MANGO BRAITHWAITE

I love Indonesia; the food is amazing, Nasi Goreng's, Padang food, the spices and curries, surfing in boardies, reef cuts, two-wave hold downs. I love knowing your gonna wake up with the trade winds blowing offshore with long period swells and lines to the horizon. Full moon parties and full moon swells. I love boat trips with mates, they are unbeatable, scoring the cleanest most perfect waves your local can only offer a couple of times a year, then fishing in your down time. I love burning around on motorbikes with your quiver strapped to your side, and drinking Bintangs at sunset on Kuta Beach. Indo also has the friendliest people in the world, who have nothing but the biggest smiles on their faces. Then there’s the constant laughs with random people and stories about new discoveries on a deserted island somewhere. The excitement of hooking up with the kiwi vets like Nick ‘Chongy’ Ngau Chun, a man who knows every wind tide and swell direction for every wave in Indonesia. Drinking fresh coconut milk every day and adrenaline rushes in and out of the water on a constant basis. Indo also runs on karma big time, so you get what you give. It’s amazing how you get barrelled every day, even when the waves are small. Also it means family vacations there twice a year watching my girls experience and become connected to what I have for the past 25 years. Indonesia means so much to me and I’ll be travelling searching and pulling in for many years to come!