From east to west through Java.

'just more trees dude'. Spying the way home while lost in Pangandaran National Park.

Curently in Pelabuhan getting some surfing in before continuing up the coast to the Ujung Kulon National Park. The park covers the whole SW corner of Java, is still pristine rainforest and home to the last heard of Javan Rhino.

360 deg panorama looking back towards the mainland of Central Java and our newly found wave, Cotchots. You can just see the small wedge of white water poking out from the left hand bay.

'Tidak ada' (no one) the man at the side of the road answered to the question 'Have you ever seen surfers here before?' We followed the steep winding ridge road through terraced hills down to a hidden bay and fishing village with a punchy left hand wedje reeling off across the front of it. Local fishermen checking our surfboards and wax as we get ready to get in the water. S coast, Central Java.

Enough shade for four and time for the old boy to roll a cigarette from his plastic bag of home grown. Near Mawi.

Bapak Runi and his Home on the hillside over Mawi bay.

Real living, in one the most beautiful locations (above and below the water) that i know. Many a happy fish dish was prepaired and enjoyed under this roof.

Before i left Pa Runi caught and gave to me one of his cockerels, as we posed with it for a last photo the bird pulled free of the string round it's leg and made a dash for the bushes and was followed by Pa Runi, Ebu Runi (wife no2) and a shower of fishing nets and rocks. Eventually the spear gun came out and a high speed chase ensued over the rice paddys.
In the end I was forced to hit the long bumpy road home chookless. But Pa Runi did say he'll call it Nick and feed it up for next time i come back to Lombok.

A view of spinning air and water vortexes beneath a barreling wave at 'The Angry Lady'.

Smile you sunofabitch.
Joaquim, me, dinner and a bent spear.

Motatapu Basin S.N.K Shredin' like billio!

August the nineth saw 3 nationalities come together for hard slog of a shred which was hike heavy for sure. Team ScotlandNorwayKiwi had an early start, and went in search of gnar...and we weren't disappointed. the gullies and bowls of Motatapu Basin were our main shred ingredients garnish with some scottish gnar, norwegian crazyness and for dessert Fresh kiwi steeze. what a belter

Dan got a 2009 first decent on a beauty of a shoulder into a steep and maybe not so deep gully run, steezing out some freshies for the cause. Ben pushed is heart rate and scottish riding with a mega gnar drop to air the rock and a gunning ride out.....that was something to see! and eric the park rat looked happy to be wallowing with his fat stance in amongst lots of fresh.

The first of many to come...good weather, sore feet, the odd ragdoll and a big dollop of stoke made it fun for all the family.



Dan explodes into a puff of fluff
THE drop.
Ben steezing out a wee cliff number

The long hike home

Dry season in full swing, land plowed for planting tobacco and some exited kids coming to say hello at a hidden beach in south Lombok.

Coral Grouper from Air Guling

Day trip to Balongas

From Sean's pics. Over 2 months ago now, just after kev left. Ayam Taliban

First street sesh in Wanaka

Dill blasting out a wee fence basher at the Wanaka youth centre junk yard.


First nz photo mission has been had. Some snow dropped off at the local youth centre, provided us with some late night sessioning material. Pretty small set up, not much speed, but dill managed to boost at the fence with some might. Pole jam to fakie, Pole jam revert tail grab, backside one revert out, frontside tail dinger to reverty thing out. He took a couple of slams, and his noggin came pretty close to the concrete a good few times.... lets hope there's more of this to come.

International Go Skate Day

Queenstowns Bowl....supersick but super tight
The park at queenstown
Eric Bombing a queenstownian hill bomb

news...

Yo, sorry for not keeping this guy up to date of late, had some visitors, and we've been pretty busy.

So about a month ago, Sean and Kev, came over. Sean was taking a break from digging trenches in the north sea with his wee/massive robot thingy, and kev left behind his life as skivvy to the billionaires on board a luxury yacht based out of St Barthes in the Caribean...hard life eh! (only joking kev!) So there was a pretty good swell to start of their visit, and the boys spent about 9 hours in the drink on the first day! Fishing was had, the fish was eaten (thanks sean and nick- spear tag team extraordinaire). they managed to feed the locals with a feast of fish and we all had a big fire on the beach, which was accompanied with copious amounts of Brum...Brum is the local brew made from fermented rice, and is cloudy white or red in colour depending on the variety, and goes down a treat, tastes kind of like sherry but not really, anyway, needless say much fun was had by all....and i will just say this, Eddie one of the local boys found nick and his 'rice bum' merrily strolling home starkers in the wee hours of the next day!! ha ha..rice bum on account of its colour! Good times.nice one eddie.

Then some more surf some more brum and general shinanigans were had, before kev had to leave us, after the some of the quickest 10 days i've ever known. Then we were three, and headed to Sumbawa, an Island to the east of Lombok, renowned for its consistent waves and friendly folks. So after recruiting some more folk, we headed off on a brilliant road trip. Saw many sights, some spectacular, and some pretty smelly, but after 6 hours on the road we made it. We headed for the town of Maluk, about two hours south of the port of Poto Tano. Maluk was way bigger than any of us expected, pretty developed and it was clear there was quite a bit of money around. we found out later that the town was neighbour to a huge gold mine, employing over 4000 locals. I went to one of the entrances to the mine, heavilly guarded and surrounded by miles of razor wire fences a sign read gate 41, and we never got wind of any other gates any where near us, so it was pretty large. After a night in Maluk and some of the best food of the trip we headed south to Senkongkang, a small villiage which ran along the break YoYo's. After a surf in pretty small waves (the only we were to get on the trip) we found a rad we beach front hotel/hostel/ozzy piss up shed, where we set up camp. they were short on beds, so for two nights i roughed it in the hammock on the porch, a bad move seeing that the resident crew/owners returned on the first night from an almighty piss up at about 4 am which lasted through till the next evening! hardcore boys - 'well there's fuck all waves so we might as well just get pissed mate' ( said with ozzy accent) So with no swell, and a new land to explore we found some great beaches, swam, fished and generally took it pretty easy. Nick had a go at night fishing, rather him than me! And made good friends with one of the local spearfisherman Indra, and between them managed to feed all the guests after a bonus catch including two Box fish. I didn't know you could eat them but
Indra assured us you could and after chizzling through it's solid shell/bony frame we ate some incredible meat, beautifull fish.

Anyway we eventually headed back to lombok, with the long journey ahed of us, apart from one flat tyre, some gnarly overtakes and losing each other only to find each other again, it all went without a hitch.

So back in Kuta we've had a couple of day trips to Mawi, surfed and fished, and had the catch cooked by Ebou Rooni, the wife of the local top dog, who is a very good man, and likes getting some good fish for dinner. After a mission on our friend Yans boat, nick and sean insured the next day we would have another feast after they brought home a bevvy of fish including some lovely trivali and snapper, which we ate with our friend Huda and his family on the site of his newly built house.( thanks Eka for some delicious sambal) I think it was some of the best fish i have ever eaten.

Today shooting and surfing at local break, Segar Sean had an unfortunate accident which resulted in him getting a few stitches to the head, after diving onto a wayward surfboard....no too good like. But all is well, and some swell on the way....so happy days.

Time is looking short for me and sean now, and the mission of climbing Rinjani is not looking too good, bad weather and it's being an active volcano, are making the five day mission look more and more impossible....it's a bummer but a good excuse to come back.

here are some snaps....



Nicks new octo-hair-do
some loons standin on some coos
the crew on a down day at the rantung piss up palace, sumbawa
the rain at the Rantung, Senkonkang (yoyos), Sumbawa
The stitches going in...The nurse, Amy at one point was trying with all her might to get the needle through seans leathery heed. She said 'Orang Scotlandia bunyer ****goat' (where **** insert skin) - Scottish People have strong skin! haha and he didnt even get a lollipop.

The damage. Ouch.

Ozzy Marc peeps up the skirt of a classy glassy Maui lassie.

A Tahitian booger gets slotted at chunky outside Ecas.

the angry lady

Grub firing along the line....kooks need not apply (not sure what i was doing there then?)

Carl (cale) the neep tries to tuck in at a the lady's special place

some more treats

Nick had had enough of the smelly Cats that stroll around our house, so decided to give this one a wee bath...

...I don't think he liked it very much

Papa Tona and Baby Tona watching the fish at Narmada National Park,

Family Holiday to Mataram. Stopped at Narmada National Hindu Temple for some food, and general relaxation. (our driver ..cant remeber his name, oops! Tona, Nick, Baby Tona, Sam, Tawan, and Natasha)



YOOOOO! Things are still good here. Lots of action, resulting in moderate satisfaction. I got my first surf of the trip in a few days ago,!!!!!! Wow what a feeling, and the shoulder stood up to it not too badly, still got a chicken wing for a right arm though.

Rebate: there was some information here but it has been censored due to potential social climatic complications....ehh..da fret all is well and i'll just say this: the tough guys are on our side.....

anyway on more important news a wee bulletin for ye:

We surfed a very dangerous wave yesterday, the local name is terasher nicknamed 'thrashers' becuase thats what it gives you - a thrashing. we all survived un harmed, the local boatman, was too scared of Ikan bizar (sharks) in the water so wouldnt get out of the boat. I was shooting from the water not surfing, and managed to get some good shots of Nick and Carl (pronounced Calay -sweedish) shredding the waves. I did see one very large creature though, not sure what or really how big it was just out of sight and the visibility underwater wasn't the best, but put it this way i couldnt see it's nose and tail at the same time.....so yeah pretty big. No one surfs here because of the legends of the big fish, and it's also a pretty powerfull wave, so needless to say we waxed lyrical about the big fish and getting caught inside, (when you are stuck in no mans land between the rocks and surging waves). On one set i lost my mask and snorkel, and snapped a fin, so needless to say i was pretty scared but nick also got caught inside and was there to lend me some much needed moral support - thanks man. Wooo was a good feeling to be back in the boat.

Also the lock broke on the door to our room, so we have been using local connections as security...another bit of good fortune and touch wood nothing stolen. It's such a good atmosphere where we stay when i announced that they key was stuck and the lock broken with twenty minutes we had numerous local dudes, all debating and discussing the best solution. Here everyone helps everyone else, it's so good, a friend in need and all that, i can imagine back home on george street the reaction of my nieghbours if i had brken the lock on my front door, and it certainly wouldn't be to drop everything and lend a hand for a couple of hours....anyway hopefully a baru Kunci rumah besot ( new room key tomorrow).

hmmm...not much else to report....we got our visas extended a month longer in mataram immigration building...bikes are runing smoothly, and i think we are both becoming addicted to strawberry Oreos and ABC coffee.... right sampai jampa nanti alligator (see you later alligator).

As the dry season in Lombok starts to get in to full swing, the winds become less variable and the dryer air comes as relief from the humidity of the changing seasons.
Photo - Kuta, Bali. Taken from our hotel rooftop as one of the last big storms of the wet season passes through.

Tawan, and his fighting chicken having a flying competiton, he was loosing at this stage.

Reef, the wee Ozzy riper from Sunshine Coast pulls out his picture face and pulls in at Maui.

A fisherman halls in a set at small Insides Gerupuk.

Talon, at the foot of a fall at the foot of Indonesias 3rd highest peak, 3726m Mt Rinjani. She will be ours, oh yes she will be ours.

Maui Day Mission

Maui Day mission Crew. Poppy, Grub, Mel, Mia, Talon and wee a sam down the front
Nick and Papa look on as the catch cooks away Sasak Style. The locals on Maui were so stoked on the catch, they helped us set up a grilling spot, took me to get some banana leaves to eat from, took all the guts of the fish and kebabed them, a delicacy they declined to share, and generally were really good people. Maui is about an hour away from Kuta, on some very sketchy roads and some say crosses the boarder into lawlessness, but the reception and welcoming we and our catch received was second to none. I love Maui. Tiger sharks,
killer rip currents and all (alhough i havent seen a tiger shark yet!)
The cheek of this little beauty was the best fish i have ever tasted, without doubt. Cooked sask style, with sambal (chilli paste) Nicks Red snapper had a fair set of gnashers on him
A proud grub shows off his catch. good work young man.


we set off at sunrise, motored along a 'road', and i use the term loosely, until it ends at serene beach called Maui, fished, swam, surfed, ate and thoroughly enjoyed. a great day

Wooo! Our first pay day! such a good feeling, even though they paid us in Yen!
Jurri, Our wee Calipa (coconut) harvester, hard at work. 12p a coconut

some new visual treats, along with some that got away....

Natasha and her son Baby Tona. We eat with this family every night, in return we keep them in a fresh supply of Ikan (fish)
Our wee Caching (cat) comes to visit daily, if he's lucky he gets a wee treat on this occasion a rather smelly Jummi Jummi squid.
Ha, where to start....Garcia the one man sex machine. We met him in Bali, where he works as a tour guide stroke Jigolo....words cannot begin to describe this man...'your pushy is shweety'. 11 times in one day....needless to say he was forthcoming with the details of his day at work!!