Bali beach that saved a high flyer

Staring into sparkling turquoise waters in Bali, Steve Cain looks every bit a man who knows his charmed life could have been so very different.

The one-time international banker, who was literally making millions at a time when the global financial market was at its most fruitful in the early 2000s, seems

to barely believe his own story as he regales a tale of drug and alcohol-fuelled mayhem in the fast lane that could have made the silver screen well before The Hangover and its sequel became popular.

It included one desperate moment that would pave the way for him and a couple of banking mates to buy a seaweed farm under the white limestone cliffs of Uluwatu and spend $20 million to transform the site into a place so desirable it would become the wedding venue last year for Australian supermodel Jennifer Hawkins.

Steve scans an eclectic crowd at his Finn's Beach Club that includes everyone from bikini-clad glamour girls, to beer-bellied blokes and kids of most ages, before detailing what can only be described as a remarkable life. He explains he had a "great upbringing" in Melbourne's north-eastern suburbs as the son of a bookmaker and was a private school student but would ultimately become a problem drinker.

"When I have a drink, I react and behave differently to everyone else . . . I was out of control," Steve admits.

After successful banking stints in Sydney and Hong Kong, a move to Tokyo would herald a night that would change his life forever. Lost in a cocaine and alcohol haze, he woke up one morning handcuffed and locked up in a Japanese police cell, where he spent 11 days watching his life's dreams flash before his eyes.

"I went out one night and in a blackout, I did some things that I can't remember and the police didn't think too kindly of it," he says of that night, almost seven years ago to the day.

"Still to this day I don't have any personal recollection of it but I've got their account of it - which I don't dispute - and they said I assaulted a taxi driver because he wouldn't let me sit up the front and then I basically head-butted a cop.

"Assault in Japan is a big deal, especially for foreigners. They did a number on me, too, and broke my ribs and I can't even remember them punching me - not once.

"The day before, I'm running Morgan Stanley's hedge funds trading business and life couldn't get any better . . . flying. The next day my career there was gone. It was the most expensive night of my life and it cost me millions but it was also the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm glad it happened.

"What made it really shocking - and needed to be shocking for me to turn my life around - was the fact that I couldn't remember it. I'm not capable of those things without a drink in me. There were some serious consequences to what happened but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

"I'm the luckiest bloke on the planet - I really believe that in all my heart."

Despite losing his high-paying job, on his release Steve launched straight back into partying mode at the same bar and with the same people.

"I couldn't wait to get back on it while my life was coming down around me," he says.

But then he realised that had the police found the two bags of cocaine he had on him when he was first locked up, his life as he knew it would have come to a thudding halt. He initially hid the bags in his mouth, then in his underpants before flushing them down the cell toilet after a brief thought of having some more of it. Six months after his arrest, he gave up his vices and counselling has helped him get to a point where he has not been lured back to them again.

The 41-year-old has since lost about 30kg and ran in both the Great Wall of China marathon and the New York marathon, raising money in honour of his mother who had died of cancer a year earlier. He also used a significant payout from Morgan Stanley to help buy his share in Finn's Beach Club, a place he hopes will help people see the real beauty of Bali away from recent negative publicity the holiday hotspot has attracted.

"It's a piece of paradise, mate, it's a piece of paradise," he says.

"We thought we'd just put a staircase down to the beach below and it's developed into something so much bigger. People love the rustic feel that we haven't over-developed and we've managed to keep the Bali charm.

"It's unpretentious and beautiful and I actually just want people to fall in love with Bali again because I'm sick of hearing all the bad press it gets in Australia. Bali has changed massively. It used to be a really cheap place for people to come and exist and enjoy life. Now, it's still good value but people are coming here for lifestyle before economics.

"The great irony for me is that I always used to hang around with bar owners and nightclub owners when I was drinking and I always wanted a bar. I gave up drinking, because I had to, and now I've got a bar."

Steve says he and his friends bought the 3ha site in 2007 before securing a 25-year management deal with the local Banjar people on a beachfront that now includes a superb open-air restaurant and bar and the perfect piece of white sand and ocean for water sports.

They also have seven five- bedroom luxury villas which overlook the ocean and have to be seen to be believed. They are staffed by chefs and butlers, and are worth about $7 million each.

As you walk into the club and past the infinity pool, it is hard to imagine a more stunning view than that to the beach. The steep trip down via an inclinator adds to the charm. It seems the only deterrent to visiting is the occasional hit of bad weather, which once produced a tide so healthy it thrashed its way up to the restaurant's kitchen.

Steve says Hawkins' three-day wedding bonanza was a huge and timely coup for the business.

"She was a big deal for us," he says.

"She came at a time when we were doing well with weddings, but she really catapulted us into the next level. We do about 150 weddings a year and I reckon half of them are Australian. It's magical down here, mate, and we get everybody from sexy couples to groups of blokes and girls and families. We get them all."

Steve lives in Seminyak and has a daily exercise regime of either golf, running, weightlifting or cross-fitness training. It makes his past life seem a long time ago.

"I used to drink and get on the gear (drugs) because it helped my drinking," he says.

"I knew that I was different to everybody else because I behaved differently when I drank. If you and I had a beer together, there would be a notable change in me and no notable change in you. I have a complete personality change.

"Drinking is fun and a really social thing to do, I just can't do it safely. I take one drink and I can't stop, I just want more and more and more. Now I look after my health because it's finally really important to me and more than ever before.

"I hope I never have another drink, it would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me."

He is also now pursuing what he described as a "passion project" to build a drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation facility and is currently looking for a suitable site in Ubud.

"I'm ready to go as soon as I find a site," he says.

"Asia has a lot of people who are just finding drugs and alcohol but we've seen it everywhere around the world. There is a big demand for rehab and drug-and-alcohol treatment and there is a massive shortage of it in Asia."

As you walk into the club and past the infinity pool, it is hard to imagine a more stunning view than that down to the beach. The steep trip down to the beach via an inclinator adds to the charm.

finnsbeachclub.com.