Ah, Bali – the land of waves, $3 Nasi Capurs, and cold Bintangs. We had grand dreams of conquering waves bigger than our beloved backyard gem, Mount Maunganui, but did we actually? Not really.

Before our Bali escapade, we stopped by the sunny Gold Coast for a little warm-up session and pre-tan. Jordan pulled off the drop knee of his life and popped the question. All was going according to plan – or so we thought.

Touching down in Bali, our boards arrived without a dent and we breezed through customs in a record time of 20 minutes. After a welcoming McSpicy from the old faithful McD’s on Sunset Highway, we slid into our cozy 1-room villa and basked in the Gu's freshest offerings. The best part about coming to Bali is that nine times out of ten, you'll run into friends living out their best expat lives. We found New Plymouth’s finest and one of our riders, Smithers, deep in Canggu. With a bit of coaxing, we convinced him to trade in his daily routine (6 surfs, 4 coffees, and getting leathery at surfers bar) for a surf at Ganga instead, along with Elliot and Jack from Aus. We got all we could get from the surf with a plate of freshly cooked mie goreng and a couple of coconuts in between.

Although we intended on long days of sun and surf, the first swell was interrupted by a two-course of Bali belly for Jordan, and the second swell didn't actually arrive...ever. Well it did, but we were on a plane back to NZ. Once the Bali belly subsided and Jordan came off his diet of Pocari Sweat’s, we put our surf careers on hold and turned our focus to food blogging and shopping. We indulged in some amazing traditional Indonesian food and spent the rest of our budget at Uniqlo inside the Kuta mall. Ryan couldn't bear to see his precious holiday time go to waste, so he made a dash to G-Land for left-handers. We spent our last week surfing Uluwatu, finally scoring some better waves and soaking up that last bit of Bali sun before heading back to the cold Kiwi reality.

You could say we were a bit gutted with the surf conditions during our trip, but to be honest... When you're in Bali what could you really be mad about?

We spent three weeks in Bali with nothing to show for it – but here's a clip of some average surfing, a bunch of NZ-made surfboards, and a ton of good times in between. Bali, you're a fickle mistress, but we love you all the same!