“A week before I even left for the Mentawai’s my car with five boards, clothes, passport, computer, GoPro, iPad, sunglasses got stolen from my car which was parked outside a mate’s house in Eden Terrance in Auckland while I was down in Dunedin for a week. Yeah I know I shouldn’t have left most of that gear in there but nothing was viewable maybe except half of my coffin board bag but who would even know what that was, specially though dark tints. Well someone did and when I received a call in Dunedin from Police saying someone had broken in to my car, well some may say I wasn’t too happy but I thought they must have taken a couple of the bags not boards or anything. But when I called my mate Lyndon to check out my car he confirmed the worst, my car had been cleaned out. What mutts.

Long painful story short, insurance paid to replace everything but the worst was my lappy with all the photos of my son Cooper growing up, I’m still shattered about that as didn’t back them up on anything. Big lessons learnt there, rookie mistakes. With the boards lucky I’ve a few boards in zee quiver so that was no problem except there were two magic SuperBrand’s out of the five which were in the car. On the bright side I’ll have five new boards waiting for me when I get home.

I went for a quick side trip to Bali first, I was arriving on a Friday and was excited to watch the All Blacks play Oz the next day but I got delayed out of Sydney so ended up missing my connecting flight to Bali and was flying as the AB’s tonked Ozzie which would have been good to watch.

Bali was fun surfed a few times mainly to be honest on the beach, went out to Ulu’s for the first time since 99 I think. Wow firstly to the motorbike ride out there, fark what a nightmare and wow to how different it was at Ulu’s all the hotels, buildings etc. Incredibly built up now. Waves where ok except for the white helmet guy who was baining me so hard. Paddling all over the place inside around in circles but seemed to get every wave somehow. When got back to Kuta was telling Indian Nick or Chongee about him who said “oh not white helmet guy, he’s in my top three bains” so it wasn’t just me.

Rewind a bit to the reason I was coming out to the Mentawai’s. Was at a BBQ in Gisborne last December and I had seen all the photo’s and clips from the year from the Mentawai’s. Was one of the best years ever out there, swell after swell and all the spots fired. Anyways Christie Carter who owns and runs Wavepark Mentawai Resort is from Gisborne and I grew up a few doors down from him at Wainui Beach, he also was at the BBQ and we gotten chatting about the year out there and the pumping surf etc. I was like oh you don’t need a bar tender out there next year do you? Pretty much as a joke but kinda not really haha. Well turned out he said he might have a guide opening though, as one of his might not be able to make a slot. I was like hmmm really? Hell yes, we kept in touch when he went back out and sure enough I was in. Guiding guests in mid August to second week October was the slot. What a gig!

I’ve been out here ten days now, had our first group of guests though which was only six people.( Resort takes twelve max) Three couples and four of those surfed. Four Australians and two from Austria. Poor guy Roland from Austria hadn’t surfed since his last surf trip eight months ago! A real nice group of people who were frothing to get out there. Hideaways is out the front which is a pretty nice wave, hollow left on the right tide and really smash able on the high with lost of push. The winds have been South East the whole time so Hideaways,  E-Bay, Beng Bengs and Pit-Stops are the pick in this area. We has one day that was six foot at times but quite long lulls. Hideaways is strange will be flat as then all of sudden six footers will come though for an hour then stop completely for a few hours then start up again. Starting to get my head around what times in the tide are good when it will turn on. Had a couple fun days at Pitstops, such a rippable wave. You always see it in the clips when the guys are punting up a storm,  the reefs pretty mellow and it finishes on sand.

There’s waves for all ability’s out here which is one of the magic things about this region. From hollow as waves to super playful where you don’t  have to worry about the bottom.

Looks like there’s a few swells lined up so I’ll keep you posted. Praying for Rifles!”

MAZ.

I am now 18 and I recently went back to Indo for the fifth time. I was fortunate enough to get a spot in the Rip Curl Padang Padang Cup which has a waiting period that goes for over a month which meant I was going to be in Bali for over a month. I’m sure there are a lot of good uncrowded waves around Bali and a lot of culture as well but I think Kuta is far from the real Indonesia. Kuta is where you go to party not where you stay to surf perfect waves. Kuta doesn’t sleep. Monday to Sunday you can go out and have the time of your life, and when your’e 18 and you stay with your best friends like I did, what more could you ask for? All year I had been training intensely and had been completely focussed on my surfing, so as soon as the Padang Cup had been completed, it was time to let my hair down for a while. All we wanted to do was go out, meet European girls and fist pump on the dance floor until our shoulders were dislocated. This lead to Minimal surf time and just a whole lot of double- doubles, five story night clubs and waking up in unfamiliar surroundings. And we loved it! And we couldn’t stop…. I guess that’s why they call it the vortex. But after a while it catches up to ya. You end up feeling like shit and surfing like shit. I found myself lost amongst the hundreds of bogan Sun burnt Aussies wearing Bintang singlets, the constant sound of horns beeping and Indonesians trying to sell me fake sun glasses, the slight head ache I always had from the fumes…. Or was that the double doubles… I wasn’t sure. I was sick of going to sleep in the morning and waking up in the afternoon and it was just time for me to get the hell out of there. Now don’t get me wrong, we had the time of our live’s and what else do you expect from a group of 18 year old boys, but it was time to go.

My dad booked two tickets to a little island off Sumatra called Nias. It was my third time going there. We had to get on three flights from Bali then drive three hours to the wave. It took a full day of traveling to get there so it is a bit of a mission. We stayed in a little two bedroom hut with a fan. No internet and no power most of the time. And that’s just how people live in Nias (and probably the rest of Indonesia) if they are lucky. They surf broken boards and sell coconuts for 50 cents and when you give a grommet a sticker their faces light up like they have just won the lottery. They are happy and high on life! They don’t care about what they look like or how many likes someone got on a stupid mirror selfie with their new swim suit and latest iPhone, or what celebrity is having a baby or any other pretentious bullshit like that. They are just happy with what they have! I really wish that my generation would be more like them! I’m not saying that I’m much different to the rest of the teenage world. Yes I have a laptop, a cell phone and what not, but going to a place like Nias really makes me appreciate what I have! It puts a lot of things into perspective makes you open your eyes to what really matters!

I stayed there for 18 days. Surfing three times a day mostly. For the first two weeks it was a fun three-four foot with the odd six foot day. But then came the last week, the best week of my life! The most memorable days of surfing I think I’ll ever have. There were two swells in the one week. The first swell was massive and kinda raw. There were some bombs coming through and I got a couple of the best waves of my life… Well they were the best waves of my life until the next swell two days later! That was the real swell I will remember. It was a little bit more South which made it twice as hollow, twice as thick and twice as perfect. You seriously couldn’t have painted a picture more perfect than the waves coming through. It was a solid eight foot with light winds. I thought I was dreaming. I made my dad film and from that one session he recorded 10 minutes of stand up barrels of just me, Derek Peters and Tim O’Connor. Everyone was hooting each other into perfect waves. Everyone was hungry, thirsty and about to collapse from exhaustion but no one was even thinking about going in. It was the best day of my life! I will always remember the feeling of being next in line and being scared, nervous and excited all at once. Knowing that no matter how big and gnarly the next wave is that I was going. I remember sitting there being in first priority and the ocean would be so calm and then out of no where the whole ocean would just stand up. Everyone would just look at me and I would be so full of adrenaline and wouldn’t even think about anything and just put me head down and paddle as hard as I could. I will always remember how amazing the feeling was when I was bottom turning and watching the whole ocean fold over me. It felt like it was in slow motion. These barrels were big and if you fall off you were going to get a hiding but when I was in them I wasn’t even thinking about that. I was just enjoying the moment. There was no better feeling than being spat out into the channel and looking at my dad on the boat who had a bigger smile than I did, then looking back at your friends out in the line up claiming it for you and hooting. That is why I love surfing and why I love Indo. I feel that Indo is one of the only places in the world that can make you feel like that.

So your’e asking me what the real Indonesia means to me. Well I think Indo is about the adventure, not the flash resort with wifi that you never leave , it’s the different places you see not the night clubs you visit, it’s the the people you meet, not the girls you never see again, the memories they will last for ever not the nights you can’t remember! And to experience a different lifestyle can really have a huge impact on the way you live.

So if you want to party with your mates, lose brain cells and have the odd surf out Padma Beach I recommend Kuta. But if you want to experience the real Indo and surf pumping waves all day then I suggest going somewhere outside of Kuta (Bali). Either way you will have a great time!

Read more tales from Indo in the new issue of NZ Surfing

Sumatran Surfariis

Sumatran Surfariis is in our 17th year running surf charters in the Mentawais and North Sumatra.  We are owned and operated by Aussie, NZ and Japanese partners, all of whom are very dedicated surfers. Each member of our crew has at least a decade of experience running surf charters out of Sumatra, and this experience has proven time and again to be the key factor to a successful boat trip. We still have legitimate quiet spots we can sneak you away to, spots you’ve never seen in a magazine but can get every bit as good with no one on them. As surfers ourselves, empty lineups and tropical barrels are what we want, too, and there are a lot of spots still left if you have the knowledge and willingness to seek them out.

Unlike most charter companies, we operate year round. Over the last decade of running trips thru NZ’s summer, we have found some really amazing swell magnets that are at least head-high on the tiniest of swells, and then when more solid swells arrive we have our choice of all the magazine waves to ourselves. We prefer to do 14+ night trips, which gives you the best chance to get that final swell and to travel a little further afield to get away from the pack.

Our goal is to make your trip to Indo as smooth as possible.  Danny’s full-time job is assisting in your bookings and setting up the dream holiday. Scuzz lives in Padang year round and is constantly improving and training all the land and boat crews. We own the cars that pick you up from the airport, and all our crew are on full-time yearly contracts with health insurance for their families. We own our own shipping company, which we run out of our own office, so there are never problems with permits or paperwork prior to your departure.

But most importantly, we take pride in offering the best vessels for your surf charter at the most reasonable prices. We maintain and improve our boats throughout the year, and we also do complete overhaul at the end of the season to ensure they meet the highest safety standards. All our crew is all legally ticketed with extensive experience. Each charter includes a captain, engineer, cook, and a minimum of 2 general deck hands. Each trip is led by a western guide with a photographer available on request. We operate 2 tenders on each boat, which helps split up the crowds at anchorages with multiple surf spots and also allows for additional adventures such as fishing excursions. With over 17 years worth of experience and feedback, we’ve done everything we can to make sure our boats are the best for this type of journey.

Try coming to the Ments with us in your summer or try one of our other destinations in the peak of the year, and do so knowing we’ve done the legwork to give you the best trip and best value you can find in Indo.