- 23 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00:32We wanted to achieve the surfer's dream, which was perfect surf in the perfect location.
00:00:39A palm-fringed tropical bay with pumping surf, dare I say, paradise.
00:01:02A palm-fringed tropical bay with pumping surf, dare I say, paradise.
00:01:17A palm-fringed tropical bay with pumping surf, dare I say, paradise.
00:01:20A palm-fringed tropical bay with pumping surf, dare I say, paradise.
00:01:53A palm-fringed tropical bay with pumping surf, dare I say, paradise.
00:01:57A palm-fringed tropical bay with pumping surf, dare I say, paradise.
00:02:33This time, you can move to this different place.
00:02:35It's a place to see.
00:02:35Love, love, love, love, love.
00:02:49I'm sorry, but I'm sorry.
00:02:53I'm sorry.
00:02:59I can't believe it.
00:03:03I'm sorry.
00:03:07I'm sorry.
00:03:09I'm sorry.
00:03:12in the same way.
00:03:41In 1846, the first ship of the
00:03:44Dutch came to Lagunry, and then the villagers came to attack the ship, and even they also
00:03:49grabbed a lot of weapons from the ship.
00:03:55Nia's island had a reputation of being a particular hard place to colonize, because they had these
00:04:01really well-organized armies of warriors, ruled by very strong chiefs.
00:04:14Around 1914, the Dutch had full control of the whole island of Nia's.
00:04:20A few years ago, the village had a great day and had a great day of work.
00:04:29It was a great day for the whole island of Nia.
00:04:29But it was also a very good day, the whole island of Nia's.
00:04:41I had to meet the people who had to come to the nia's.
00:04:45And I had to meet with the village in the village of Nia.
00:05:10What is it good for?
00:05:31I'm Kevin Lovett, I grew up in Gladstone in central Queensland, one of the most boring
00:05:40places on the planet, but I had a very happy and adventurous childhood and eventually
00:05:45I found a way to escape.
00:05:51The political climate in Queensland was very conservative, white, Christian.
00:05:58If you didn't really toe the line, you're going to get smacked.
00:06:01The focus for the protests was initially the war in Vietnam, but this transitioned into
00:06:08Indigenous land rights and identity, which then morphed into the anti-apartheid movement.
00:06:15In 1971, when the Springboks played in Brisbane, I attended that match as a schoolboy.
00:06:23And unbeknownst to me, just outside the ground, my future friend John Geisel was being pummeled
00:06:30by the Queensland State Police.
00:06:45When I was 18 or 19, I didn't really know what was going on in my life, but I was
00:06:50in a
00:06:50rush to become a surfer.
00:06:54All along the coast of Australia, surfing has become more and more popular.
00:06:59Whether it's lying down, kneeling or standing up, it's all about the thrill of the ride.
00:07:05There are a few basic rules for surfing.
00:07:08Keep your balance and don't lose your surfboard, or you could lose your head.
00:07:15Because I'd come to surfing relatively late, I had to progress quickly.
00:07:21I spent a couple of years up and down the coast, north and south of Brisbane, and absolutely loved it.
00:07:33I met John in 1974, we hit it off immediately.
00:07:39There was a lot of smoking, there was a lot of conviviality, and then of course, surfing came into it.
00:07:51The irritating thing was the testosterone-fueled structure of Australian surfing.
00:07:59And we decided to get away from that attitude.
00:08:04I found a copy of Surfer magazine.
00:08:06It was kind of like a bolt of lightning.
00:08:09The cover said, the forgotten island of Santosha.
00:08:12They termed it a forgotten state of mind.
00:08:16I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that it was only a state of mind,
00:08:20but there was some kind of earthly reality to it.
00:08:24And the earthly reality was what drove John and I to finally leave.
00:08:31We wanted to find our own Santosha.
00:08:34Indonesia repealed because it was part of the unknown.
00:08:37It was full of exotica.
00:08:39And we saw ourselves fitting in there somewhere, maybe on an island,
00:08:45that had breathtaking scenery with perfect wave and a compliant community
00:08:50where the chief might sort of avail himself of a couple of his beautiful daughters.
00:09:02For more information, please do not be able to ask us.
00:09:06The next episode is a production of the U.S.
00:09:07The National Anthem.
00:09:08We'll be able to find a place where thelife is friends in the U.S.
00:09:27By the time we had bought a proper map of Southeast Asia, we were looking to head towards
00:09:33Lake Tova in northern Sumatra.
00:09:42As we entered Lake Tova, stumbling into Mongoloi's downstairs restaurant, we immediately were
00:09:49confronted with this amazing hand-drawn map of NIAS.
00:09:53It was pinned to the wall, and when I saw it, I thought, wow, it had surf potential written
00:09:59all over it.
00:10:04So that's where we were headed.
00:10:07We were full of hope, and we had to race to catch the copper boat that was leaving on the
00:10:12tide at about 5pm.
00:10:19On board that same vessel was the world's most acclaimed surf explorer.
00:10:25Little did I know who he was, but he was a very interesting-looking character, and he had
00:10:30a very attractive-looking girlfriend.
00:10:33Peter and I were together a total of 15 years.
00:10:37He had the idea that we should ride motorcycles from Bali to Bangkok.
00:10:49So we got on the boat, and, lo and behold, there were these two other Australians there, and
00:10:54they happened to have three surfboards.
00:10:56And, of course, we were talking fast and furiously about the trip.
00:11:02And it was rough, and I think we were something like 18 hours overnight on that boat.
00:11:24I think it was very fun.
00:11:27There were some kind of boats, and I thought the people who were just so much.
00:11:31But I was doing pretty good.
00:11:32I thought a few years ago, tresando-little boat, and I thought, how they were going to
00:11:35So that's what I was doing.
00:11:40I know it's all a party
00:11:43I don't know what the other party
00:11:51Oh yeah
00:11:51I'm going to get out of the way
00:11:54I thought I could go
00:11:58Oh yeah
00:12:20We pulled into Tuluqtulam, there was an ethereal mist, giving it this very mystical appearance.
00:12:29As the shafts of sunlight penetrated the cloud banks, you'd almost expect them to open
00:12:34up and see the hand of God, saying, this is it boys, you've finally arrived.
00:12:50Enthusiasm was peaking.
00:12:51We made it out to investigate the first wave.
00:12:54An eight-foot cylinder bed was unsurfable, it was breaking onto a dry reef and it was
00:13:00just impossible.
00:13:01Our mission was to go to Hillis Montana.
00:13:03The next day we set off and Kevin and John were on their mission to go and find surf.
00:13:09So we went out different ways.
00:13:14The subsequent days we spent exploring, it was a little Tarzan-like, trying to paddle
00:13:20across some crocodile-infested streams.
00:13:30We would just penetrate these large swathes of lungalung grass that would be well over
00:13:36head-high, but we found no perfect waves.
00:13:44Dawn of the fourth day, we came to this clearing.
00:13:48We'd basically stumbled into this horseshoe bay called Lugundi.
00:13:53The swell was pumping.
00:13:55The waves were near perfect.
00:14:01It needed for us to be able to get out there and confirm it from up close that these waves
00:14:07were rideable, but were discovered then by the villagers from within Desa Lugundi.
00:14:12And whilst we thought we'd walk around the beach, they had other ideas and they shepherded us
00:14:18up to another village.
00:14:37Stepping through that stone gateway was like stepping into another world.
00:14:59We'd stepped into a megalithic culture that was still alive.
00:15:05I turned to John at one point and said, gee, it feels like Stanley and Livingston, doesn't
00:15:10it?
00:15:15All these villages is covered or fencing by stone.
00:15:20We put the stone in front of their house and they make a sacred ritual to make the ancestors
00:15:27happy because they want to get long life, good luck, better crop.
00:15:38When the enemy tried to attack the village, they trained their youth to jump the stone wall.
00:15:57And there was a very old tradition of Nias to cut off the head of another people from another village.
00:16:07But heads were also used for construction work, for road building, for building a bridge.
00:16:13They believed if they had a bridge.
00:16:16They believed if they had a head, it means strength.
00:16:22Not having any understanding really of the language, it tested us.
00:16:27So we kept calm and eventually we said, where are the waves?
00:16:35And someone understood that and led us out of the village then down to the western side of the point,
00:16:43which was breaking about eight to ten feet.
00:16:49It was monstrous.
00:16:51It was monstrous.
00:16:52It was not only enormous, but it was beyond our abilities.
00:16:55And we became very despondent.
00:17:00Then fortunately we looked left and it was just pumping in perfect lines.
00:17:06And it was mechanical.
00:17:08It was just one after the other.
00:17:09We smoked a joint on the point, fell back on the beach just in ecstasy, laughing our heads off.
00:17:18And it was just absolutely smoking.
00:17:21The challenge was, were we good enough?
00:17:24This was what we wanted, but could we ride them?
00:17:34They came back very excited.
00:17:36Late evening and they're like, we found surf, we found surf.
00:17:39And then it was, you know, tell us more and where is it and how do we get there and
00:17:44let's go tomorrow.
00:17:44And then Peter organized transportation the next day.
00:17:51We were up.
00:17:52By six o'clock we'd left.
00:17:54We walked down this pathway and then walked down onto the beach and just sort of stood there in amazement
00:18:01and shock.
00:18:02It's like, whoa, wow, look at that.
00:18:04It was just these incredible waves just rolling around the corner with nobody on them.
00:18:09That was the amazing part too.
00:18:11There was nobody there.
00:18:13John and Kevin and Peter just immediately got into the water in parallel.
00:18:35I was starstruck by the moment.
00:18:42The light was coming into his face.
00:18:46There were little bubbles of water being trapped in those hairs.
00:18:52It was a moment of transcendence.
00:19:07My turn came and it was free falling down the face.
00:19:11It just got massively entombed by the sparrow that extended out beyond me and everything just slowed down to the
00:19:19point where I was, I felt like I was going backwards.
00:19:23It distorted my feeling of reality.
00:19:36The locals that came out onto the beach, they were so curious.
00:19:41People were jumping up and down and getting really excited.
00:19:43Many, many, many people go to the beach to look.
00:19:47They say, wow.
00:19:48They say, what is he?
00:19:50What is he?
00:19:51What is he?
00:19:51What is this?
00:19:52Because never he seen before.
00:19:54Oh.
00:19:55Oh.
00:19:57We are totally blind about the surf, you know.
00:20:00It's something new, you know.
00:20:04Before we did imagine, they were pretty crazy about the earth.
00:20:14I'm an advocate for them here, but they wanted to tell us how they wanted us to tell us.
00:20:22First is to make us afraid because our parents told me they are the colonial, they are returned.
00:20:40They are a Christian, so they think John looks just like the picture of Jesus.
00:20:48Blown, long hair, you can imagine that.
00:20:52Oh, this is a miracle in Sorak, you know?
00:20:55They really want to know, are you Jesus?
00:21:00I said, no, I am a John, and I come from Australia.
00:21:14Peter and Wendy were leaving, they were only there for the morning and the afternoon, and
00:21:20we said our goodbyes.
00:21:23We just left them there and said good luck, and let us know what happens, and off we went
00:21:28back to town.
00:21:37We only had $50 between us.
00:21:40That meant that if we were going to last, we couldn't live in the village, we had to move
00:21:45out to the point.
00:21:50At that time, it was not even a single house to stay on that spot.
00:21:56So they are lucky, because there is a small hut.
00:22:08The only people that lived on the point was Safarma and his uncle Anadi, and they lived in a rough
00:22:16slab hut about 350 metres to the east.
00:22:39We were in an area unbeknownst to ourselves that even the locals didn't like to hang out
00:22:45in.
00:22:50Before the first surfers came here, people were actually quite afraid of going to the beach,
00:22:54because there were spirits who could attack you and make you sick.
00:22:58Me, I was scared to go to the beach, I found my land to Sorak, big problem for me, because
00:23:04it was no good for me.
00:23:11We're trying to tell them, don't do activity there, but they don't understand us.
00:23:21The way early surf tourists were described here in the east is that the tourists came
00:23:26to open the beach.
00:23:31We had a walk of about 150, 200 metres down to the point.
00:23:38We could surf all day, come back, hang out in the afternoon, and then walk in at night
00:23:44as the sun was going down, and have a nightly meal.
00:23:54That swell kept running for two weeks.
00:23:58We kind of lost sight of who we were and what we were doing.
00:24:04We had found our holy grail and we were living the dream.
00:24:28We were a massive source of interest to the local community.
00:24:31The celebrity status, while it was fun, became a bit tiring.
00:24:37We were in a goldfish bowl and we were the centre of attention.
00:24:45Many people, more from 100, maybe 100 people, look, tourists, look, tourists, tourists, seem
00:24:52like this.
00:24:56We don't understand what they're meaning.
00:25:03If we say like this, we go away.
00:25:05You know?
00:25:06You know?
00:25:06The sign of them.
00:25:08And if we go like this, we just come.
00:25:12This was a little bit harder than we expected.
00:25:15There was also a little bit of tension.
00:25:18There were some shadowy characters carrying some big knives.
00:25:23Nadia the birdman.
00:25:26Nadia the birdman.
00:25:27This kind of solidly built man with very intense red eyes and he absolutely emanated malice.
00:25:36It wasn't until 20 years later that I really learnt the truth of Nadia from our neighbours,
00:25:42the farmer.
00:25:43The farmer and I were just hanging out having a rest.
00:25:56Nadia's there supposedly discussing how he was going to kill us.
00:26:00When Nadia and his accomplice left our campsite, the farmer ran back and asked them, why were
00:26:07they here?
00:26:08What were they doing?
00:26:09And they said they'd come to take heads.
00:26:15This was at the very end of headhunting in NIAS.
00:26:29I guess early in July, we determined was the time to leave.
00:26:34We had enough funds to get ourselves back to Lake Tober and that's where we headed.
00:26:42We ended up on that copper trading.
00:26:49First thing in the morning, both of us came down with these incredible chills and we realised
00:26:55that this was something pretty serious.
00:26:59I mean our jaws were uncontrollably chattering and our teeth were just pinging together.
00:27:08By the time we got to Binkulu, we were kind of in a semi-recovery stage.
00:27:16Didn't know it was malaria, but John was to have recurring malarial episodes and he left
00:27:22then to continue a journey to Thailand and overland to Europe.
00:27:27Then you'd dare to save us, the whole distribution and he left us killing it.
00:27:46Something neither wants to see ourjq.
00:27:46I don't even think so in my mind was critical only
00:27:46that it was not functional because it was a room for us.
00:27:46when it θα combinations and does noterdem配. God
00:27:46knows what he wants. I
00:27:46don't think so if it understands it's great, that he could probably see my
00:27:47luck has been cámara, but I meant many times because it's great. Than
00:27:52the last beach was after Aunque fashion, but they're perfect, how
00:27:52did we see a Jepang, where we're done.
00:28:14I've been in Perth a couple of months, I think it was about February 1976 when I received
00:28:19a letter from my mother. Previous to this I'd been receiving aerograms from John, I mean
00:28:26he was writing to me and I was, I was writing back. You posted your mail to post-restant
00:28:33ahead of the person where they were in their particular journey at the time and when they
00:28:38arrived at that destination they would go and check post-restant so it was a very effective
00:28:42means of communication. I'd been in Perth a couple of months when I received a aerogram
00:28:47from John. This photo was actually printed backwards, we could look at that and talk
00:28:51about it being our own little secret spot.
00:28:57Dear Kevin, greetings and hallucinations from the money land of the Middle East.
00:29:01The trip across, insane, three and a half thousand miles on battery power alone.
00:29:07Humpting a dozen punches, we hit a total of 27 different objects including one stone Nepalese
00:29:12boy, three Indians on bicycles, four right hand tri-shore wheels, two vultures, one cow,
00:29:18seven assorted birds, several toes belonging to slow Indians and much more.
00:29:25We cross deserts in temperatures from minus 6 degrees to 40 degrees Celsius.
00:29:31So as you probably guessed I'm selling the van here and catching a train to Europe.
00:29:36I'm off into the wild blue yonder.
00:29:39P.S. I'm trying to get out of Tehran as quick as possible.
00:29:42See you later, love John.
00:29:46I was very excited and I was a little bit envious to be quite honest.
00:29:50But opening my mother's letter I was just absolutely shocked because this little newspaper
00:29:55clipping fell out.
00:29:59It was John's funeral notice.
00:30:02I just couldn't make sense of it.
00:30:05A blizzard had fallen upon Tehran, in particular the campgrounds where he was staying.
00:30:17He ended up contracting double pneumonia.
00:30:22Because of his weakened health, he succumbed to suffocation.
00:30:30It was just devastating news, devastating to John's family, devastating to me.
00:30:35Forty years on, still devastating.
00:30:50Forty years in a school of black and white people,
00:30:57That pair of moanars in a small village of Ontario.
00:31:00Forty years in a large university of Ontario.
00:31:01Those kind of memories never fade because they're memories not connected to time.
00:31:08Forty years in a city of Toronto.
00:31:10Forty years in a city of Toronto.
00:31:20At this point, I had the luck to meet Jan, who has become my lifelong partner.
00:31:27Without a doubt, the imagery was enough to convince me and I think Judy and Graham
00:31:32that this was going to be a total adventure to an amazing tropical island.
00:31:38Kevin had done a film and I saw some of the footage, of course, and it just blew me away
00:31:43how fantastic this way was.
00:31:47And we trusted Kevin and off we went.
00:31:52Within four months, we're back on the road to Nias.
00:31:58.
00:32:00.
00:32:00.
00:32:22That name is Rami Rami.
00:32:30Rami Rami is an unusual person,
00:32:30but it's a big barrier.
00:32:35The surf itself improved over time.
00:32:39Graham and I, we had some fantastic surfs.
00:32:43I think it became a watershed in his surfing life.
00:32:48I was just blown out by the quality of the wave.
00:32:51The location was just an idyllic paradise.
00:32:54Wave after wave was way perfect offshore.
00:32:56I thought I was in a dream.
00:33:01The second time, when we saw that the other friend of Kevin do the same activity like surfing,
00:33:09we go, wow, John is not only a Jesus, but other friend is, how come everybody's confused?
00:33:35One day, been surfing, came in, saw two people walking around.
00:33:40They weren't locals, so quite intrigued by who that would be.
00:33:45Stuart and Ingrid just appeared out of nowhere.
00:33:48Ingrid was a youngish, she might have been 19, of Indian heritage, born in Perth.
00:33:54Stuart, he was a little older, he was a Kiwi, tall, slim, also a knee boarder.
00:34:01Being good neighbourly citizens, we invited them to stay.
00:34:06I remember Ingrid, she was a really nice girl, very mellow, but had a boyfriend who was a bit,
00:34:13I think he took the jungle on a little bit too commando style.
00:34:20Situations of isolation or when you're under extreme conditions can bring out the best and worst of people.
00:34:25And unfortunately, with Stuart, it tends to bring out the extreme in his personality.
00:34:30He didn't really gel in the camp.
00:34:32And when you're in a place that remote and away, there's no distraction.
00:34:36We were back from the hippie days then, so we were pretty well charted in the art of being chilled.
00:34:42But he wasn't, so it didn't work for the camp after a while.
00:34:46Everything was a mission for him.
00:34:48It was just a little bit too aggravating.
00:34:51Yeah, it was a bit of a shock to the camp when they came, basically.
00:34:58We had to eventually ask him to leave because living conditions were impossible.
00:35:04The only thing was that he was also impacting heavily on his girlfriend's life.
00:35:11She decided to stay on.
00:35:13He left her and left.
00:35:16And that meant that she became kind of our responsibility.
00:35:34We were way more self-sufficient.
00:35:38We became more integrated into the community.
00:35:41The community became more fond of us.
00:35:46If there was ever a special event in the village, they'd always come down and invite us.
00:35:51We'd make an effort to get dressed in our best clothes and usually be the people of honour
00:35:56at the events.
00:36:06Ingrid, I remember these guys used to come down.
00:36:09They're a little bit different to the normal people we'd met in the village.
00:36:12They look a bit wilder.
00:36:15I thought it was a bit strange them having meetings with her, but I just thought it was
00:36:19good for her because her boyfriend or so-called boyfriend had left and she probably felt a
00:36:24bit lonely.
00:36:24I remember there were some pretty freaky characters in the group.
00:36:29I remember two shady characters that the locals would never look in the eye.
00:36:33And one of them particularly had red eyes, as I noticed.
00:36:37He was, I suppose I would say, lurking and he had very dark black hair and a big cloak of
00:36:47black feathers.
00:36:49I could almost do a picture of him now, I've never forgotten it.
00:36:54It did happen around the time when all the others were sick with malaria.
00:36:57It was horrific and all of a sudden you're just shivering, you're cold.
00:37:05You hallucinate, you lose all touch of time.
00:37:09There was no way of being able to grab a moment where there was peace in the mind.
00:37:16At one stage Kevin and I were running such high temperatures, the roof of the tent was
00:37:21actually dropping droplets of water.
00:37:25I got to the point where I was actually going in quite a downward spiral.
00:37:33During this period, Ingrid became also very ill.
00:37:37She was affected by sharp stamping pains in her kidneys.
00:37:45I think we had the most scare was with Jan.
00:37:47She was very bad for a long time and she was the reason why, in the end, that we decided
00:37:52to go.
00:37:54Jan was on the beach and she was walking down to the point.
00:37:57She suddenly collapsed and she had fainted.
00:38:01Our only hope was to get out of there, which is what we did, made a decision to go, which
00:38:05was a good decision.
00:38:07At the same time Ingrid was being carried out, she had a great difficulty walking because
00:38:12of the pain.
00:38:16There was a lot of commotion, belligerent conversation taking place between locals from Lagundi village
00:38:24and these other guys that were assisting Ingrid.
00:38:30I was looking after Jan and I was trying to organise the truck, get ready for departure
00:38:35and Ingrid was being taken in the utility to hospital.
00:38:41She had malaria too, so she ended up in the clinic in town.
00:38:51We packed up all our belongings.
00:38:54This was leaving Lagundi one year after I had departed with John.
00:39:00I mean, I left and John died and was never going to return and here I was leaving again
00:39:07with my lover and she was also in a very weakened state.
00:39:21I looked back over my shoulder at the bay, I felt like this was the last place I wanted
00:39:29to revisit.
00:39:31There was just too many bitter memories, too much sickness.
00:39:54I first heard the word NEOS from a friend of mine and she had said that the Australians
00:40:00were talking about this art called NEOS and that it had a beautiful right hand wave.
00:40:06Jungle Telegraph was rife with the story of this magical right hand.
00:40:10Word was out.
00:40:11There were little drawings on sand in beaches with a little diagram on how to get there or
00:40:15a little coaster in a restaurant.
00:40:17So off we went.
00:40:20Driving in I could see peaks through the trees of the wave on the point and just this flogged
00:40:26perfect wave going off and as far as I could see there wasn't anybody out.
00:40:30That was such an ethereal moment, something I'd waited for I think all my life.
00:40:38Yeah, never forget that day came through after a few weeks travel and rolled up on a picture
00:40:44perfect six to eight foot day and not a drop of water out of place and palm trees everywhere
00:40:50and the experiment was just like, this is it.
00:40:52We've found it.
00:40:58This little boy came right after me going, hey surfers, come stay, you know.
00:41:04First time I see tourists like 80 something and first time we see oh this must be alien,
00:41:10whatever.
00:41:12But by then we get used to it.
00:41:16You've got the world's best wave on the outer reef when there's, well, seven seconds of
00:41:22tube time.
00:41:28I took the photos of NEOS in 1978 and they were published later that year in Surfer magazine.
00:41:36I saw that photo of Eric Ada, took from down in the bay up looking up at the point and
00:41:40indicators and that captured my imagination.
00:41:44You saw that perfect wave and you could tell it was equatorial with the coconut.
00:41:49I had mixed feelings.
00:41:51I didn't want to say the name.
00:41:52I wasn't about to do that.
00:41:54I knew that people would talk and say I know where that is regardless of say the name or
00:41:59not.
00:42:00But if I didn't do it, somebody was going to come the next year and would certainly
00:42:04do it.
00:42:05You know, there was no stock in it at that point.
00:42:10It was very hard knowing that you're probably helping a place go downhill.
00:42:16There was one quote I think in Tracks magazine.
00:42:19The moral photographer put pictures in Surfer magazine.
00:42:25I absolutely felt some responsibility.
00:42:33My family very, very poor.
00:42:36I want to change my life.
00:42:40Tourists come, I like.
00:42:43Because selling fish, selling banana, selling papaya, it's good to make business.
00:42:49And he was pretty entrepreneurial.
00:42:51He was the only guy that had a fridge.
00:42:53It was a carrow fridge.
00:42:54So there was beer in that fridge.
00:42:55And after a hard day out on the point, which was 25, 30 minute walk, he was pretty popular.
00:43:05Before we have aqua.
00:43:07Liquor cola, beer, whiskey.
00:43:10And Rufus being Rufus, he, you know, he set a premium price on his beers and the fridge
00:43:16was always empty.
00:43:21The tourism on the beach here is completely done by local people who have never themselves
00:43:28been tourists, who have never travelled, who have never eaten in a restaurant.
00:43:32They have to figure out what these foreigners want.
00:43:37The initial stage, it was get, do you want a coconut?
00:43:40You know, or you want a bunch of bananas, papayas, you know, and then it developed from
00:43:44that until the dads are coming down and going fishing on the reef and, oh, let's go and
00:43:49get some lobsters.
00:43:50So the heaps of lobsters would be cool.
00:43:54The people, you know, they, they want to know things.
00:43:58And it's hard for us, you know, to asking like the questions, what, what are you going
00:44:04doing here, mister, you know?
00:44:07Well, the older guys spent a lot of time watching us surf, especially when the waves
00:44:11were big, you know, they'd come down and go, you know, they'd have their two or three
00:44:16hours harvesting coconuts and they'd sit down with us and they'd watch us surf and we'd talk
00:44:21and they'd learn English and we'd learn Indonesian.
00:44:24Yeah, I was thinking because me not scared, not scared, because making friends first time,
00:44:29me talking, me talking, me talking.
00:44:31And he'd take a word home every day and he'd write a word down, but he, you know, his words
00:44:35were really random.
00:44:37They weren't like, um, give, can I thank you, good morning.
00:44:40It was like momentum or something like that.
00:44:43They'd never, ever use, you know.
00:44:44So he'd write off with this, you know, word written on a bit of paper and the next day
00:44:49they'd be back.
00:44:50And after about a month, I thought, I'm going to go up to his house.
00:44:53There were all the words.
00:44:54They were all pasted up on the wall.
00:44:55I don't think he used momentum much.
00:44:57Because me learn to speak English, only one word one day, me no forget again.
00:45:12Tourses sometimes we take bonnet to surfing for learning, yeah, swimming.
00:45:19Swimming.
00:45:21Swimming.
00:45:24I start when I'm kid, but my mom doesn't like and then she wanted me just clean house and then,
00:45:32and go to school, and not surf.
00:45:38I have four brothers, two old brothers
00:45:41and two young brothers, and they're all surfers.
00:45:44When we start surfing, we use the penskis of timber,
00:45:48you know, and then we go for a surf
00:45:49because we can't afford to buy a board,
00:45:51or we don't have any.
00:45:54But my brother gave the board for me.
00:45:58I remember when she surfed from the beginning,
00:46:00she's scared, and mama and dad don't allow her to go surf
00:46:05because it's not allowed for a girl to surf.
00:46:07At the time, my dad, like, don't go surf.
00:46:11You will hurt yourself, don't go surf.
00:46:13Don't do it.
00:46:15Sometimes we have to do it, and we're coming back,
00:46:17we get smashed.
00:46:27Kids, they just wanted to be part of it,
00:46:28and there was a pile of broken boards
00:46:30under every shack or tree,
00:46:33and it didn't take them long to start surfing
00:46:35half the surfboard with no fins,
00:46:37and then gluing them together
00:46:39and putting the fins on backwards.
00:46:50You've got the world's best wave on the outer reef
00:46:53when the swell just goes to the inside,
00:46:56and it's a rolling little perfect wave
00:46:58for learning how to surf.
00:47:00I learned a lot, you know, how to rid the waves,
00:47:05how to rid the swell, when it's low time,
00:47:07when it's high time, how to surf in.
00:47:12They got the feeling, I think.
00:47:14You know, they just thought, well, we want a part of this.
00:47:16This is better than working in the paddy field.
00:47:19We can go surfing in the morning or after school
00:47:21and still make a living.
00:47:23What a way to go.
00:47:46For Indonesia's good fortune,
00:47:49one of the most pristine places
00:47:52that we had the ability to find
00:47:54that people hadn't been to before
00:47:56for the pure pleasure of going surfing
00:47:58was the remote Indonesian island of Niass.
00:48:05We just knew that when that tripod came out
00:48:09and Dick and Thornton was doing those beautiful cutbacks
00:48:11in the end bowl
00:48:12that the world was going to change that day.
00:48:15It was never going to be the same.
00:48:17It was never going to be the same.
00:48:21These spots were secret
00:48:23and we wanted to keep them that way.
00:48:26It was OK to film them
00:48:28as long as you said it was somewhere else.
00:48:31It wasn't until we came back to Australia
00:48:34and processed the film
00:48:36and got the opportunity to look at it
00:48:37that we realised it was worth the effort to get there.
00:48:44When the Trax article came out
00:48:45with Niass off the beaten Trax
00:48:47and how to get there
00:48:48like go to Tober, go to Sebolga, get a boat
00:48:51you know, it was a no-brainer really.
00:48:54That's when it hit home.
00:48:55I went, oh, you've crossed the line mate.
00:48:57I felt betrayed.
00:48:59I was shocked.
00:49:00I rang after Dick.
00:49:01I certainly told him what I thought.
00:49:03I had confrontations.
00:49:04Obviously that upset some of the more serious surfers
00:49:08who were already there
00:49:09that that conflicted with their objectives
00:49:11of keeping the place quiet.
00:49:14I'm guilty of exploiting that
00:49:17but if I hadn't have done it
00:49:18somebody else would have.
00:49:20What was the reaction?
00:49:22A bit of hatred.
00:49:24I did have people wanting to fight me.
00:49:27I felt like a victim.
00:49:30Didn't feel good about it at all.
00:49:32At all.
00:49:33But I had to wear it and I wore it.
00:49:39Lying just north of the equator
00:49:41off the west coast of Sumatra
00:49:43this little island was virtually unknown
00:49:45to the outside world
00:49:47until surfers discovered
00:49:48it had one of the best right-handers in Asia.
00:49:51But in spite of the perfect wave
00:49:53the island is hard to reach
00:49:55which means only a special breed of surf adventurer
00:49:58will ever see this wave firsthand.
00:50:01Life on Neos is primitive but happy
00:50:03especially since they banned headhunting
00:50:06a few years back.
00:50:10The next year the crowd had doubled.
00:50:12I suppose we were on the other side of the fence
00:50:14we just wanted to
00:50:15probably selfish
00:50:16we wanted to keep it for ourselves
00:50:17and we didn't want the world to come
00:50:19and they did.
00:50:31See you later.
00:50:33Let's have a coke.
00:50:38Can you tell us where the waves are?
00:50:44Seeing Coca-Cola shoot their summer campaign in Neos
00:50:49I just felt that that was the absolute death knell.
00:50:53Can't beat the feeling
00:50:56Can't beat the feeling
00:51:03After, come more tourists
00:51:05Bill lost me one by one
00:51:08Everyone's coming and coming, keep coming
00:51:12Things were happening so quick
00:51:14There was more and more people arriving
00:51:16and places going up left, right and centre
00:51:19The beach was just like a building site
00:51:24The sand here is more cheap and more easier to collect
00:51:29So they just collect and using that for building material
00:51:34But the sand is not good to mix with cement
00:51:38because they don't care
00:51:43Seeing the development and that things have changed
00:51:45and that it might be more comfortable
00:51:47but now you have to be aware of having the safety of things
00:51:50maybe locking your camera box to the bed frame or something
00:51:56Probably a bit of greed
00:51:57There was people not getting business
00:51:59some people getting business, some people not
00:52:00You know, you could stay for free as long as you ate
00:52:02and they get really gnarky if you ate down the road
00:52:05So they did
00:52:07When surf tourism operations are based on competition, on cost
00:52:12what ends up resulting is a race for the bottom
00:52:15By the 1980s it was crowded
00:52:18By the 1990s it was almost an unpleasant experience
00:52:21to be in the village in Niass
00:52:24It was on the Hippie Trail
00:52:26Lugundi Beach was full on
00:52:27Little bungalows everywhere
00:52:29It was great
00:52:29You had great parties
00:52:30People from all over the world coming
00:52:33You come from all over the globe
00:52:35and you go to Lugundi
00:52:36and the western people bring their own bad habits
00:52:40Things were in full swing
00:52:42It was a full on party town
00:52:44with discos and restaurants
00:52:48It wasn't long before the locals were drinking
00:52:51One little kid I taught to surf
00:52:53and lived with his family for a while
00:52:55and they'd gone from this nice little kid that went off to school
00:52:58and came home and surfed every afternoon
00:53:00and he was a pimp for working girls
00:53:06Not a goal, you know
00:53:07Get a fine hip skill
00:53:14In tourism theory, destination communities
00:53:18their attitudes towards tourists can devolve
00:53:20if relationships aren't managed
00:53:22That tourism usually starts off
00:53:24Often local people are euphoric at the idea of having tourists
00:53:27and they're making money
00:53:29and the economy starts to tick over
00:53:31and people are really happy
00:53:32Then over time they gradually become apathetic towards tourists
00:53:35as they've been there for a while
00:53:37and eventually they go through annoyance
00:53:40to straight out being hostile to visitors
00:53:51To go back and see it destroyed
00:53:53well it didn't really surprise me
00:53:59Surfing's mainstream, it's global, it's streamed everywhere
00:54:02and surf tourism is a really big industry now
00:54:05and it does come at a bit of a price for the locals
00:54:13I'd love to find a place like that again
00:54:15and would I put it in the magazines?
00:54:19No
00:54:23From that perfect tree-lined point
00:54:25with a bunch of single fins under a tree
00:54:28it's done, it's gone
00:54:30it's paradise lost
00:54:42I returned to Nias after a 20-year absence
00:54:47Coincidentally, on the day that John and I first walked in
00:54:51It completely changed, it was unrecognisable
00:54:55How is this? This is a new place?
00:54:57Yeah, this is where we entered here
00:54:58Yeah, this is where we entered here
00:55:00Well, before, we were back to Pantieserat
00:55:02Okay
00:55:03That's right
00:55:03We were all in there
00:55:05Yeah
00:55:05We didn't have a walk here
00:55:07But now, the government has tried to
00:55:10regulate the rules
00:55:12This is what?
00:55:13This is what?
00:55:14That's right
00:55:14That's right
00:55:15That's right
00:55:17That's right
00:55:18That's right
00:55:18That's right
00:55:18That's right
00:55:19That's right
00:55:22That's right
00:55:26All those coconut trees
00:55:28magnificent coastal forests
00:55:30were chopped to little stumps
00:55:34and those coconut trees became the poles that
00:55:37the various huts were placed on top of
00:55:39so it was a funky little shanty town
00:55:42full of sewerage and bad attitudes
00:55:51So Farmer, who was the original inhabitant of the Point
00:55:55kept pestering me to visit him and have a chat
00:55:59So, the day before we were supposed to leave
00:56:02I went around for breakfast
00:56:05He just proceeded to shock me to my core
00:56:07and related these events
00:56:09of what was taking place from his perspective
00:56:13during the 75-76 visit
00:56:37He heard that headhunters were in and around the Bay of Lugundi
00:56:44this character called Nadia
00:56:46Let's go.
00:57:16It's a very bitter nature.
00:57:17It's a very bitter nature.
00:57:41Oh, absolute horror.
00:57:43absolute horror because we were probably living in a bubble unaware we thought we're in nirvana
00:57:49and and nothing is what it seems events were happening around us that we're totally unaware of
00:58:07we never saw ingrid again after jan and i left the bay ingrid was taken out of lagundi village
00:58:18in the back of a truck headed for hillys montano to the german hospital but then i heard later the
00:58:26hospital wasn't operational i really don't know what happened to ingrid and i i really do hope that
00:58:34there was a positive outcome and if by chance she sees this she might be able to contact us
00:59:16so
00:59:27in december 2004 the big archa tsunami hit north sumatra it also hit near us but very delayed
00:59:40everybody people here is very scared when tsunami is coming
00:59:45it was like a washing machine out there in the ocean and storms and lightning going everywhere
00:59:53it's really weird
00:59:56tsunami coming everybody people cry everybody people go running to the hill
01:00:06it's crazy scared my sister first up the hill and then
01:00:10my parents come from behind they take away with the wave
01:00:16big tsunami about three meters about 120 meters from the beach
01:00:28the waters come up and all of our family we are very lucky we are still alive
01:00:35nobody died here but in the city in the village many people died
01:00:52it's broken everything so many stuff inside
01:01:12three months after came the nears earthquake that's the real disaster in the years 8.7 which is still
01:01:19recorded as one of the 10 biggest earthquakes in the world really really really strong shake
01:01:27and then after 20 minutes half an hour when people are still moving away from the beach then the tsunami
01:01:32hit
01:01:43all people
01:01:44all people very scared after already earthquake come tsunami
01:01:52all people was crying crying and we have to go to the hill to avoid the tsunami
01:02:02many people dead many house broken
01:02:05again there was massive destruction you know everybody ask question why why like this
01:02:13and there's this collapse row the bridge the other public facilities after people
01:02:20are
01:02:20who
01:02:21Let's pray.
01:02:51Let's pray.
01:03:28Let's pray.
01:03:30Let's pray.
01:03:32The people started to make a new life again.
01:03:35Let's pray.
01:03:39Let's pray.
01:03:40Let's pray.
01:03:47Let's pray.
01:03:55Let's pray.
01:03:58Let's pray.
01:03:58Let's pray.
01:04:21Let's pray.
01:04:32Let's pray.
01:04:39Let's pray.
01:04:41Let's pray.
01:04:41Let's pray.
01:04:54Let's pray.
01:04:56And now I can see better, better than before.
01:05:01First thing better now, more powerful,
01:05:05more whole and more swell than before.
01:05:15Now as some people say, after the tsunami,
01:05:18the wave's better.
01:05:20Yeah, six feet is better now.
01:05:22Five feet is better now, no doubt.
01:05:23But at eight to ten, I don't think so.
01:05:31Little by little, people started to come back
01:05:33from the village to the beach,
01:05:35and first to serve food to the surfers,
01:05:38and then they slept back up in the village.
01:05:41And then the local kids started to swim again.
01:06:06Aseed that was a little so saisir country.
01:06:08This is a very new place to see.
01:06:08It's a very recent day,
01:06:10The most recent energy was opened through the country.
01:06:10in the village to visit the village of the village.
01:06:12The first thing around the village of the village of the village,
01:06:13And now I'm going to rid of the village of the village.
01:06:17I'm going to be a lot of people in the village of the village.
01:06:20I've been a long past few years
01:06:22and I'm going to find a lot of people in the village.
01:06:32I think this place is perfect.
01:06:34These guys are such good surfers, all of them, whether they're professional or not.
01:06:38You guys are so lucky.
01:06:40I travel thousands of miles to come surf good waves.
01:06:43You guys, cool, it's your home.
01:07:14We've created a monster, really, you go back there now, you can't get away.
01:07:46We'll see you next time.
01:07:54When I'm in high school, I work in a hotel, Soraka, and then I have time for golf surfing
01:08:02and then save my money for Bali.
01:08:39Yeah, it's like a billable competition here in Balangan, you know?
01:08:47I got four, but yeah, it's good, it's good to have it.
01:09:18This, I'm from 2011, and then this, the 11th, and this, the 12th.
01:09:29It's like five times the Indonesian champion, and then two times the Asia champion.
01:09:57I remember it was the first time everyone said, the Balangan, she's come the first.
01:10:02I said, really?
01:10:03How has that happened?
01:10:05Am I dreaming or what?
01:10:09She's called Sponsor now with Billabong.
01:10:11She's the only one from Nias.
01:10:13Of course, not only me proud of her, everyone, everyone proud for her.
01:10:20Bonnet can be like an inspiration.
01:10:23And you can see on the weekend, they carry board, and they're running to the beach break,
01:10:27and they always, they want to be like a bonnet.
01:10:30They want to surf.
01:10:35Now is the time of our new generation.
01:10:39When I see girls surfing now, it's amazing, yeah?
01:10:44Not like before.
01:10:54It was a rock badly and it's very sick.
01:11:03This was a very strange moment
01:11:05when it is up to me in a fly.
01:11:08Goodbye.
01:11:09What's up to me?
01:11:10Anything that's...
01:11:10I was .
01:11:10I didn't know.
01:11:13I'm a little gift.
01:11:14I Beloved.
01:11:15You haven't askedaphor diyor.
01:11:15I became witnesses.
01:11:21My auntie says, like, married, born and married, and then I say, yeah, I married already with my board.
01:12:07So Raque is still a famous place for the fishermen that's very superstitious, kind of like that.
01:12:15This wave is not normal, you know.
01:12:26The world's changed because back before internet, you never quite knew when you were going to get that swell.
01:12:34Every 10, 15 years, you'll get one out of the box, which is just like a super swell.
01:12:40It's had earthquakes, it's had tidal waves.
01:12:43Everything that could have rearranged that wave has had a crack at it, and it stood the test of time,
01:12:48because it is an iconic world-class wave.
01:12:51But I've never seen anything like that swell because it was in 218.
01:12:58I'll look at a weather map and see if there's a big low system, and that'll tell you where the
01:13:04swell's directed, and this one had all the right things going on.
01:13:08I just thought, I'm going to go try my best to get there.
01:13:12They came from everywhere, Hawaii, Brazil, Australia.
01:13:16That day, I paddled out in the dark.
01:13:19Me, Laurie Towner, and Marty Paradis.
01:13:21I'd actually never seen the break in my life before that morning.
01:13:42That swell was like the swell I've smelled.
01:14:06It was more of a mutant slab.
01:14:40I'm 리�
01:14:41OST
01:14:41OST
01:14:41OST
01:14:42OST
01:15:06The wave, I broke my board before I got to the bottom of the wave, I had to swim in,
01:15:13grabbed another board, paddled back out, it's pretty trippy actually.
01:15:42You can wait half a year for that one amazing wave to do what it does.
01:15:46The wave every day.
01:16:13I hit the crease.
01:16:47This building on the reef is a long story.
01:16:50What they're doing can be a good thing and can be a bad thing.
01:16:55A lot of us have been angry and said, why do you do this for? And what for?
01:17:01Because if you put a seawall and the waves hitting back and they were throwing back in the waves again,
01:17:08the water or the waves are going to be wobbly, like it's going to ruin the waves.
01:17:14About the building in the reef, I think it's fine, as long as it doesn't ruin the wave,
01:17:19because the wave is the most important thing in this place.
01:17:27In one week, we're going to have a double USL competition here in NIAS.
01:17:31This competition for local server, we're always very happy, but we don't really understand the master plan.
01:17:48We welcome you to opening ceremony of NIAS Pro.
01:17:54Bapak Ibu yang terhubat sebagai tuan rumah pelaksanaan NIAS Pro.
01:17:59Bapak?
01:18:02.
01:18:03.
01:18:09Big part means sticky tooilla.
01:18:15.
01:18:16.
01:18:17Bapak Ibu終amięty になみに古 Gluk Serb.
01:18:18.
01:18:34The World Surf League is delighted to come back to Nias.
01:18:38We've got officials from Jakarta, from Nias, Tourism Indonesia.
01:18:43We're looking forward to a fantastic event here.
01:18:46We will have a live broadcast going out to the world every day,
01:18:50and it will reach millions of people in audience.
01:18:56It will show the world how great the wave is,
01:19:00and the result from that will be increased surf tourism to this region.
01:19:07Surfers will love to come to a location like this.
01:19:10I think it's important that you realise
01:19:12that you have outstanding Indonesian surfers.
01:19:16So good luck to the Indonesian surfers,
01:19:18and good luck to the local surfers.
01:19:21Coming down in 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
01:19:28It's like there's something going on in the water right now.
01:19:31Somebody's paddling.
01:19:32It's like red.
01:19:33It's really personal.
01:19:34It's in 10 seconds.
01:19:35Is this idea of a marine or not?
01:19:46The history of surf travel in Indonesia is probably 40 to 50 years at the max.
01:19:52This is really just the start of it.
01:19:54This is really just the start of it.
01:20:13Surfing materialism had never brought anything really good.
01:20:18But you've also got opportunities.
01:20:21So right now these guys in Siraki, the locals,
01:20:25they are the true custodians of the point.
01:20:28They always were.
01:20:42For a lot of people travelling in semi-remote areas,
01:20:47and this was the case with John and I,
01:20:50we weren't really conscious or understanding of the sensitivities
01:20:55in the culture that we found ourselves in.
01:21:04It's history is connected to a shamanic culture,
01:21:10where warriors were prioritised.
01:21:17And it's an interesting evolution where the culture wound down the locals.
01:21:25They embraced wave riding as an extension of their warrior culture.
01:21:35In Indonesia!
01:21:42In Indonesia!
01:21:45In Indonesia!
01:22:14In Indonesia!
01:22:17In Indonesia!
01:22:20In Indonesia!
01:22:21Look at that!
01:22:38Looking back on the footprint that surfers left at Lugundi,
01:22:43everyone has to be more responsible.
01:22:45Treat the people with respect,
01:22:47do a bit of homework on their culture,
01:22:48whether they're Muslim or they're Christian or they're Hindu
01:22:51or the Buddhists or whatever, and tread lightly.
01:22:54Surf their waves, respect their tradition,
01:22:57and try and leave without leaving a huge,
01:23:00big, fat Western footprint.
01:23:05What we saw here around Nias, wow!
01:23:09But you can imagine 10 years in future, yeah?
01:23:14I think all this beach is gone.
01:23:19What we need in Nias is the knowledge.
01:23:23The knowledge meant for me is to make humans move more forward.
01:23:35The wisdom I try and share is you don't realise when the good times are until they're over.
01:23:41Because the guarantee is it's all going to change and not necessarily for the better.
01:23:52The search for St Tosha is endless.
01:23:58The world is shrinking.
01:24:00It was a big world back then when we were younger
01:24:02and our concept of what the world really was was huge.
01:24:07We lived a life then, we were privileged because now it's very hard to go to these places
01:24:12without real permission and living the way we did.
01:24:16Free as a bird.
01:24:30Through the archipelago, history shows someone showed up with a backpack and a surfboard
01:24:36and left a very small footprint.
01:24:38But over time that small footprint grew into a monster that devoured the place.
01:24:51The actual cost was the absolute destruction of what we came to experience.
01:25:00These semi-remote locations have been surviving on surf travel for so long.
01:25:06It's hard to say where it's going to go.
01:25:09But St Tosha resides in the hearts and minds of everyone.
01:25:15Peace and contentment.
01:25:16Find it inside yourself.
01:25:21Yahoo!
01:25:22...
01:25:42Bye bye…
01:25:44Bye bye…
01:25:51the
01:25:52slal fagati-gati
01:25:53padihan ilam
Comments