By Phil Jarratt
Old mates came out of the woodwork – literally in some cases – for the Asian premiere of Men of Wood and Foam in Bali last weekend.
Literary mates Geoffrey Williams and Michael Freundt came down from their Ubud hideaway, that great old rogue Arthur Karvan made the journey from Sanur, and former Noosan Chris “Cutch” McCutcheon even left his lair for the occasion.
Once again Dustin Humphrey and the crew at the Deus Temple of Enthusiasm in Canggu played host in the courtyard for a wonderful night of film and music, with the Band of Frequencies delighting a capacity crowd with their live renditions of the soundtrack songs.
I wish we could take the Freqs to California with us next week for a live performance at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, but that pleasure will have to wait for the special screening at the Laguna Real Estate Noosa Festival of Surfing on 7 March.
It was a big weekend for Freqs Shannon Carroll and OJ Newcomb, teamed up with Bali local Adam Felton on drums and Margaret River’s Leroy on percussion, kicking off with a great set for a packed house at Old Man’s on Friday night, followed by the premiere on Saturday.
Sunday was a day to kick back and relax before the band heads into a local recording studio and we fly home.
Coming clean
Coming to the end of yet another stretch in Bali and beyond, I once again found myself wondering, as I walked along a litter-strewn beach after my morning surf, sharing the greasy brown wet season water with about 50 or 60 Russian learners, just what this apparently endless fascination is all about.
It’s been 43 years now, and in that time I’ve watched the “island of the gods” almost drown in its own excesses.
Too many people, too many cars, too many McMansions, too much plastic, not enough rice, fresh water or trees.
Of course, if you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem, as they say, and I am certainly one of that generation of surfers who helped popularise what was then little more than a cluster of villages dotted around an endless coastline of perfect reef breaks.
Over the years, we’ve contributed in small ways to helping Bali overcome its myriad health, environmental and social problems, but nowhere near enough to create change.
In my darker moments up here, I really regret that. And yet part of the ongoing appeal is the hope, faint as it may be now, that Bali will pull back from the precipice.
Take the humble plastic bag, for example.
There were no plastic bags in Bali in 1974, yet within a quarter of a century the island’s waterways were choked with them, its atmosphere polluted from plastic fires in every village, every evening.
Since schoolgirls Melati and Isabel Wijsen kicked off their Bye Bye Plastic Bags initiative three years ago, the movement has gone viral, with Bali’s Governor Pastika promising a total ban by this time next year.
Melati and Isabel and their followers have instigated more than 400 beach clean-ups around the island, they’ve established almost 600 eco pilot programs in villages and they’ve pushed their way into 16 government meetings.
And it’s having an effect.
Major shops and supermarkets now ask if you want a plastic bag and usually offer an organic alternative. The message hasn’t filtered down to the small shops and warungs, but it will in time. Reusable water bottles are now widely sold.
Bali’s airport went plastic-free last August, and surf shops and schools are setting up their own beach clean-ups – not enough but it’s a start.
Being vivacious and energetic teenagers, Melati and Isabel get a lion’s share of the publicity, but the fact is that there are now many people and groups of people becoming proactive about the island’s eco problems.
Whether there are enough of them to turn around the “develop or perish” culture in time remains to be seen.
In the meantime, I’ll keep coming to Bali because it’s in my blood, and I’ll pick up a few bits of trash after every surf.
Futile? Maybe, but I prefer to think not.
