Gold Coast

The trip from Hervey Bay to Gold Coast was very pleasant, I do have to say that I am finding that I get less motion sickness with George driving - now, I am not saying that has anything to do with John's driving - it must be the Tesla drive!!!

On the road they have a genius thing, which is Road Trivia, Howie you would love it.  Driving along the road, they ask you a question then a couple of kms later they give you the answer and so on.  GENIUS!

We stopped at Gympie for a top-up.  All the towns we have stopped in seem to be catered for the elderly, with lots of Aged Care Living, more Denture shops than Dentists, mobility shops, in house home care and lots and lots of Chiropractors and Physio's, hearing aid shops etc.  In Gympie we are stopped at a Shopping Centre and have a coffee - picture 12 or so tables, elderly people everywhere.  They come shopping in their slippers, and some in clothes that definitely looked like PJs.  All of a sudden this man starts shouting, but not shouting abuse - just talking so loud, that all the patrons of the coffee shop were looking at him.  he was just having a chat with his mate on the phone.  The funniest thing of all was that he was standing right outside a hearing aid shop called Amplifon!  Oh my oh my - we have all of this to look forward to.  The apartment in the Gold Coast is in Broadbeach and in one of the high rises, with a lovely view of the ocean. We can see Whales on their migration, the various weather fronts coming in - it is very atmospheric.  It is a very short walk to all the hustle and bustle.  It has underground parking with a plug - happy days! 

First game of the Gold Coast Swing is at Hope Island Links.  It is a 40 minute drive, the Car is 100% battery and life is good.  The course is in great condition, we get speacial reciprocal rates.  The ladies are not rated off the White tees, so we choose the back tees for the ladies - which is yellow and John and I play off the same tees.  John off 15 and I am off 6.  It was a close contest, with both of playing well - then we both went a little doolally, but Shazzy was the victor.  Shaz 1 - Thommo 0.

Next day, we are at Sanctuary Cove, we were booked in on the Pines course, but they had to move us - so they gave us a complimentary round at the Palms Course.  When we wake up, we can see the weather off the coast - will we get wet or not?  Sanctuary Cove is next to Hope Island Links - which is 40 minutes away.  When we arrived at Sanctuary Cove, you are greeted and helped everywhere - Kauri Cliffs could learn a thing or three!  It was bucketing it down, the two that we were supposed to be playing with didn't show - or pulled out, so we were a two among fours, which was a pain.  It turned out sunny and the pace of play wasn't that bad.  Peter Senior was playing in front of us.  John was running away with the win, then wiped 2 of the last three holes to allow me to sneak a little win.   We met a friend for lunch and had a good old chin wag.  Shazzy 2 - Thommo 0.

Next on the Gold Coast Swing is The Glades.  We have played this before, but we do not remember much.  The course is not in great condition - you feel that they are running very low on cash - it is such a shame.  It is a busy day and the members' comp is on, the pin placements are so tricky..  We are paired with Dona and Mark - Don is from Brisbane and Mark is from Coffs.  We are deciding what tees to play off, the ladies are not rated for White, but I said if they gave me 6 shots I would play off White - Don said he would give me 12!  White Tees it is....

Don hits off first with his lightening fast swing, he is taking an iron as he doesn't want to reach the bunkers that are 200m away.  Don drives it about 50 m, just limping passed the ladies' Red Tees.  Mark is up next - he looks to have a nice swing but, also with an iron not wanting to go into the bunkers 200m away.  He limps passed Don's drive 52m!  Thommo is up next and he tonks it down the middle, Shazzy then goes and stripes one down the middle.  Don, says Oh!  I see why you only wanted 6 shots.  Mark says, you have played this game before, haven't you?  Don has had about 8 shots and isn't on the green yet.  Mark is on for about 5.  I think I had a 4 putt - the greens were lightning fast and very very tricky.

Next tee - Mark and Don are very worried about the water which is 250m away.  I am thinking to myself - this is going to be a very long day.  I have to say that we had a very entertaining day with Mark and Don, who were lovely.  They chatted away non-stop, and their golf did improve.  The match was very tight with John and I both having 16 points on the front 9 we are even after 15, then it got really tricky.  I mean very difficult for me, with long water carries and about 5 par 4's that I couldn't reach.  2 x errant drives from John and it came down to the last hole.  I put my approach shot into the water, John's drive is wayward and he plays sensibly.  I have a cracking putt for my 6, John needs to sink his long putt for the half, Don and Mark are having a full-on conversation, shame, it just slips by!  Shazzy 3 - Thommo 0!  A fun day, but not sure we will return.

Oh yes, see how well the bunkers were raked!

The last course on the Gold Coast Swing is Lakelands, which is  Jack Nicklaus's design.  Also feels like it is running low on cash, we are a 2 in amongst 4 balls, so a very very slow round.  The course is a good design, very busy  - and challenging.  We are playing off red tees, so the course seems quite short in comparison to the last few rounds.  I am not hitting the ball as well as I was but came good just in time to snatch a victory.

In the photo of the birds below, these birds looked like ducks and quacked like ducks, but did not have duck feet.  Thanks to goggle - they are Magpie Geese - we guessed that one Christmas Party a Magpie and a Goose got together!

The photo of the pink flower, thanks to goggle is the Bauhinia, commonly called the Hong Kong orchid tree.  It was like being in a candle or soap shop - the gorgeous scent was unbelievable.

Next stop Bonville.  It always rains when we go to Bonville and look at the weather as we approach.