Monday 30 November 2015

The SCARMATRA Files


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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.

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Photo Bomb

Fellow traveler Greg Byers jumping in on the fun

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Paul Gleeson and Greg Byers below

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Brian Manahan looking at buying some gold

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As you can see below we were all clean shaven when we left….not so two weeks later!

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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

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Arrived at Bandar Lumpang and onto the terminal    

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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.


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Justin Spittle

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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 !


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left to right

Paul Newman, Justin Spittle, Phil Harper, myself and Brian Manahan


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Bring back he Speedo’s!

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View from the inside looking out

Mandiri Beach


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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.

Stay Tune for more Adventure


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