By PHIL JARRATT
WHAT are the odds? Caught twice in volcanic ash in six months, after more than 40 years of frequent travel to the Indonesian archipelago with no such inconvenience.
Of course if you complain about being stuck in Bali you become the butt of everyone’s jokes, particularly if you spill your guts on social media. Oh, poor you. Have another Bintang by the pool etc etc. And it’s true, every day I spend in Bali is a good one, but we were stranded here for more than a week in July, missing professional obligations in Perth at considerable cost, and putting huge pressures on other work deadlines at home.
Now, deja vu all over again, and our daughter Sam, here on a flying work visit, is even more inconvenienced, with work piling up and young kids missing her. What makes it even worse, is that planes are coming and going out of Denpasar Airport every day. Only the two Australian airlines are cancelling flights, reminding us by email and text every day that this is because their safety standards are higher than anyone else’s. If that’s true, it’s a good thing, but more to the point, perhaps, is the fact that Virgin and Jetstar have to pay humongous landing rights fees to divert to other Indonesian airports, while regional carriers have reciprocal rights. It’s all about the money, honey. Surprise, surprise.
Anyway, having completed my author tour with Bill Finnegan, and having bade him farewell for China over many cocktails, I’ve now settled into my other office by the pool, and await news of an exit strategy. (I’ve actually booked backups all over South East Asia, so I hope they’ll put the unused ones in the travel bank for later adventures.)
Once the festival in Ubud was completed, Finnegan and I, along with Washington DC writer Carl Hoffman, bolted for the coast, where we were to present “An Evening of Tall Tales By The Sea” at the splendid Tandjung Sari, on the beach at Sanur. This is one of my favourite hotels in Bali, created in 1962 by Wija and Judith Wawo-Runtu, an uber-stylish mixed race couple. From humble beginnings, it became by 1970 the birthplace of Bali style, a perfect counterpoint to the box-like Western sensibilities (or lack thereof) of the Bali Beach Hotel along the sand. The hotel remains a gem on Sanur’s white sand beach, and Bill, Carl and I performed in the open-sided beachfront restaurant on a balmy night.
I spoke of Finnegan last week, but Hoffman is also worthy of note. We swapped books and I’m halfway through his bestseller Savage Harvest, which explores the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in the Asmat region of Papua New Guinea in 1961. The disappearance of the son of one of America’s wealthiest men, governor of New York and presidential aspirant, art collector and patron, was front page news back in the day, and there have been numerous cannibalism theories over the many years that followed, but Carl actually learnt the language and went to live with the Asmat tribesmen to get the story. It’s fascinating reading. Hoffman has just moved to Bali while he researches a new book about Borneo, so we’ve hung out a bit this week and traded experiences.
Finnegan and I finished the tour last Thursday with a video and chat night at the Deus Temple of Enthusiasm in Canggu, with many friends in attendance, lolling in bean bags on the temple lawn. It was a lovely night, where we were joined on stage by resident writers Dick Lewis and Kevin Lovett for a debate about the effects of “surf colonialism”, followed by a long dinner with Dick, Kevin and other pioneer surfers like Tim Watts, sculptor, vanilla bean farmer and guts-up goofy foot.
And now we must come home. Soon, ash willing.
Yay, we won!
Sam Smith and I were trapped in Bali (see above) and unable to attend the Sunshine Coast Business Awards at Twin Waters last weekend, but guess what? The Noosa Festival of Surfing took out the event award.
After so many years of plugging away with the festival, and seeing its management handed down the generations, I feel so thrilled and honoured that the local business community has seen fit to give us this gong. To chair Ross Hepworth and manager Melinda Shelton, our sincere apologies that we were unable to accept the award in person, and our heartfelt thanks for this important recognition.
