Episode list

The Bondi Rescue Lifeguards head to Bali.

The Bondi six start their second day on Kuta beach, five times as large as Bondi, the Balinese way, which includes a spicy diet, push-ups for latecomers and dance-like calisthenics. Although not yet familiar with the beach, they start rescuing. As they find all equipment inadequate and/or scarce, from communication to boards and medical supplies, Kerrbox gets a long shopping list. Deano likes the Kuta rookie Made enough to re-dub him Maxi after his own playful dancing Benjamin. Chappo gets squeamish during a visit to the local market, due to the bloodily dismembered animals. Chappo considers a local curiosity, 'scorpion' acrobatics while surfing, a challenge, but he nor Deano can pull it off, unlike the Balinese.

Visitor Whippet is most welcome, baring a most generous load of top-notch gifts, even a quad, all of which are badly lacking on primitively equipped Kuta beach, where the local life guards must be trained to use them. Although Balinese time is flexible in general, briefing latecomers are punished with push-ups, as some Bondi boys find out. Balinese traffic is daunting, yet clownish Harries -outdone in stunts by local counterpart 'Crazy'- and college-graduate Tom do tests for an Indonesian motorcycle drivers license.

Whippet remains on the team. Even with the shipment he brought, most of Marchello's 101 Kuta lifeguards remain most poorly equipped. A board proves its value to immobilize a potential spinal paralyzing victim. While surfers need to brave the dangerous elements, here so tempting that even multiple world champion Kelly Slater is a regular, some knucklehead tourist ignore tireless warnings, one Frenchmen even maintains his young son's rescue was 'not necessary'. Whippet and Yates visit a ghost-ship, a fishing vessel reported missing weeks ago, while Harries handles 'PR' with flirtatious girls.

At the end of their month long tour, Whippet and Dean's six learn more about Balinese traditions and Hindu devotion, culminating in a a recently deceased rajah's cremation with 70 other locals. Kuta lifeguards may be poorly paid, they enjoy the perks, especially generally respected chief Marchello, whose pin-up looks and oriental charm outdo Harries utterly as ladies-man. Finally, the next shift of Bondi boys arrives to take over. Given the continuing serious surfer accidents, Chapman does overtime and is lightly injured after his last shift.

The new Bondi boys team starts its month-long Bali 'shift', lead by Azza, who spent his family holidays here with father and kid brother Kobi -also on the team- for thirty years. Marchello helps the Aussies trick Azza into learning to ride horse on the beach 'as part of Balinese life guard training'. Reidy, locals and an overzealous cop rush a young man with respiratory troubles after swallowing sea water to hospital trough hectic traffic, even have to stop at a tiny clinic as the oxygen runs out. Still, the modern equipment and training of locals prove vital in curbing Kota's grim deaths statistics.

Whippet and his mates feel their equipment won't yield the best result unless the Balinese surmount some practices and cultural differences. Azza tries diplomatically not to rebuke flaws but offer Bondi example as alternative for improvement. The locals tend to agree in general in show excessive zeal on top of giving up unprofessional drinking and flirting. Yet they won't consider on principal to bring in rescued people's surfing boards, although a hazard as well as cause for fines and hassle. Kuta is similar to Bondi in its rich, sometimes crazy variety. Reidy scolds bathers who ignore safety instructions as utterly rude and dangerously stupid disrespect. Both lifeguard teams compete in a beach football (soccer) match, decides by the openly partial Balinese referee.

The 'Java express' is the no lesser counterpart of Bondi's frightfully strong current in the high surfing section, similarly requiring frequent, often difficult rescues. Yet Kuta tourist ignore safety instructions frequently. A Balinese boy aged 4 has lost his parents and trusts nobody, not even Marchello and the boys he sends after the 'runwaway', yet has to be returned to his parents by scarily-uniformed police.

Despite terribly strong currents, several swimmers systematically ignore the flags-marked swimming zone, some repeatedly or even after being saved. Maxi and veteran Harry 'H' Nightingale combine loud verbal efforts and some rescues. Hoppo even has to reprimand a woman who plays dead in the water and wears a fake life-guard uniform. On the beach, a concrete skateboard ramp proves almost as dangerous to knaves without proper protective gear.

The boys work out constantly, but double their efforts as the annual iron man approaches. Some concentrates on personal rivalries, like Chappo-Reidi. Newbie Bacon performs admirably in real rescues, by the book. Hoppo pulls an H-stunt, delivering a rescuee straight on the rocks. Maxi uses Kerrbox's new surfboard, which gets damaged clashing with preteens. The race goes on, with added charity and other bets. Maxi impresses, passed only by Harries and Whippet.

Surfing injuries can be nasty, especially on the head, needing n$bandage camouflage. Six Indians nearly drown, as neither can swim but they followed a soccer ball near a current. After several shark sitings, a large salmon school attracts a killer past the nets into the surfing area. A navy diver elsewhere in Sidney and a surfer on Bondi each loose a hand. The lifeguards keep checking water, nets and lonely aquatic sportsmen.