Around The World In 80 Waves

The immodestly titled Heaven on the Planet sits high on the hillside above the Inside Ekas Break. I came here hoping to take advantage of the lights which have been installed over the break to facilitate some night surfing over the reef, but sadly there was not enough swell during my time here to warrant switching them on.

However regardless of that it is a majestic spot which has some stunning views of Mount Rinjani, the highest point on the island, peeking through the clouds across the bay in the distance.

All my meals are included in the package provided for me here, which leaves me only wondering about having enough beer tokens to cover my bar bill.

The flat spell through most of my stay means that I spend a significant amount of my time hanging out in the communal area which you see here hoping for a swell to arrive. It is sunny all day, everyday and you are grateful for the breeze which builds in the afternoon.

There are loads of great people here who I get to know well, including several couples, but I spend most of my time in and out of the water with The Nine Wise Men of Merimbula, who have centuries of surf experience between them. Merimbula Bar was one of the breaks I had checked out but been unable to get a wave whilst there on my journey from Victoria in Australia back towards Sydney.

I am offered loads of useful advice from them all about places to surf on my travels and some helpful guidance on what I should do next after my trip is over. They are a great bunch of guys and I am jealous of them having such a circle of friends to surf with for so long. I will leave to them to describe just how bad the rendition of Under the Boardwalk by The Drifters was that I was pushed into doing on my own to the whole bar the night that a local band came and played to us. It felt painful to me and I suspect was not easy on anybody’s ears!

The other new ‘friends’ I made and I use the term loosely are the local macaq monkeys which are all over the place. I have loads of pictures of them but none did them justice so I have borrowed this one from the net to better illustrate them.

They may look cuddly but it is getting towards the end of the dry season and they are desperate for food and particularly water. Most tend to run off whenever you approach but a few are quite aggressive running at you baring their sizeable fangs, and are only scared off by this particular ape doing the same in return.

This is my place set high in the tree tops, which was really quiet for most of my stay apart from the last two nights, when I got to share more of my new human neighbours mating rituals than I would have liked.

The local animals were quite keen on my place too. I was too slow to get the picture of two of the monkeys sitting on my surfboard one afternoon and sadly they discovered the water cooler in my bathroom, throwing it to the floor smashing it so they could get a drink. One came back the following day leaping into the bathroom looking for more, which would have been fine other than the fact that I was sat on the toilet with my trousers around my ankles at the moment he chose to do so. After some of the afore mentioned aggression shown by both sides, it wasn’t immediately obvious who would throw faeces at the other first! Thankfully a mutual retreat negated the need.