Passengers:
Andrew Valder, Julian Mitton, Ross Sheil, Sam Bennett, Daniel Wylie, Suzanne Anderson, Marcus Stocker, Mark Coleman
The saddest part of this trip was the madness of the Bali Bombing. Bali is where most of us began our various affairs with the wonderful waves, cultures, and adventures in Indonesia. Our hearts and prayers went out to all those that suffered from this tragedy.
The Barrenjoey carried on in our own little world searching for solitude in the southerlies. The Sydneysiders revelled in any wave that rolled their way. Particularly impressive was Julian's unabashed efforts at taking on previously unmakeable sections despite razor sharp reef gashes, bruising and mates baggings. Dan's hilarious impersonations of anybody and anything. Has anybody seen "Bad Cop, Bad Cop" yet?
The good doctors' (Ross and Sam) efforts at helping an old Mentawai man who had been in inexplicable pain for 3 months. He is a member of a dying breed of tattooed people that used to live so harmoniously with the environment. We returned to the village a week later and were told by his son that he was "sehat" (well).B was stoke to have her friend Suzy aboard.
We also took Mark Coleman away from his beloved Nusa Dewata as they had a break in their schedule. He was supposed to be the fishing guide when he was not surfing. But the catch of the trip went to Marcus who landed a 4kg Blue Trevally and a 3kg Flowery Cod on the one lure, at the same time.
The smiles went for miles by this lot. The laughter as luxurious and it made us all realize that Indonesia is still the most magical of places.