Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - Day 8

Sleep in! Our last breakfast and final pancake! We caught a taxi out to Tanah Lot temple to have a look, and turns out, do some more shopping. The tide was really low so people were able to walk out on the rocks to the temple. Some of the crew have been surfing near the temple during the week, but today was not the day. The four surfers out were not finding anything with shape.
Kristy and Tania had a random photoshoot with some Indonesian girls who didn't want photos of themselves, but photos with some Australian strangers.
I love the random flavours of food that you get overseas but don't get at home. We had ice creams. Lychee, red grape and mango flavoured.

Back to the Chillhouse to capitalise on a scrambled or poached egg before our airport transfer arrived. We exchanged details with our new friends from across the globe and were on our way.
Tania and I were able to stock up on Balinese tea and a few more necklaces to declare before jetting our way back home.

A fantastic, action-packed, relaxing and fun-filled week!

red grape, mango and lychee flavoured icecreams!!

Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - day 7

We had an 8:15 start for our final surf at Kedungu today. It was nowhere near as good as the day before and not as big. Jon and Lady Jon had had a motorcycle accident the night before resulting in my Jon going to hospital with a broken jaw and lady Jon needing a day off. So Tania and I went surfing with Kamal. He didn't sing though. :( A few bingles in the water with James getting conked in the head by a beginner. I have a tasty fin bruise on my thigh. We all caught some fun waves as the crowd thinned and finished our surf a little burnt around midday.

We got adventurous with the crazy sweet chilli flavoured macaroni chips and local potato chips at the beach warung before tying the boards on the roof and heading home.

Best massages today. Then we were all very lazy, finishing off books by the pool before celebrating the opening of the new pool and games area at the resort. The Seafood BBQ dinner was a spectacular finale to the week of great food.

Kristy and James

Kristy flying

Tania in the curl

Chapman enjoying the local marmalade

Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - day 6

A nice, slightly later start today at 8. Our guides did the dawn patrol ( at 6) to suss out the conditions. So we headed strait back to Kedungu at 8. We got the van off the road and onto the grass and only sustained the loss of the ladder. Total transformation from yesterday. Bigger with two clear peaks to play on. This was so. Much. Fun. Much bigger than the other days with fat, long waves. Quite crowded at first which was pretty alarming given the size. Lots of beginners, so I had a few pushed straight out in front of me on a head high+ wave. Worrying to navigate when they are riding down on their guts and you're trying to pick a high line. Invariably you end up pulling off or straightening up and running the gauntlet of people on the inside. It was still a great session. The crowd dropped off and I caught some bombs! I had about four waves that lined up really nicely, so I got loads of turns on each one - even a hang 5 - and road the, almost all the way to the beach. Tania and Kristy also caught some huge waves. It was a great day for progress with both the girls getting some great trimming and turning going on. James sat on the inside and exhausted himself with the reforms, impressing the guides with his ability to surf the shorey on a longboard.

Back up the hill. Past the tile factories. Past the traffic lights that don't work. Past the poster of two guys holding hands that I still haven't figured out. Past the kids coming home from school for lunch.

Birthday pancake today. It was very good. We then had our video coaching session, which was both hilarious and very useful. So we have things to work on tomorrow as well as good laughs.

We taxi'd into good ol Legian this afternoon. Tania and I basically bought out a bead shop. We can probably start our own. Kristy finally found the handbag, Tania found more dresses and I bought too many batik bags. We finished the trip with massages at Carla Spa before burning back home.

Dinner was very nice, traditional Balinese food, served on the table the way families eat. They were lovely to bring me out a chocolate cake and everyone sang happy birthday. Aww :] It has been such a terrific day! I couldn't have hoped for a better way to spend the first day of my 30s!

Kristy going left!

In Legian...

Kedungu rush hour

Nicest board spray!

The crew

Little Jon and I

Tania

Tania

Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - Day 5

A huge drive this morning over big potholes, through rice fields and towns to check out Kedungu beach. It was flat! We waited a bit for the tide to come in... Exploring rock pools, skimming stones (and roof tiles) before it was decided that it was no go. One of the Jons managed to reverse the 9-seater and get us back up the hill and on our way.

Another 20 minute, potholed drive to get to Pasut Beach further north. This wasn't looking too good either. The boys went out at the only peak, which turned out to be quite fun. While we waited for the tide to come in, the girls went out with our guides at a fairly hollow section that challenged everyone, although it was worth it with Tania catching some memorable rights. By the time the tide had come up, the wind had come in, so James and I ended up giving the surf a miss and just having an early swim.

This must be the cheapest warung in Bali; a coke, two packets of chips and two packets of m&ms for $1.

We drove back through the tile district. Place after place with wet, clay tiles lined up to dry, or fired ones stacked. We passed a guy unloading a whole truckload of coconut husks on his own. We assume they're used to fire the kilns!

After our epic morning we were all wiped out. So more pancakes were ordered, more eggs and mi goreng were eaten, before we spent the rest of the day lined up by the pool, reading.

Yesterday's offerings

Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - Day 4

We surfed Gangga beach today. Pretty much deserted when we got there. Nice little peaks for us. Shorter rides but fun drops. It was great. Afterwards we hung out at the warung with the noisiest meong (kitten) ever. This is our surf guides' local spot so it was very special to be taken here.

A quick massage after scrambled eggs followed by a trip into Kuta for some shopping. James performed admirably as packhorse and chaperone, while Tania and I bought up most of the silver jewellery on Poppies Lane and Kristy hunted for handbags. We scored some deals and James and Kristy even found time for a massage while Tania and I found dresses. Our taxi found some wormhole that got us back to Canggu in record time! All ready for red chickpea curry and BBQ pork.

Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - Day 3

We were up super early for a surf at Tugu. We were down at the beach at 7. Small but nice and glassy. Everyone got some great waves. Kristy got some of her biggest ever, Tania caught loads on her red board. James had three really memorable waves with some turns and nose time. I got some great, long hang 5s today. It was very fat conditions, but nice and relaxing.

Another massage after an uber breakfast. This was following by couch time, reading.

We went to another resort for a yoga class in the afternoon. It was 'level 2' which was a little extreme. Quite fast with the instructor talking with quite a strong Spanish accent.
In-nailing! Ex-ailing!! It took us all a while to figure out that 'breath into your babies' was actually 'pelvis'. Generally we could all keep up until we got to the headstand. The first option was to balance on your hands, the second was to do a headstand. There was some general alarm - some people were first-timers! - when there wasn't another, easier option. The resort was wondrous with, Balinese huts, lovely gardens and vegetable patches scattered throughout.

We spent a happy hour back at our room with our new toy. We just learned how to use the tennis racket/fly swat we had been issued with. It is, in actuall fact, a bug zapper! It gives a very satisfying sizzle each time you hit one - or five - mosquitoes. We had a few hundred camped out in our room this afternoon.

We had a very pleasant dinner with Nina and Andrew, the NZers and Steven and Chapman, both from Florida.

Huge sleep in tomorrow. We don't take off for a surf until 8. Loads of time for a leisurely breakfast in the morning. Strawberry pancakes or banana??

Cheater 5!!

James finding some nice lefts

Long malibu rides here!

Vegetable patches and fruit trees as Desi Seni

Beautiful details

Bali Chillhouse Surf Retreat - Day 2

We spent about 12 hours in our cocoon of cheesecloth netting, being serenaded by dogs, geckos, the end of Ramadan, then roosters as the sun came up. Certainly not the quietest of places but we have earplugs, should we need them.

After a late breakfast (more strawberry and chocolate pancakes) we hired bikes to see the local sites. This in itself was a small adventure; trying to get four bikes, all with inflated tyres, some with baskets. We ended up with one basket, eight mostly inflated tyres, two swiveling seats and three lots of breaks. James lucked out on the low-riding cruiser, dubber the silversurfer. My bike had no breaks, apparently three gears, and a seat with rusted off springs that swiveled. It's redeeming feature was that is rolled faster than the others, even Tania's which was the same model. Kristy's red racer made for an exciting ride with a seat that pivoted, not only side to side but up and down.

I'm not actually sure what our destination was at any point during today's journey. We saw banana palms and rice fields, cows and dogs. We found two beaches that we weren't looking for. We did not find a bakery or the Canggu Club. We took a detour down a side road which cut through a rice paddy. The road was completely paved but covered in sand, making the downhill run challenging sans breaks. Over a bridge, up another hill and we found ourselves underdressed and in the Islamic district. Some directions from friendly locals and further map consultation from our fearless navigator, Kristy, got us back onto Jln Canggu, through the traffic and home in no time.

All this exercise called for a dip in the pool, which we did. Lunches included copious helpings of fruit followed by chicken and cashews, pad Thai and chicken satay. A happy couple of hours were then spent on the sun lounge, reading, snoozing and finding good words in my Scrabble games against mum. I had help this time!

We walked to Echo Beach for dinner. And found where all the bogans have been hanging. Super cheap and yummy seafood for everyone including our new New Zealand friends, Nina & Andrew. We got a taxi home but not before running into some outstanding Australian ambassadors who puttered along on their scooters before chucking monos to impress Kristy, then doing a burnout in the sand...

We got back to the Chillhouse to score desert and to find the surf schedule for tomorrow morning. Up at 6 for a 6:30 session at Tugu. People are going all over tomorrow as the swell is pretty small. Hopefully there is enough of a wave or us!