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It was a beautiful day when I woke up and had breakfast about 8ish. I went and had a look at the surf down in Bingin, but it was absolutely tiny and windy, so I knew there was no hope of a surf all day.
I came back up and sorted out some stuff, then as usual stuck my nose in my book sitting by the pool. While I was there I got talking to a whole bunch of Brazillian chicks who were pretty cool, and my neighbour who was a Frenchy.
For lunch I walked the 20m's from the pool to the eating area, where as it would turn out I would spend the entire rest of the day. I got talking to Que who is a Dutch girl I knew from last time in Bingin, and one of the nicest people I have met, along with a group of others. I was then introduced to a guy called Tommy, who is one of the main 'Bra Boys' from Sydney, Australia. I knew they were a pretty heavy surf gang, but didnt quite realise the extent of it until we were taking and later I Wikepedia'd it.
In the end we were all convinced to have a beer by 1pm, which set the tone for the rest of the day. Other than a 15 minute excursion, we sat drinking beers and talking until 3am! Tommy had a knack for getting people to join us, and we ended up with a great crew;
- Tommy ('Bra Boy', very intelligent despite dropping out of school at 14, definate ring leader and proud of his religion - I think he was Catholic).
- Me (AKA Bob Marley, for obvious reasons).
- 'The Mad Scientist' (who's real name I cant remember. A really really interesting bloke who specialises in studying Meteorites, but "being a scientist we will ask you every scientific question we can think of").
- Matt (AKA the 'Missionary', who is a nurse. He works at home in Australia to save up, then volenteers in North Indonesia and spends all his own money on the cause. A very religious bloke who is strongly Christian and an all round nice guy).
- Matts mate, who's name I can't remember. (AKA 'Silent Bob'..for obvious reasons).
- Will, the only other Englishman (AKA 'The Inbetweener' as he was strikingly similar to one of the guys on the TV series, plus the perfect British Accent).
- Benny, an Aussie living over here shaping boards for a living, very successfully and good mates with Tommy. (AKA Michel Peterson - he looks unbelievably similar to the famous pro surfer form the 70's that passed away last year. He was also very close family friends with the Peterson's, and he wouldn't be surprised if he was 'a Peterson love child' as he put it).
That was the 'day crew' who sat around chatting over beers from 1pm-3am. Just about every subject possible was discussed, but the funniest ones always ended in the Mad Scientist having questions fired at him. Particularly about religion/how the world began (which is actually what he is studying to a point) - Tommy+Matt the Missionary Vs The Mad Scientist (and sometimes all Vs all).
Listening about Tommy's past and stuff about the Bra Boys in general was also very interesting.
As I know a little bit about shaping a surfboard from my work experience in Devon etc, it was very interesting talking to Benny about his work. If only I had been staying at Lenggies longer, it would have been sick to check out his work place.
Later on in the evening we were still chatting away and a South African couple came and sat down to join in. Unfortunately I can't remember either of their names, but they were really really cool people. They single handedly in the space of 20 minutes made me change my mind from not being overly bothered about travelling Africa, to seriously liking the idea. They had loads of good stories about just going off on their own out 4X4 in the bush and just exploring etc which sounds unreal.
I ended up sitting next to the bloke around the table as we ate some great local food from down the road. He also told me about the surf in southern Africa in general, and apparently the coastline of Mosambique absolutely pumps, but no one surfs there!
He was a bodyboarder from SA so eventually the conversation turned to Sharks, and then did he have some stories!
The most hard hitting one was the following;
A good friend of his had been bitten on the side of the torso/thigh by a Great White, while standing in just chest deep water, during a very low tide. Having managed to just about get himself to the beach and be dragged out the water, he proceeded to pass away whilst still on the beach due to blood loss from is upper thigh. The authorities measured the size of the bite, and they estimated the shark to have been over 4m long. It was a really scary story, and clearly hit the guy I was talking to pretty hard - he was only 15 years old and had meant to be in the water with his friend that day, if it hadn't been that he couldn't get a lift to the beach.
He also said the he knew of 2 others via acquaintances who has been hit by a White Shark, and had seen them close whilst being in the water himself.
Slowly more and more people joined the table and I chatted away with a lot of them, but by 3-4am I was absolutely exhausted. Surprisingly I wasn't much more than a bit tipsy despite all the beers over the 12 hours or something, but I guess the time period sorted it for me.
(Photo - Tommy on the left, and Benny on the right).
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