The book consists of three sections: Surf Spots, Language and Travel Tips. The section on Surf Spots features information on all known breaks, and the best time of year to surf them, in Bali, Java, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumatera, Sumba, Timor and Roti. The Language section aims to teach surfers the basics of Indonesian by offering examples that “all relate directly to surfing... you won’t get bogged down learning unnecessary vocabulary or boring rules that surfers don’t really need to know.” Travel Tips intersperse the language sections, offering advice on all manner of things ranging from where to eat in Bali, to how to avoid black magic, to what kind of board is best to take to Indo.

This is the first time since Bali Echo’s regular surf feature, ‘Home Grown’, was started a year ago that the column has profiled someone other than a local Bali surfer. But it is apt that we dedicate this edition to Neely who, although based offshore in Noosa, Queensland, being a self-publisher could also be said to ‘grow at home’. Judging from the breadth of its distribution, Indo Surf and Lingo could well be one of self publishing’s greatest success stories. The book boasts an extensive distribution network, chanelling sales through surf specialist shops in half a dozen countries. And as well as a book, Indo Surf is also now a bilingual website (English and Japanese, ed.) that positively buzzes with activity. These two facts ought to be more than enough to convince every Indo surf junkie’s (as Neely calls them) that the book should top their list of must-takes.

At a time when the surf industry is increasingly dominated by mega-companies of trans-national scale, Neely’s one-man success is refreshing news. Emma Baulch interviewed him by email in an attempt to discover something of his secret.

BALI ECHO: Perhaps you could begin by telling us a bit about your own surfing background. The mailing address for Indo Surf is Noosa. Is that where you grew up too?

PETER NEELY: I was very lucky to grow up just 2 minutes walk from Newport Beach in Sydney. Mum and Dad taught the whole family to swim at a very early age, but all we ever wanted to do was go surfing. First it was body surfing with my Dad and brother Simon. Then in 1960, at the age of 10, I had my first ride on a solid 10 foot long balsa surfboard at Palm Beach. I just stood up and rode 100 metres all the way to the beach, and I was hooked for life.

Over the years I surfed most afternoons after school, but I was never one of the stars, just an average kid enjoying a few waves in the sunshine. I read all the surf mags, saw all the movies, didn’t want to be anything but a surfer.

In the mid sixties the pointbreaks of Noosa were first photographed and I devoured all the pictures, dreaming of going there one day. Noosa was a truly magic place not unlike Bali back in the laid-back seventies. It’s Australia’s northern-most surfing beach, hot all year round, with 5 point breaks in a row all surrounded by a pristine national park. The combination of warm weather, perfect waves and unspoiled nature is hard to beat. Trouble is, the waves go flat for 6 months every winter. But luckily that’s the time Bali gets its best surf...

Towards the back of the book there is photo of you sitting in a warung on your first visit to Bali in 1975. How did that first visit come about?

That’s a little bedeg (plaited bamboo, ed.) warung at the beach end of Poppies Lane 1 or 2, I can’t remember which. Don’t think it even had a name. We had breakfast there most days, fruit juice and omelettes, then went surfing at Kuta Beach all day. Bali was meant to be just the start of a round-the-world trip, on my way to become a career advertising writer in London, but it ended up changing my life. Couldn’t get it out of my mind. I initially only went for the surf, but experiencing the incredible Balinese culture was such an unexpected bonus. I saw a midnight barong dance on the sand of Kuta Beach, climbed Batur volcano at sunrise, made batik in Jogjakarta, watched temple festivals and daily offerings in the losmen, and met hundreds of the most peaceful, friendly and spiritual people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. There really is something special about the Balinese way of life, and I wanted to immerse myself in it.