We arrived in Denpasar, Indonesia in the early afternoon after a tropical shower.   As we cleared customs, a sea of “taxi” drivers that wanted to take us to our hotel awaited.  After being caught up in the frenzy, we were quickly whisked away by a young Indo driver with a giant Playboy sticker on his car.  Even though he was using made up “credentials”, he turned out to be quite nice and an astute driver – giving us the low-down on how the locals drive in Indonesia.   It was amazing to witness so many motorcycles and cars maneuvering in such tight quarters without incident.

We spent the first couple nights at the Calmtree Bungalows in Canggu and were all captivated by the relaxed environment despite being so close to the bustling beach scene of Bali.  We had some amazing traditional meals at the hotel and Old Man’s bar at the beach down the road – Laksa Seafood Curry is our new family favorite.  The beach at Changgu had some decent surf but the water conditions and garbage all around the beach made our time there short. In the future, we will likely dedicate a post to the problems from garbage and plastics in particular.

Chilling in the Calmtree Bungalows

Cool mural at Old Man’s, Changgu

While in Bali, each of us spent several hours as students with the Rip Curl Surf School.  The first tour was a beach break session at Legian Beach for Kim, Campbell and Gunnar. Gil, being the more advanced pupil, took a reef trip to Sanur in East Bali the next day.   The reef trip was spectacular – Gil and the crew took a boat ride out to the reef called Baby Reef which was producing small but fun waves.

Quickly after arriving in Bali, we were introduced to our new favorite tropical fruit, the purple mangosteen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_mangosteen).   When broken apart it reveals many soft and juicy pods and was a highlight of breakfast each morning.

Campbell with her nightly mocktail

Mangosteen

It quickly became apparent that scooter travel was vital to getting to where we needed to be, so Gil rented a motor scooter and ventured out into the chaotic streets of Bali to explore.   Everyone should experience the excitement of driving a scooter around Bali.  It was not uncommon to see a family of four with two kids sandwiched in between mom and dad on one scooter – really, who needs that SUV?  Kim even spotted a mother nursing her baby – old and young alike, EVERYONE travels by scooter. In fact despite all the traffic bedlam, we were amazed to never see any accidents or even a single case of road rage.  The Indonesian ability to stay calm and smile during any situation is a trait that we could all learn to emulate.

After Changgu, we caught a taxi to Kuta to meet up with the crew from Bobby’s G-Land Surf Camp.  We were warned that the eight hour van trip from Bali to G-Land would be long and hard but could not have imagined how the last couple hours of the trip would be a white knuckle, intense drive over bumpy, muddy, and rocky roads to arrive at Bobby’s camp at 5am exhausted and still numb from the trip we had just undertaken. The road had washed out a few days earlier, so we hiked the last few kilometers on foot.  We can all say that we stretched our edge during that journey.

Our GPS Way Points to G-Land

G-Land, also known as Plengkung Beach, is an internationally renowned surf break situated on the Grajagan Bay in Alas Purwo National Park, East Java.  In the park there are only three camps permitted to operate.  There are no stores, hotels or tourists – it is incredibly remote.

Our next five days in G-Land were magical.  As the tide built during the day, a world class left point break starts to form over the reef.  This is why surfers for decades have been traveling across the globe and through the jungle to reach this exact spot. Depending on your experience level and equipment preference, suitable waves develop all along the peninsula from Kongs to Speedies on down to Tiger Tracks – so named after the actual tiger tracks found on the sand one year. Each morning, the camp boat would take us out to survey the best breaks and drop us off where needed.  The swell was firing our first and second days and it was thrilling to be sitting on the shoulder of the break in the boat, riding the mountains of swell and watching the three Aussie’s at camp: Nick, Jared and Josh ruling it. After Gil’s session in the bigger waves, we would motor the 5km down to Tiger Tracks for a session all to ourselves.  Gunnar and Gil had a super fun time riding doubles on a longboard and by the end of the week, both Gunnar and Campbell were catching waves all on their own.

Our Bungalow at G-Land

Saying Goodbye to the G-Land Crew

Epic Surf at G-Land

When the tide would ebb and the reef became too shallow for surfing, Campbell and Kim would spend hours searching for large cowry shells and tried their hand a fishing one evening with the resident camp fisherman, Dragon.

Our biggest challenge at G-Land was defending ourselves against a local monkey population who had become accustomed to stealing food.  A couple alpha males had quickly set their sights on Gunnar and were food jacking him whenever he had a meal in front of him.  We got pretty good at using the sling shot to defend the G-man.

Monkies of G-Land

The local staff at Bobby’s were amazing.  Ramat was the leader of the team and he tended to all our needs.  He arranged our meals, drinks, ding repairs, and monkey protection whenever needed.  Alan was our boat captain and because it was still the early season and there were just three other campers, we had the boat all to ourselves each day. Each time he delivered us to the shore at Tiger Tracks, it was like arriving at our own private island.

It is hard to describe the feeling of being at G-Land.  Isolated by thousands of hectres of national park, it remains nearly untouched despite the world-class surf break and incredible natural beauty – something that is a rarity in our world today.  We are so grateful for the chance to experience it.

After returning to Bali from G-Land we had a couple days to check out Uluwatu in South Kuta.  Uluwatu Temple was a let down, and were left baffled as to why this is one most famous temples in Bali – it ranks at the top of the list of places you could miss. It has a a great ocean front locale, but the grounds and buildings are nothing to write home about.

Uluwatu is special in other ways however, from the narrow single track stairs through the cliffs to arrive at Padang Padang Beach, to the crazy, surf shanties that are stacked on top of one another, built into the cliffside at Blue Point Beach.

View of the beach from the Single Fin bar in Ulawatu

In the end, Bali was a bit overwhelming with tons of traffic and new construction, bringing about a period of adjustment as we adapted to a new normal.  Yet we always found pockets of nature combined with friendly and relaxing communities. For those that love exploring off the beaten track of Mexico and Central America,we strongly recommend a visit here. We are certain we will be back someday.

After landing at Sydney airport and taking the train downtown, we climbed the stairs up from metro tunnels at the Circular Quay Station to a bit of a culture shock. There appeared to be more people out enjoying the beautiful Saturday afternoon in Sydney Harbour than we likely encountered in all of our time in NZ.

We stayed at the Pier 1 Hotel, a restored 20^th Century warehouse on the wharf right beneath the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge – an ideal location with the best breakfast buffet ever, a foodie heaven each morning.

Sydney and the Rocks District were both metropolitan and charming at the same time. The highlights of our days in Sydney include an epic game of hide and seek in the Royal Botanical Gardens early one morning, a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art, many wild Cockatoo sightings, the native animals at the Featherdale Widlife Park and a fast ferry trip to Manly Beach.

After our stay in Sydney, we traveled by train to Katoomba, a gateway to the Blue Mountains.  Our time here definitely exceeded our expectations.  The land just opens up to seemingly endless valleys from precipitous drops.

In Katoomba there was modernized tourist attraction that has been around for 80 years called Scenic World consisting of various view points and access points (trams and trains) into the valley. One morning we took the Mountain Devil train from Scenic World to the base of the Katoomba Falls.  This train is billed as being on the steepest (52 degrees) pitch in the world and it was pretty cool to feel gravity’s pull as we descended into the valley from above.