Volunteer travel experience from Bali
by Andy Mayer
It is said that the number of deaths by shark attacks worldwide runs at about 15 a year, while the number of deaths by falling coconuts is more like 150 annually. So it stands to reason that a coconut is 10 times as dangerous as a shark. But still, regardless of all (twisted) logic, every scuba diver can remember seeing their first shark, while very few can remember their first coconut.
My first shark sighting was while doing my basic scuba training in the north of Bali in the town of Tulamben. I should say that the shark in question was not a big one, and that it was close to the limit of my vision on a good visibility day, but I still found myself rather unnerved by the experience, especially as it was not my last dive in the area. Tulamben in an excellent place to learn to dive. There is deep clear water, plenty of corals, big fish aplenty and a large wreck just offshore.
The wreck is of the USS Liberty. An Internet search will reveal two different USS Liberties with rather interesting stories. The more famous one was a US surveillance vessel sunk by the Israeli air-force (rather surprisingly) in 1967 during the six day Arab/Israeli war, a story beloved and embellished by many a conspiracy theorist.
The USS Liberty off Bali is a different kettle of coral entirely. It was a supply ship hit by a Japanese torpedo in 1942, and was taking on so much water that it could not be towed for repairs and was instead dumped on a Balinese beach. The US navy intended to pick it up later, but somehow never managed to get round to it. Twenty years later the hulk was still there, until a massive eruption by Gunung Agung (the volcano in north-east Bali) in 1963 caused rock slides which pushed the ship into the sea. It has lain there ever since and now has 43 years of coral growth on it, and is one of the best diving spots in Indonesia. The wreck is just 20m away from the beach, and its depth is between 3m and 25m, making it ideal for beginner scuba divers and even snorkelers on a clear day.
We saw many parts of Bali, the rice paddies in the centre of the island, Hindu temples on clifftops, tourist beaches packed with surfers and candlelit beach restaurants in quiet villages. The island looks very small when you look at a map of Indonesia, but it is culturally very important. Bali is the only Hindu island in Indonesia, and the culture that exists there today is directly descended from the practices of ancient civilizations which are centuries old. 1200 years ago much of SE Aisa was Hindu. As Buddhism and Islam gained in prominence over the years, ancient Hindu temples such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Prambanan in Java became disused ruins. Only in Bali did the Hindu temples continue to exist and the ancient Hindu traditions survive. For this reason, the architecture of the temples, the religious practices, the traditional dance and costumes, and even Balinese cuisine are all unique and markedly different to anything else found in SE Asia. They are a direct link with a past well over 10 centuries old.
Also in Indonesia we visited Bali's quieter and lesser known neighbour, Lombok, a small island 5 hours to the east. Here the beaches are less crowded and the pace of life is slower. Although the pace of life picks up a bit if you decide to climb the great volcano in the centre of the island. At 3725m Gunung Rinjani is the second biggest volcano in Indonesia, and the highest point for miles around. We drove to base camp and met the other members of our team: four very chatty and likable Belgians, and one German who was labouring under the impression that "everything included" in Indonesia means the same as "everything included" in Europe. (Needless to say, nothing could be further from the truth). We were also taking with us a local guide, a cook and a two porters, so it was quite an expedition. As we were packing our kit in readiness for an early start, we heard the sad news that another group who reached the top the day before had suffered a fatality. A guy from Toronto had reached the summit first, but then stood overlooking the caldera on some unstable ash which collapsed underneath him.
The first day's hike was hard but without serious incident. We managed to make it past a patrol of monkeys without having to pay up too much fruit, and arrived at the low edge of the enormous volcanic crater just in time for sunset. At 3am we got up and four of us set off with our guide to try and reach the summit in time for sunrise. The route was treacherous, with head torches we had to climb 1500m up the ridge with a sheer drop into the crater on the right and a steep slope of scree and ash to the left. To make matters worse one of the porters followed us, a 16 year old called Gaga had never been to the summit so he thought he would join us wearing sandals and with no torch. He was sliding and slipping around all over the place, and we all murmured darkly that if he wasn't very lucky he would be taking what was now known as "the Canadian decent". Luckily after 2 hours he decided that the route wasn't to his liking, and he stopped an waited for first light while the rest of us pressed on at a faster pace and topped out just ahead of sunrise.
It was freezing cold, but the views were incredible. Below was a 2000m vertical drop to the crater lake, which had a small more recent volcanic cone sticking out of it. The opposite wall of the crater was 10km away, and beyond that the whole of Lombok was visible, as was Bali across the sea. We made it down safely (a great nightmare in the dark became a great scree-run in daylight) and arrived back at camp in time for breakfast, only to find that the monkeys had returned in the night and stolen most of our fruit. That night we camped at the edge of the crater lake, and bathed our weary limbs in a hot spring, before returning to civilization at the end of the third day.
And so to Australia. First stop was Cairns in Queensland where we were scuba diving again on the great barrier reef, and sorting ourselves out with transport for our trip. After much discussion we settled on a 1975 Toyota camper van which was advertised as old, but low mileage. Old it was, but as for the mileage, well it's very difficult to tell when the odometer doesn't work, so we bought it for 1700 Aussie dollars instead of the advertised 4000.
Cairns has become gentrified over the past 20 years, but one place still serves as a reminder of its rough Aussie frontier town past. Johno's blues bar is the home of the proprietor's hopeless blues band, and the regular attraction of Giant Toad Racing. Johno himself is the MC of this raucous event, and seems to be a complete stranger to the concept of political correctness. Amid the jokes and the banter, punters place their money on a toad of their choice and give it a name (mine was called Jean-Pierre, which in truth is frog's name, but no-one was worried about that). The toads are then put in a bucket and on the starter's whistle race towards the wall on the opposite side of the arena. Volunteers from the audience (always young and female) are required at every stage of the performance, and the entire show takes a couple of hours and plays to the most crowded venue in town, three nights a week.
We journeyed down the coast in the camper van stopping at many places on the way. The beaches of north Queensland are beautiful but rather quiet. Swimming can be disturbed by stinging jellyfish in summer, large crocs in certain places, and the occasional great white almost anywhere almost all of the time. So it's the beaches further south that are more popular. We spent time sailing, surfing, visiting the largest sand island in the world, wildlife spotting, and more surfing again. In Brisbane we managed some drinking and a bit of culture with Rhys, my friend from uni. It looked as though we would make it to Sydney without serious incident, but somewhere in the middle of New South Wales, the old camper van gave up the ghost. It took a week to get it repaired, and even after extensive rebuilding we managed to sell it for less than we bought it for, but it had finally got us to Sydney.
We have been in NZ for a while now, stories from there next time.
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