Bali

I’m sorry for being so lazy lately and not putting up any posts over the last few days. If Hawaii time is slow, and Fiji time is one grade slower, then I’m on Indo time which is somewhere in the middle. Over the last few days I’ve settled into a really good routine of waking up, surfing for a few hours, eating, having a nap, and then surfing again. I’ve probably spent about 25 hours or more in the water since I got here.

I absolutely love Bali and it is so much different than I expected. I’d heard horror stories from people who stayed in Kutu and were constantly hustled by touts, lady boys and other interesting characters the entire time they were there. Thankfully I’m not staying in Kutu but rather on the Bukit Peninsula where things are quite a bit more normal and very relaxing.

In a calming sort of way Bali has a way of over whelming your senses. Visually the Bukit area is stunning. Breathtaking cliffs drop off into the turquoise water where perfect lines of waves peel in. Small centres of commerce have sprung up at all the surf spots and carved into the cliffs are temples, warungs and tiny shops connect by little walkways. In the walkways the smell of incense fills the air and you are constantly tripping over the flower Hindu offerings that line the steps and ledges. The local people here are really nice and its not uncommon to meet a random stranger one day and for them to call you by name the next day when they see you.

The sounds are also very stimulating. As you walk away from the road the buzz of scooters fades and you are greeted by the pulse of the ocean, remixes of the latest pop songs, traditional Bali music and the chatter of the Balinese people as they talk among themselves and ask tourists passing by to look at what they have to sell.

From a surfing standpoint the Bukit Peninsula is Bali’s version of Hawaii’s fabled North Shore. Here, like the North Shore, there’s a really county feeling, the waves are amazing and everything revolves around the surf. On the road you see scooters with surfboard racks and all the little shops sell boards, wax and surf related t-shirts. If Hawaii is surfings mecca, then Bali is its southern hemisphere cousin with traveling Aussie, American and Brazilian bros and pros alike passing through, our calling it home for the season. Even the chances of getting dropping in on by an over stoking Brazilian is also pretty high here!

(Sorry no picture... bad internet and broken camera)

Photos of Australia

Brissy Casino at night

Nat our Brisbane Host!

Greenmount

Dinner in Surfer's Paradise

A baby Koala we saw at the Koala Hospital

Our ghetto room in Coolengatta

Some surf along the way.

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Our ride!

Roadtrip

I apologize for the lack of blog updates but in our quest for quality Aussie surf we have been living a pretty rugged existence. I’m talking about a sleep in the car and eat off the spare change McDonald’s menu type gig. Here’s a run down of the collision course road trip we have been on for the last couple of days.

Tuesday, June 5^th

We woke up this morning not really knowing much about what the day had in store for us other then that our new friend Tony was getting a car at noon and that we hoped to be somewhere north of Sydney before calling it a day.

After packing and settling up with the hostel we dragged our surfboards and other luggage through the Sydney subways system until we got to our stop at King’s Cross. Then after a 5 minute walk, that nearly killed me due to the weight of all my crap, we found ourselves at a used car garage where Tony was to pick up his new ride. Unfortunately the car wasn’t ready, but we didn’t mind because it gave us time to grab a quick bite and to have one last tour of Sydney.

While waiting for our car we toured the “Rocks” area of Sydney, walked across the Sydney Bridge and scoped out the Opera House from up close. This area of the city is very spectacular, although in my head I imaged the Opera house to be much bigger.

After our tour we returned to the car shop and this time our ride was ready. It was raining quite hard at this point and it was already dark but we figured that now was as good a time as ever to hit the road, so we did.

In initially we had planned on driving a few hours each day up the coast until we reached Brisbane – where we would turn around and drive like madmen to catch my flight out of Sydney on Monday. However, due to our late start we decide that it might be best to drive as far north as we could this evening and then work our way back slowly. With the consensus being that this was a good idea, we fueled up on energy drinks and Hungry Jacks burgers and ripped up the coast.

Tony drove the first leg of the trip and I took over at around eight o’clock and didn’t stop until just after four in the morning when we were an hour outside of Byron Bay. With nowhere to stay we shuffled a few things around in the car and called it a night at the side of the road – suddenly the NZ camper van seemed pretty sweet!

June 6^th

Our roadside slumber left us a little less than rested but nevertheless energized enough to continue on our trip north. Being close to Byron Bay we figured that this was a good first stop so we spent the morning finding food and exploring the neat, but over priced shops.

The surf at Byron Bay was ok, but not entirely enticing, so we decided to backtrack a bit to a wave called Broken Head. Here the conditions were way worse, but you could tell that with a different swell this spot could be magic.

We decided to venture back to Byron to take a second lock at the waves but again they were less than appealing.  At this point we shifted our scope from looking for waves to looking for a swell forecast to figure things outs. This hunt ended at the Volcom Store when the manager suggested we jet up to the City of Coolangata as the current swell was about as perfect as it gets for that stretch of coast – he took his word and stuffed ourselves back in the car.

We arrived in Coolangata with time for a late day surf and man was it perfect. If you are at all in tune to the surfing world you have probably heard of Snapper Rocks, it’s one of the most famous point breaks in the world. What you might not know and what I certainly didn’t was that there are 5 points in a row just like Snappers – Snapper Rocks, Rainbow, Greenmount, Coolengatta and finally Kirra. On the right swell, like we found on this day, you can ride from Snapper to Rainbow, Rainbow to Greenmount, Greenmount to Coolengatta and if you’re lucky Coolengatta to Kirra. It is one of the most epic set ups I have ever seen and I raced to get in the water.

The draw back to a place as perfect as this, is that everyone knows about it and when the waves are on, so are the crowds. It’s not a matter of if you are going to get dropped-in-on, it’s when. Throw in the strong rip that continuously pulls you away from the peak and you have a very challenging situation on your hands – needless to say the place is hectic. I spent the first half of the session dodging people and finding my bearings but when I did get the hang of it I managed to get one lap of the famous loop. To put things in perspective, it took me ten minutes to walk back to my starting point!

That night we crashed at a ghetto hotel with cinder block walls directly in front of Greenmount. The hotel was crap but for $80 a night you couldn’t beat the location and the view from our room.

June 7^th

This was a seriously action packed day. I woke up at the crack of dawn to get out in the water before things got to nuts. Before Mike and Tony had even woken up I had two laps under my belt and was pretty stoked for a second go at it. After checking out of the hotel and eating some eggs and bacon it was time for another round of the loop – this time with more people. I got another lap in before we decided to head up the coast to see what was shaking there.

We decided to check out Surfers Paradise, which we heard would have no waves and was kind of trashy, but with a name like Surfers Paradise we had to take a look anyways. All of us were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Though the numerous clubs and gift shops did give off a hint of the trashiness we had heard about, it wasn’t nearly as bad as people had made it out to be. Of course there were no waves but we had fun checking out the shops and enjoyed our $10 lunch meal.

The two hours we spent in Surfers Paradise were more than enough, so at around 4pm we decided to hit the road again for Brisbane where an old friend of mine from home and her boyfriend are living. On a complete whim we called her up when we got to town and after about and hour of trying to find her house we arrived.

My friend and her boyfriend were very excited to have visitors and we enjoyed a few drinks before heading downtown on the bus.

Brisbane is an awesome city and we were so grateful for the tour our friends gave us. We spent time that evening sharing a drink at an outside bar and taking in the many sights along the river that were colourfully lit and really cool to look at night.

At about 1am we called it a night and retreated back to the comfort of the couches and floor of my friend’s house. Way better than the car!

June 8^th

It was sweet to wake up for a second morning in a row and find myself within the shelter of a four-walled structure that wasn’t a car! After downing several cups of coffee we thanked our awesome hosts and were back on the road again. This time we were heading south with plans of seeing the places we had driven past on our way up.

We headed back to the Byron Area not entirely sure where we were going to surf. I was thinking either the bay, back to Broken Head or to Lennox Head. In the end I jumped in at Broken Head and got a few mushy beach break bombs.

After an hour of surfing we hit the road again for Coffs Habour. I had heard that there might be some waves there and we decide to take a look. When we arrived the waves were pumping and really punchy. I had a hard time getting out to the beach break and got really slammed on the first wave I went on. The last wave I got was pretty solid and definably made the trick swim worth the effort.

After our surf we head south again to Port Macquarie were we found a cool little hostel with comfy bunks and free breakfast. 

OZ

Well here we are in Sydney. It’s hard to believe that this is the second last stop on the surf tour. Since Fiji things have gone so quick, it seems like it was ages ago that we were boating out to Cloudbreak for the first time.

Sydney is a pretty cool city. In many ways it’s like a lot of other big cities I’ve been to and there is a certain Euro meets America feel to it, if that makes any sense. Last night Mike and I toured around the downtown area. We saw the Sydney Bridge and the Opera House which were both really cool as they were lit up with different colours for a event going on called Vivid.

Today we walked the city again in the morning and then in the afternoon took the bus and the train to Bondi Beach for a surf. Bondi was pretty cool and you really get the sense that people here like to be active. There were people running and biking on the walkway, skateboarders at the skate park over looking the beach and lots of surfers in the water. We surfed for a few hours before calling it quits and grabbing a bite to eat at a pretty cool Italian Café.

Tomorrow we’re going to begin our journey North to Brisbane with our new friend Tony from Spain who was looking to do the same route as us and just bought a car today.

Random Stuff

This blog will be all over the map. Here are a few random stories from the past few days, pictures to come.

Small World

It’s funny how small the hockey world is. I’m sure that I could walk into a dressing room anywhere in the world and share a mutual friend or past teammate with at least one person in the room. This holds true even on the other side of the world in New Zealand.

In Dunedin I met two hockey players who I had friends in common with. Meeting a friend of a friend is always awesome and to make a long story short we ended up joining the hockey team for a night out bowling and found ourselves staying in a pretty awesome house over looking the beach!

Cadbury

We toured the Cadbury Factory and got a ton of chocolate. Simple as that!

University

The University of Otago is New Zealand’s oldest university and ranks one of it’s finest. The campus is a mixture of new and classic stone and ivy buildings that house faculties ranging from music to business. In many ways it felt like Queen’s University in Kingston, even the schools colours were the same.

With strong on shore winds and no surf to be had we found ourselves wandering the Otago campus, which eventually lead to us stumbling into the school’s MBA office. Mike recently graduated from Dalhousie’s MBA program and if all goes as planned I will follow suit in a year from now. With these backgrounds we were very keen to check out how a Masters of Business operates in this part of the world and to compare the differences and similarities between our school and Otago.

We ended up meeting the MBA Director who gave us a fantastic tour of the facilities and who explained a lot about how the program works at Otago. We were also given a chance to sit in on a finance class, which we eagerly accepted – I know it’s weird to want to go to a finance class on vacation. By the end of our tour we had made some really valuable connections for both for our school and our personal use and were thoroughly impressed with what we saw. Otago is definably a place I would love to go on exchange to.

B & B           

After leaving Dunedin we drove five hours north to Christchurch to catch our flight to Australia. After dropping off our camper van we booked into a bed and breakfast for the night and packed for our flight (which we didn’t catch) the next day.

This was my first time staying at a B&B but I have to admit I’m a big fan. The people we stayed with were really nice and we woke up to an awesome spread of food in the morning. If you are ever in Christchurch I strongly recommend staying at the Belmont on Harewood. It’s very clean, convenient and they will even drive you to the airport!

Rugby

In Christchurch we attended a professional rugby game. Although I have to admit that I enjoy watching hockey more, rugby is a pretty sweet sport. It’s the perfect blend of athleticism, passion and aggression that make a sport fun to watch. I think if I had of been born a Kiwi I would have taken up this game.

Pissing money into the wind

Yep, that pretty much sums up our trip to Christchurch. After missing our flight because we were to lazy to double check our flight schedule online, paying for another night’s stay and getting dinged $20 per kilo for excess baggage, I feel pretty ripped off right now. The last two days have cost over $300 not to mention the day we lost in Australia. My Visa says ouch!

Australia

OZ by sun down. It looks like its going to happen as I sit waiting for the plane to board. What a disaster that would be if we missed our flight again!

Hockey Night in Dunedin

I love hockey. I love watching it, I love playing it, I love teaching it. It’s a game that has always been very special to me and one that I think I will always be involved with in some form for the rest of my life.

Yesterday on our drive back from surfing we drove by a sign that in big blue letters read, Dunedin Ice Centre. Now back in Canada I would probably have just driven past but seeing an arena in the southern hemisphere is a little different, so naturally I had to go inside for a closer look.

What I found inside shocked me. I knew there was a bit of hockey being played in New Zealand but I did not expect to find a rink of this quality. The ice was in awesome condition and the boards were the NHL kind with a nice give to them. At the far end of the rink was a big grandstand and to the side of the hockey rink was a curling surface. It was a facility that in all honesty would make most small towns in Canada drool.

As I wandered around the rink I got to talking with the day manager and he told me that if I came back in the evening I could watch the pick up leagues play and the Dunedin Thunder of the Semi-Pro NZIHL practice. My interest was totally piqued so that night I returned with a jacket and tuque to take in some hockey action.

As I watched that evening I noticed a man running some kids through some off ice hockey drills and I went over to introduce myself. I explained that I own a hockey school in Ottawa and told him how excited I was to see hockey in New Zealand. He explained that he was the coach for the Dunedin Minor Hockey Association as well as the Dunedin Thunder and asked if I had skates to practice that evening. I told him that I didn’t but that I would still enjoy watching the practice.

After our conversation I posted up in the lobby to watch some more hockey and found myself talking to some of the hockey parents and kids about playing hockey in Dunedin. It seems like there is a growing crop of young hockey players down hear with dreams of one day playing for the Ice Blacks National Team and maybe even professionally in North America or Europe.  

One hero of the hockey kids in Dunedin is a young guy who happens to play for the Thunder named Paris Hynd. Paris has represented New Zealand internationally several times and is the first Kiwi to sign a professional ice hockey contract abroad. Paris spent last year playing in the first division in France and is home for the summer to play for the Thunder and to attend University.

As I was being told about Paris by one of the hockey moms Paris happened to hobble by on crutches. I was introduced to him and told him how cool it was to see hockey in New Zealand. I also told him about the offer the coach had extended to me and Paris generously offered the use of his equipment to me for the practice. This was an offer I couldn’t refuse and next thing I knew I was suited up and putting myself through the paces with the Dunedin Thunder of the NZIHL. How cool is that!

Getting ready

Don't mess up the drill Johnny!

One of the guys was from Ottawa and they had a GeeGee's jersey, right city wrong school!

The boys.

The World's Fastes Indian

I feel like me and Mike are just finding our groove in New Zealand as we round the corner of our last week. Over the last month Mike has mastered the manual shifting of our big rig and we seem to be surfing more often than not. It’s all starting to come together and I have to say that the last couple of days have been some of the most fun.

After leaving Queenstown we headed south, about as south as I will probably ever get, to Ivercargill. If you have ever seen the movie the World's Fastest Indian you might remember that the motorcycle loving main charter in this true story was from Invercargill. Aside from motorcycle racers my friend McKayla, also lives in Invercargill.

I met McKayla on my first stay at camp in Hawaii. She was traveling with Claire, who we met in Nelson, and became a good friend who I have kept in touch with over the years.

McKayla showed us an awesome time during the day we spent in Ivercargill. After breakfast, which consisted of eggs, New Zealand style bacon, toast and coffee we headed to a place called Bluff where they host an oyster festival every year. The festival was was pumping and there were oyster delicacies galore, beer, a stage with music and even the Prime Minister of New Zealand showed up to take in the festivities. I tried everything I could stomach – some good and some gross.

Mix and me slugging back a few cold oysters - can't say I'm a huge fan of these critters

This was more my style. 

After the oyster fest we went to the Invercargill Museum to track down more information about the Worlds Fastest Indian. Essentially, the story goes like this, Burt Munro was a motorcycle enthusiast from New Zealand who is famous for setting the under-1,000 cc world record, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August of 1967. What is so impressive about this, is that Burt’s record still stands today and that his motorcycle was done on such a shoe string budget. Burt made most of the parts himself and traveled to Bonneville, Utah all on his own dime. His story is a really awesome one of tenacity and Kiwi ingenuity. He’s definably someone that New Zealander’s are very proud of.

The Fastest Indian (replica)

After our day with McKayla we bid her farewell and headed out to find some surf in a town called Riverton. To send us on our way McKayla gave us the indgediants to make the Original Kiwi dip. We whipped on up the other night and it was awesome! - Receipt to come.