Its been a few weeks since we have arrived back from Sumatra, and I have been busy with work, sneaking in a few surfs , and spending most of my free time sorting thru video and photography. It’s been close to 20 years since I have travelled back to Indonesia , so going away on a surf tip for 2 weeks was something that we were all looking forward to and we were not disappointed. Apart from scoring reasonable swell and good waves most days, I was lucky enough to have the company of 11 other like minded fella’s, all around the same age group, give or take a few years . There was plenty of adventure , mishaps and funny times to go around, and I got to surf my Bonza, Spoon, Paipo , Mats and Hand Planes in that busy 2 week period, which was my main goal of the trip. Unlike when I was in my late 20’s and craving big, fast down the line waves, surfing for 6 hours and just riding kneeboards, I was lucky enough to get all the equipment in the water and mix up my surfing like I do here back home . Apart from some injuries, I was able to enjoy 2 surfs everyday and met and spoke with some of the interesting people . This was also the first time I have travelled to and spent the entire time in a Islamic country compared to my many trips to Bali, and G Land when I was younger and my focus was on more surfing than embracing the local culture.The people of Sumatra are the most friendly and helpful people , and sure we saw plenty of mosques when travelling the 5 hour car trip from Bandar Lumpang , but there was plenty of smiles and waves from everyone , so where I had this mental picture of a Middle Eastern type country with everyone wearing black, this was quite the opposite , with some of the woman wearing the most colourful Hijabs or none at all.Technology has certainly caught up as well, with everyone having a mobile phone and wifi was available at most places , which is the complete opposite to what I experience 20 years ago….anyways let the story begin
Picture below
Shopping Trip to Downtown Krui
local school kids giving me big smiles.
Photo Bomb
Fellow traveler Greg Byers jumping in on the fun
Paul Gleeson and Greg Byers below
Brian Manahan looking at buying some gold
As you can see below we were all clean shaven when we left….not so two weeks later!
The trip started with Paul , Phil and myself catching the bus up to Sydney Airport and to meet up with our fellow travelers Justin Spittle, Mark Abel , Paul Gleeson and Brian Manahan who we knew already and new faces in Jeff Burgess, Craig McRitchie, Craig Joubert, Dave Gelder and Greg Byers.The flight to Jakarta takes around the 6 hour mark, with a overnight stay and early start and flight the next morning onto Bandar Lampung. We were then met and transported by car for 5 hours overland to our camp in South Sumatra, Dami Bungalows.
Holiday reading, helps a 6 hour flight go faster
Arrived at Bandar Lumpang and onto the terminal
The Scarmatra Files from adam williams on Vimeo.
The video shows you what’s involved travelling from Sydney airport to South Sumatra, with a little edit of hand planing we had one morning at Mandiri Beach. Unfortunately with the lack of rain , the rivers have not open up to the ocean , so the sand banks were not too good, but this was a change from riding the reef breaks and we made the most of what was there before the morning onshore blew thru.
Justin Spittle
As I said this would be one of the most funniest trips I have taken, so I still shake my head at the photoshop that Justin did with the original picture !
left to right
Paul Newman, Justin Spittle, Phil Harper, myself and Brian Manahan
Bring back he Speedo’s!
View from the inside looking out
Mandiri Beach
After head-butting the reef on the first day ( that's another story in itself) I spent the next day filming and giving my head a rest and out of the sun. So below is the first of 10 short videos I made , and this one has the crew surfing out the front , with Craig McRitchie , Jeff Burgess, Craig Joubert, Mark Abel and Dave Gelder
The SCARMATRA Files part one from adam williams on Vimeo.
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