or two after new years. I'll upload some pics when I get home. Cheers for reading my blahh'og...havagood1

Thanks Mick, enjoyed it.

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Nozza said..

MickPC said..
Yeah Yeah, either way I'll be be out there...wind or no wind, rain,hail or shine, meteors crashing into the earth, death stars firing farking laser beams. No worries, I would of been out there...But! You can't surf if there is no damn swell. Very small today, Ulu's was about waist to chest high.

We set off for the place we went to yesterday & it was closed for a hindu full moon ceremony. Thought ok, will check out green ball and it was tiny, like waist high with inconsistent chest high mooshing a short distance across the reef. We popped down there for a look coz my friend had not been there before. For those in the know, if this place is small, pretty much the whole of Indo is small. Although of course clean chest high waves walling up down a reef would be a lot of fun. Just not with the 5 or 6 million frothing at Ulu's, the only place that would of been "ok" today.

The other day when we checked out the place with the major earthworks. I'd thought the limestone groyne I'd seen amongst a bunch of pics of the project had been used to extend the beach out and subsequently covered up. Until we found it a bit further around, another massive project with roads cut into the ciiffs. At least this place was only 40c to pop down for a look. Its going to be very interesting in years to come to see these projects when completed. I can't help but wonder how they are going to obtain enough water to operate hotels & stuff. The West coast has heaps of water trucks topping up water supplies for smaller hotels. They're going to need a desalination plant or something. Really incredible to behold the scale of excavation they have done to create flat land for future tourist development. Of course the infrastructure for all these projects seems to be a second thought.

Anywayz...lurkers, circle jerkers and everyone else. Thats pretty much the end of this years Bali trip, hopefully be back a week or two after new years. I'll upload some pics when I get home. Cheers for reading my blahh'og...havagood1

Thanks Mick, enjoyed it.

Plus 1. A really enjoyable read. Thanks for going to the trouble. (Some good info in there.... I now have some Imodium for my family trip to India. )
And I was stoked that there were no surf hat dramas this time around. I surf in one so often that even when I don't wear it, I grab the top of my head with one hand when I wipe out.

Thanks mick best thread great read,

+1 great read

hoping you get a chance / time to upload a few pics of the waves too!

Hey mick what's your rundown on Balian.

Balian sucks Cobra, you'd hate it.

This joint looks like it's gonna be $hithouse too....www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/18142684
Will let you know in a couple of weeks.

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MickPC said..
Yeah Yeah, either way I'll be be out there...wind or no wind, rain,hail or shine, meteors crashing into the earth, death stars firing farking laser beams. No worries, I would of been out there...But! You can't surf if there is no damn swell. Very small today, Ulu's was about waist to chest high.

We set off for the place we went to yesterday & it was closed for a hindu full moon ceremony. Thought ok, will check out green ball and it was tiny, like waist high with inconsistent chest high mooshing a short distance across the reef. We popped down there for a look coz my friend had not been there before. For those in the know, if this place is small, pretty much the whole of Indo is small. Although of course clean chest high waves walling up down a reef would be a lot of fun. Just not with the 5 or 6 million frothing at Ulu's, the only place that would of been "ok" today.

The other day when we checked out the place with the major earthworks. I'd thought the limestone groyne I'd seen amongst a bunch of pics of the project had been used to extend the beach out and subsequently covered up. Until we found it a bit further around, another massive project with roads cut into the ciiffs. At least this place was only 40c to pop down for a look. Its going to be very interesting in years to come to see these projects when completed. I can't help but wonder how they are going to obtain enough water to operate hotels & stuff. The West coast has heaps of water trucks topping up water supplies for smaller hotels. They're going to need a desalination plant or something. Really incredible to behold the scale of excavation they have done to create flat land for future tourist development. Of course the infrastructure for all these projects seems to be a second thought.

Anywayz...lurkers, circle jerkers and everyone else. Thats pretty much the end of this years Bali trip, hopefully be back a week or two after new years. I'll upload some pics when I get home. Cheers for reading my blahh'og...havagood1

Great rundown of your trip Mick thanks for your hard work in putting it together.

Yes interesting times ahead in Bali,with these new projects, there is no water now and they keep building.
I know a lot of villages are being run dry of water to supply the hotels villas,I know there is a big movement
going on to stop any new projects due to water shortage.

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Cobra said..
Hey mick what's your rundown on Balian.

Lots of sharks up there too mate.

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Nozza said..
Thanks Mick, enjoyed it.

Cheers mate, enjoyed writing it

Looks good smicko, mate just got back,,luuved it

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McGuane said..

Plus 1. A really enjoyable read. Thanks for going to the trouble. (Some good info in there.... I now have some Imodium for my family trip to India. )
And I was stoked that there were no surf hat dramas this time around. I surf in one so often that even when I don't wear it, I grab the top of my head with one hand when I wipe out.

Cheers mate, no trouble at all...hope your trip to India is awesome & free of the need for Imodium. Make sure you guys get some biomedics to get some good combative bacterior in your guts before you go & some multivitimins. Prevention is always better than the cure

haha re: hats...I'm the same mate, an absolute necessity when you've reached an age of annual skin checks requiring getting cut & iced. I had 3 surf hats on me this trip. The one I bought in Bali last September & 2 backups called Swell from a surfstitch sale for like $8 bucks each..can totally relate to the hat grab on bail LOL, nothing worse than having to chase after a hat between a reef & a set

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Cobra said..
Thanks mick best thread great read,

Cheers mate, stoked you enjoyed it

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mazdon said..
+1 great read

hoping you get a chance / time to upload a few pics of the waves too!

Thanks man...absolutely, had some real world obstacles since I got back with a major computer problem I finally got sorted today and the olds needing some support up in the big smoke.

I will upload some pics today & edit some video that should be up by the end of the weekend...cheers

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Cobra said..
Hey mick what's your rundown on Balian.

Balian is a laid back chilled place about 2hrs North of the airport if you don't leave too late. The road has improved a lot, but the need for supplys from Jakarta has grown also making for a very busy road. There are rumours of a road being built through from Seminyak/Canngu, but I doubt it will save any time by the time its built, probably just alleviate the pressure.

Because of the road basing yourself at Balian or 30 mins up the road at Medewi limits your feasible surfing options to the North West coast of Bali. Some people are happy with this, personally I'm not due to the reliable cross shore wind kicking in by mid morining and the fat'ness of the waves. Other waves are around but are also subject to the same reliable mid morning wind and accessed by the most crazy road in Bali.

If you could restrict your froth to chilling at Balian, the surrounding lands are relaxing and the rice fields around the area minus any villas or electric posts echo the feel of past years. I really like the Mid West coast for its visuals, there are some beautiful spots to behold for sure. Its just not as versatile for swell & wind directions or things other than surfing if your chilling with a non surfer. All depends on what your chasing, but definitely worth a personal appraisal

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smicko said..
This joint looks like it's gonna be $hithouse too....www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/18142684
Will let you know in a couple of weeks.

haha hope its cranking for you mate & you share some of your stoke with us

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Macaha said..

Great rundown of your trip Mick thanks for your hard work in putting it together.

Yes interesting times ahead in Bali,with these new projects, there is no water now and they keep building.
I know a lot of villages are being run dry of water to supply the hotels villas,I know there is a big movement
going on to stop any new projects due to water shortage.

Thanks mate...yes I don't think they are too far from meeting some boundaries. Especially given the number of rooms available through all the accommodation options available these days. The Bukit is going to be a challenge for them given the popularity of the area and the low rainfall outside wet season. They are building some very serious infrastructure just to access new areas. They need to put the same investment into harvesting rainfall. It could be done, there are major water captures running alongside new roads that run into the ocean. If they were to run this water into storage tanks they could at least alleviate the water needs of these new areas by pumping it up to the top of the hill.

There is an interesting relative part in Phil Jarrats book, Bali Heaven & Hell towards the end where a guy is talking about his multi million dollar property he built on the cliff above Padang Padang. He built water storage tanks either side of his driveway, I forget maybe like 8 x 3 x 4 metres. Something like that where he says he wishes he had dug deeper so he could be unrestrictively self sufficient. The benefits of hindsight...well I don't think you need the benefits of hindsight these days. Just about everywhere in the world has water challenges. It really needs to be a forefront consideration for any development. Hopefully they have given this important issue some thought.

Run out of time, I will try to upload pics/vids Fri/Sun if I don't find time before...cheers

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MickPC said..

smicko said..
This joint looks like it's gonna be $hithouse too....www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/18142684
Will let you know in a couple of weeks.

haha hope its cranking for you mate & you share some of your stoke with us

Fingers crossed Mick!
This is a family trip, so I'll be happy with a three hour early each morning, then a bit of chill time. We've got a week or so at the joint above and then undecided, will see what Huey has planned. Recently discovered some pretty nuts freshwater fishing over there that I want to suss out too.

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Cobra said..
Looks good smicko, mate just got back,,luuved it

I dig it Cobra. I prefer to go shoulder season, wind is generally a bit more friendly, usually get offshore or light side shore until 10ish, so 3-4+ hours each morning and the odd LAGO. Never seen the area flat.
Ever.
0.5-2m max is what you want.
If you do get swell there's options.
Bonian beach house is good and very well priced too.

Macaha is right though, it's feckin sharky. If you cop a couple of days rain at the end of the dry the water can be utterly rank and seriously sharky. Like solid Bulls doing cartwheels through the lineup kinda sharky. Never seen anything else like it.

Still it has its rewards...this is the same day as that pic above with my mate taking off, a lot bigger than it looks and I've never surfed this joint with anyone that I haven't taken there. One of the best beachies I've ever surfed.

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smicko said..

MickPC said..

smicko said..
This joint looks like it's gonna be $hithouse too....www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/18142684
Will let you know in a couple of weeks.

haha hope its cranking for you mate & you share some of your stoke with us

Fingers crossed Mick!
This is a family trip, so I'll be happy with a three hour early each morning, then a bit of chill time. We've got a week or so at the joint above and then undecided, will see what Huey has planned. Recently discovered some pretty nuts freshwater fishing over there that I want to suss out too.

Sounds very cool mate, for those in the know like yourself. You really can't go wrong in Bali hey...let us know how it goes, fish'n & all