Partying hard, fighting in the streets, Aussie kids revel in schoolies week, Bali style.
IT'S after dark in Kuta, Bali's hedonistic party centre. As the streetscape crackles with laser and strobe lights, there is a constant shrill audio track of Schoolies blowing loudly on whistles draped around their necks.
Schoolies in Bali is reaching fever-point this week, with super-clubs running at full capacity amid the arrival of thousands more young Australian revellers descending on Indonesia's party capital.
An alternative and affordable destination for school leavers indulging in an Australian rite of passage, Bali as a Schoolies destination has all the familiar elements associated with the traditional organised events in Australia - celebration, risk-taking, sex, and lots of alcohol.
But there are differences. Bali has its own international brand of Toolies who arrive seeking romantic encounters with the often-vulnerable school leavers. And then there are occasional tensions between the Schoolies and gangs of Balinese youths, which this week exploded in a violent encounter.
It's believed to have started when a female Schoolie was kissing a local man whose partner was present at the same club.
Bali-based Schoolies spoke of feeling terrorised as a 15-strong Balinese gang gave chase through Kuta's main nightclub strip.
It was shortly after 2am local time on Wednesday. More than a dozen heavily-tattooed Kuta locals ran after at least three male Schoolies on foot, at speed, down Legian St.
Schoolies spill out of nightclubs and across busy roads in Kuta.
The commotion saw almost a hundred concerned Schoolies emerge from neighbouring nightclubs to witness the event.
Video footage shows aghast teenagers racing towards the scene of a violent incident. Witnesses said a young Australian male was punched several times on the ground.
A News Ltd journalist witnessed the gang yelling directly at the Schoolies as they fled down the street: "F****n come here, I kill you."
A student, who did not give his name, said: "There was a fella who gotta flying elbow and it went hectic and s**t, some idiot started a fight and then every Balinese boy just f****n ran in and smoked him, straight up."
Another, Mark Walling, said watching the boys being chased was a scary experience.
"I have never seen anything like it before, the guys were running for their lives. If they had got to them any earlier I reckon a killing was on the cards."
Cheap flights, cheap drinks and endless parties have lured thousands of Schoolies to Bali.
Local security guards watched from a distance. It did not appear anyone contacted police.
Sydney student Melissa Baker said the chase reminded her of something from a "war zone".
"F**k man, that was unreal, huge dudes chasing skinny boys from back home with their arms up in the air was a bit like a war zone on the news," she said.
The identities of the Schoolies implicated in the incident was unclear.
Did you witness the incident in Kuta? Email the reporter.
Then there are the Toolies.
News Limited witnessed Toolies preying on young Schoolies in several Kuta nightclubs.
Countless numbers of older men from Australia and around the world, purposely visiting popular Kuta nightspots to take advantage of young female Australian school-leavers, have been rubber-stamped into Bali.
News Ltd has obtained video footage of men, some aged almost three times that of attending Schoolies, kissing and touching females who have travelled to Bali with the intention of celebrating an end to compulsory education.
One video clip, captured in the early hours of Wednesday, depicts a blonde Schoolie being kissed by a much older Balinese man who is seen groping her backside.
The woman admitted she had a boyfriend back in Australia.
"He will be so mad if he knew about this," she said. "This is just a good time."
On a podium an older Russian man climbed up to dance with Schoolies. As he moved amongst the crowd he was visibly touching young woman, many who appeared disgusted.
Schoolies have been partying hard in nightclubs in hedonistic Kuta.
Perth teenagers Molly Ballinger and Nicolette Bau were approached by a man who he said he was aged in his thirties. He demanded the 17-year-olds give him a puff on their shisha pipe. When they refused he sang loudly in their faces and refused to leave their table. Despite a videographer filming his antics he continued and told the pair they were "beautiful".
"Go away, you are an old man," Miss Bau, who has secured a job as a hairdresser, told him.
The pair of John Tonkin College students had been in Bali for less than 24 hours before the unwelcome advances began arriving. "We were sitting having a drink and a man came up to us and gave us something he told us to skol," recalled Miss Ballinger.
"It was creepy and disgusting him hanging around. He was old enough to be my dad."
The pair said they resisted making a "fuss" as that can cause problems with locals.
"If you jump up and down the local people can get pretty upset so it's easier not to overreact."
Some Schoolies told News Limited they were upset about coverage of the annual celebrations saying not all of them are irresponsible.
One self-described Toolie, a Brisbane car rental company manager, said the "talent" was worth visiting Bali nightclubs for.
"There are a lot of out of control girls out because they have never been clubbing before, they have no experience with all of this," he said.
"They are easy as, you can pick them up no worries."
He said choosing the right venue to take them home to was crucial. "I try and take them back to their hotel so they don't know where I stay."
And aesthetics, he added, trumped all other criteria. "They have to be hot, they are usually blonde."
Meanwhile, Schoolies have told News Ltd they are upset at media coverage back home about the beginning of the annual celebrations.
Super-clubs across Kuta are running at full capicity as Schoolies descend on Indonesia's party capital.
Several Schoolies said reporting of the tradition had painted them as irresponsible and reckless.
An item on Channel Nine's A Current Affair, screened Monday, featured teenagers driving dangerously on scooters, drinking dubious cocktails and buying drugs off street dealers.
Sally Bassuni, 18, said such coverage was unhelpful and misleading. "The media have made it out like everyone is an idiot here but I am not an idiot, I am obviously going to drink but I know my limits," said the Figtree High School graduate.
Another student, Chantelle Murada, 17, said media outlets back home had over-hyped Bali-bound Schoolies. "I am not over here taking drugs or getting my drink spiked but the media make it sound like we are all going loose," said Ms Murada. "The media make it sound 20 times worse than it is."
Maddy Green, like many Schoolies visiting Bali, has realised that being a lengthy plane trip away from home does not ensure anonymous partying.
The 18-year-old is one of several Schoolies who have been contacted by parents in Australia informing them video and photographs have surfaced of them partying drunkenly in Indonesia on television and the internet. Schoolies have requested future coverage portrays them positively.
"My whole family saw me on ACA and everyone has been telling me on Facebook," she said.
News Ltd has also obtained video footage of students openly buying drugs on the streets of Kuta, purchasing magic mushrooms, hanging from inner-city hotel balconies and walking dangerously amongst peak hour evening traffic weaving through vehicles.
Schoolies will continue to party in Bali for the next three weeks. Their spending at hotels, nightclubs and retail outlets makes a significant contribution to the local economy.
Embassy officials have reported no incidents requiring assistance. Despite a request from Foreign Minister Bob Carr for travellers to register their movements with the Smart Traveller website less than 100 17- and 18-year-olds have done so for the Schoolies period.
Bali's Tourist Police told News Ltd there had been no problems with Schoolies. An officer interviewed was seated at a corner computer terminal watching internet pornography.
