Thirty-five-year old Matt Rumley first started surfing when
he was 10 in Sydney, Australia. He hated his first surfboard,
a Christmas present from his dad, and was scared of
the ocean. Today he has somehow managed to indefinitely prolong
his boyhood by running a surf travel company with camps in
Uluwatu, Medewi, East and West Java. Since the late 90s Matt
has been running Gspot in Java’s far eastern Blambangan
Peninsula. In 2005 opened another camp on Panaitan Island
in the famous Ujung Kulon National Park on the far western
tip of Java.
When did you first come to Bali?
My first trip to Bali was with my parents in 1983 when I was
13. I stayed only two days, just long enough to fall
in love with the island. On my second trip a year later, I
fell even deeper in love. My first solo trip was at the age
of 16. I stayed six months and had a ball surfing, partying,
traveling around. I realized even then that I had found a
new home.
When did you settle in Bali?
In order to finance my surfing trips to Indonesia, I worked
in 1987-89 in the mining industry in West Australia.
I would work in OZ half a year, and stay in Indonesia half
year. While on one of my trips, I fell in love with my true
sweet heart and best friend, Gusti Ayu Komang Sucita. In 1991
we married and moved to Australia to build some capital. I
got a job as a manager for a stationary company in Sydney
where we were also blessed with our first child, Reggae. We
visited Bali every year for our holidays.
What was your first business in Indonesia?
In 1996 we opened Café Mai Malu in Medewi, West Bali.
Ayu returned with Reggae full time, I went back to the mining
business - half on, half off but in 1997 I started running
freelance tours to Gland, East Java,staying in Grajagan village
and renting fishing boats to take clientsout to the surf.
To finance this venture, I still had to continue mining inthe
surfing off season.
What did you go through to open a surf camp?
In 1999 we stepped up our Gland operation and leased out a
homestay in Grajagan from the Department of Forestry. The
numbers of surfers kept growing and I conceived the name Gspot
with my partner Trent Vigors. This was the year that
my second precious child, a daughter, came into the world.
Unfortunately, a lot of bad things also happened. I got divorced,
my partner Trent died, and we had to temporarily close the
Gspot Surf Camp. At the time I totally lost interest in surfing
and everything associated with it. I was brought down so low
from my divorce and Trent’s death that I had to borrow
Rp750,000 from the Australian Consulate on Bali to fly home
where I got back into mining. In 2002 I remarried and had
my third child. We had another go at opening up my Gland camp,
this time under the name Matty’s Surf & Eco
Camp in a new location because my old camp burnt down because
of an electrical fault. That year was a mixed season with
pretty good numbers, but my heart really wasn’t in it
and I was happy for the season to end. In 2003 my luck finally
changed. I joined up with Bobby Radiasa, one of the original
camp owners in Gland, a great mate and someone I totally respect.
Our paths, our struggles are very similar. I became his sales
and marketing manager. That year I also served as the coordinator
for the “Gland International Team Challenge”,
catching the eye of several investors. In 2004, I reopened
the Gspot Surf Camp in Gland’s best location. It turned
out to be a great year. We attracted even more investors which
led to the opening of our second Gspot surf camp in Panaitan
Island, Ujung Kulon. Between both camps, we now employ over
60 Indonesians. With our overseas marketing network growing
rapidly, the future looks promising.
What are the differences between the camp in Gland and the
one in Ujung Kulon?
The main difference in camps is that one is still a pristine
untouched virgin Island (Panaitan Island) whilst the other
Gland is more commercial and continually gets crowds each
year (even though it has only three hotels). Panaiatan Island
is World Heritage-listed and we are extremely fortunate to
have been granted our permits. In a word, Paniatan is a more
exclusive camp compared to Gland where everyone and anyone
rocks in.
How do your camps differ from the competition in Indonesia?
I like to think our camps are more homey‚ than our competitors.
We really go out of way to satisfy our guests, becoming “mates”
with hundreds each year. Other camps seem to be more tightly
run businesses, trying to maximize profit, and offering little
in return. We are also the only camp 100% foreign owned who
are surfers born and breed, so we know our market better than
our competition, hands down!
What are the most difficult aspects of operating a surf camp?
Firstly, business insecurity. Due to Indonesia’s ongoing
problems, tourism numbers fluctuate so much that we never
really know how the next season is going to be. This is extremely
frustrating as you work so hard in marketing abroad, the bookings
start to roll in, then just as fast as it takes to delete
a text message they are cancelled when the travel warnings
are issued. We are lucky though compared to other markets
as surfers are more bold and think “Great! Few
tourists mean low crowds in the line ups this year!”
(line up = surf breaks) and they will still travel. Then there
are the unforeseeable delays, as we must rely on public transport
(ferries) and Mother Nature (washed out roads in national
parks), all of which can make logistics a nightmare. Also
the guests can be very demanding, although I’ve become
so used to it now that I look upon it as just another day
in the Gspot office.
Have you experienced any natural disasters?
Gland has changed a lot over the years, mostly because of
a huge tidal wave that hit in 1994 during the night and demolished
the camps, washing surfers, still in their mosquito nets,
hundreds of meters into the dense jungle. Amazing no one was
killed. Since then the camps have been pushed back 100 meters
from the high tide mark. As we have just witnessed in Aceh
and Sumatra, this was nothing if Krakatoa decides to unleash
its full fury again.
Have there been any interesting occurrences you can relate
to us about life at the camp?
As you could imagine, grown men living in the jungle for long
periods of time can create some hilarious moments and frightening
ones as well. I have seen surfers go “troppo”
and want to seriously assassinate all my guests. The jungle
also has lots of wildlife and I have seen a wild boar come
screaming out of the jungle and dive into the ocean! I have
no idea what was chasing it, but I’m just glad it wasn’t
after me. You still regularly see leopard tracks on the beach
in morning, sometimes leading into our CAMP!
We have had broken limbs, scalpings, dislocated shoulders
and arms, helicopter rescues just to name a few, but the funniest
and also the scariest was one night when one of our guests
had an eye irritation. He dropped what he thought were eye
drops into his eyes, but it turned out to be ACETONE! Luck,
quick thinking and a lot of water dousing mended the problem
immediately and there was no serious damage. So you want to
own a surf camp, huh? It may sound like a surfer’s dream
but believe me it’s a lot of hard work. Still, I wouldn’t
change it for anything else in the world!
For anyone interested in being considered for Siapa, please
contact : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2005 Al Hickey
You can read all past articles of Siapa
at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
