Last week on Sunshine Coast

Twin Waters - this resort course is one of the best in Queensland. It is ranked very high in the nation and the value is outstanding. With your guide book you can walk this course for $37 or $52 with power cart. It is a well maintained course, excellent fairways, tee boxes and good water and bunkers. The greens are fast and the cart paths are paved all the way. The club house is small but nice with a well stocked pro shop. The rough does present some difficulties as your ball can sink about 6 or 7 cm in the soft grass and it is very difficult to get out. Take a 2 night trip to the Sunshine Coast and play Twin Waters one day and Tewantin on another. This will give you a good comparison of the different types of course up here.

The other big name courses: Club pelican ($90), The Hyatt ($99) and Noosa Springs ($80) are a little too expensive for me so I have not played them yet. I have played Nanbour, Caboolture, Bribie Island, Twin Waters, Headlands, Caloundra, Horton Park, Mt Coolum and Tewantin here on the Sunshine Coast. Twin Waters, Tewantin and Horton Park are the best of the ones I have played.

To see how SE Queensland at is best take the circle drive into the hinterland. Go to Mary Caincross Park for the look out over the Glass House Mountains, then in to Manley, and end at Montville. You will see some of the most green and lush tropical areas around. There are lots of art galleries, restaurants and other sites to make this a very interesting day. You could combine it with the Eumundi Markets for a complete look.

The weather has been warm but not hot. The daily showers continue but maybe have only prevented us from golf on about 2 days. We have golfed 10 times in the 25 days that we have been here. Just two days more and we move to the Gold Coast to be with all the golfers that are starting to arrive.

I have only taken a power cart on two occasions. Using a cart is a nice way to beat the humidity and temperature. The rest of the time I carried my clubs. On two of these days I was very glad to finish the 18th as the heat had beat me on those days. The rest of the time is was not much different from carrying in Edmonton.

Flying Fox

The other morning I was wake listening to the birds around 4:30 AM. I decided to look out the window and I saw what I thought was a lot of birds flying over the homes. There was a very large amount of them as it looked like a highway or a river of black in the early dawn. The river in the sky was very wide and went all the way across the visible area. I watched what I though were birds flying for about 20 minutes before they were all gone. I reckon about 100000 would have gone by in that time. When I told Beth she said I must have been dreaming.

The next morning I got Beth up to see this phenomena. This time they were further away and harder to see. Beth had a hard time seeing them so still did not believe me.

Last night around 7:15 pm Beth happened to look up and the sky was filled with these black flying birds. This time they were going in the opposite direction. Beth went out on the street to look at them and got talking to one of the neighbors. The neighbor indicated that they were bats. They are referred to as Flying Foxes. He said they spend the day on an island and at night go hunting. He had not seen them in such an amount before.

This is just one of the many examples of the different types of flora and fauna that can be seen here.

Bribie Island Course. This course is offered in your guide book as a 2 for 1. It is a good value as the green fee thus becomes $15 a person. I have wanted to play it for a while because it is ranked in the top 100 in Australia. The last time I was there we got rained out.

For us, the drive was about 90 minutes.

The greens were very good. The bunkers on the course were excellent and well groomed. There was no water and the fairways were wide. How ever the fairways were only ok as they had what I would refer to weeds and the first cut was not thick and of different length. The rough was typical of many country courses, that is sandy, and patches of grass with heaps of gum tree leaves. Most time balls are easy to find. Cart paths were poor and tee boxes ok. Some of the holes looked the same as others. I had to rank the course below Horton Park and Tewantin. It was of the same quality as Mt Coolum, Colundra and Headlands. I think it is worth 3 stars. Do not know how it got rated as top 100. Good value but do not go out of your way to play.

The day had blue sky and the temperature was around 28. Walked and carried my clubs but I was happy to finish as the sun was taking it's toll on me. Jim felt good and the two ladies took a power cart. The power carts give you a very welcome breeze.

Odds and Ends

Eating out in Noosa: Two suggestions in case you decide to take an overnight trip to Noosa and the Sunshine coast. If you are looking for an inexpensive meal then you should try the wharf at Tewantin. Go to the fish and chip spot and take your own wine. Second one is to go to the Tewantin Golf Club. We went there the other night and had 4 great meals. Very nicely presented and the cost ranged from $11 to $20. Give it a try, it has the best club food on the coast.

Eumundi Markets: Don't forget to time your trip up this way so that you are here on a Wednesday or Saturday. This is when the Eumundi Market is open. It is huge and you can spend at 4 hours there. When in Eumundi make sure you go into the Red Desert Gallery. They have perhaps the best collection of AAboriginal Art in Australia. It may not be the largest but the quality is outstanding. Ask Paul Curtis the owner about the art and the artists. He loves what he does and likes to educate. He has some works there for around $20,000. But you might find and excellent piece to fit your budget if you wanted to spend say $1000 or more. If you are considering a purchase you should spend some time with him to educate yourself on the different styles from the different areas of Australia. I guarantee that a hour with him will make you appreciate the art. If you do not want to go that far, 3 hrs, then you could try the gallery at Brunswick Heads about 1 hr south in NSW. It is good but no where near as good as Paul's.

Each year some golfers spend some big bucks on art. It is worth your time to talk to these people and become informed.

Golf: I have been coming this way for a number of years. During that time I have played most of the courses. However, I have always by passed the Horton Course in Maroochedore. I think because they never offered any discounts. We played it the other day and thought it was great. Very nice holes, lots of different trees and birds. Plenty of water and bunkers but the fairway were wide so you could avoid the water most of the time. The fairways were couch grass which is the same as the greens in Australia. Course plays long and is well worth the $40 but they give you a $5 drink coupon. I think it is a solid 4 star course. The other good part it is just across the street from the Sunshine Plaza (best mall on the Sunshine Coast). Why is this good, because you can park your car at the course and your spouses can walk across the road and shop for 4 hours while you pay a golf.

As far as I can tell they have two basic grass styles: Sir Walter Raleigh and Couch. Couch is grass with small blades something like rye grass in Canada. Sir Walter is much like quack grass. A broad leaf with roots running along the top. Something like the grass in southern USA. Couch is also the grass that is used on the greens. Both grasses are drought resistant. Couch makes the course look and feel more expensive.

Weather: The has changed a bit this last week. It used to rain at night and be nice during the day. About a week ago it changed so that we are now getting rain during the day as well. You might get a sun shower or a down pour. Most days the time between showers is 3 or 4 hrs with blue sky appeating say around noon. It has been a little cooler with highs around 27 or 28 and night about 22.

Learning a Foreign Language

Today's blog is a short vocabulary lesson so you will be able to speak to and understand the Aussies.

There are a couple of general rules. One, if you can shorten the word why waste effort saying the whole word. Two, when in doubt add and ie.

Shorten words:
Ute- utility truck
Comp- competition, golf comp
Savo- afternoon, as in this savo
Agro- aggravation
Fisho- fish shop
Avro- avacatoes
Bloke- Male
Sheila-Female
Fair Dinkum- not a lie, is that correct! Yes mate I am fair dinkum
Dinky Di- true blue, real as in a dinky di Aussie
Battler- a hard worker, a person that works hard but not much money.
Winjer- a whiner, complainer
G'Day- you all know this one
Mate
Jumper- sweater
Chooks-Chickens
Air Con - air conditioned
Now for ie words.
Chockies-Chocolates
Lollies-Candies
Pressies-Presents
Rellies-Relatives
Footie-Football
Tellie-TV
Barbi-BBQ
Brekkie-Breakfast
Bickie-Cookie
Cossie-Swim Suit
Tinnie-an aluminum boat
Some of my Aussie words may be spelled incorrectly but you get the idea.

Rain Delays

We had a tee time for four yesterday. Beth and I and another couple that arrived on Sunday had a 1:02 tee time. About 10 AM the rains came and it rained very hard until 12:30. The two ladies did not want to go to the course as the sky was still dark. The two males were able to see a small patch of blue off in the distance.

We were the only ones at the course but what the heck it was not raining. So we decided to try nine. We paid for nine and the pro said we could pay for the other nine later if we wanted to keep going.

I ensured my partner that the course was built on sand so should be dry by now as it stopped raining 45 minutes ago. We started off and we both hit out ball into a river that was not there the other day. In fact the course had a number of small rivers and lakes that were not there the other day. Oh well, casual water we will just take relief. Not so easy, where was a dry spot. There was not any. The fairways were soaked. We played on as the greens were dry but the bunkers were full.

On the third hole we got a light shower. Felt good and cooled us off a bit. On the fourth hole we passed a nice shelter but the shower had stopped. Then we got to 7th green, well past the shelter and the heavens open up. Murphy's Law, when you need a shelter it is some behind you. No need for a shower tonight when we get home. We took shelter under a tree and put up our umbrella. We had a 30 minute rain delay so we decided to solve all of the world problems.
One great thing about rain here, it is warm. So you can stand under a tree for a half hour soaking wet for head to foot and not be cold. You will have to try it one day.

One bad thing about playing in a monsoon is you do not get a lot of roll on the fairways.

The rain stopped once again and we played on.

One thing about being soaking wet is you can not get any wetter. A perfect example ocurred when Jim hit his ball in the lake. He could see it but could not reach it. What the hell his shoes were all ready wet so he just walked into the lake, up to mid calf and picked up his ball.

Perfect Foot Joy commercial.

We finished nine and there was blue sky, lots of it. So we paid the remaining $13 and played the back nine. What a difference the fairways were now dry, the kangaroos were out, the parrots and cockatoos were flying and the sun was drying our clothes. Life could not have been better.

So what is the morel of this story? No women are not smarter then men. The morel is, if you get stuck on a course in the rain it probably will only last 30 min and it will be warm so you can continue your play. If you do get a rainy day and your tee time is in the morning wait and go out later in the day.

Jim gave Tewantin a higher rating then I did in a previous blog. He found the course to be in good shape, long and lots of pretty holes.

Caboulture Golf Course

Today this blog is about Golf, Beer, and Fish and Chips.

This course is about 50 km north of Brisbane and about 80 km south of Noosa.

We found the course to be in good shape this year. Last year it had brown fairways. This year it was green and lush. Fairways were good, greens and tee boxes good with ok rough. There is a variety of holes with only one that needed some work. The cart paths were in rough shape but they have a good club house. It is a decent 2.5 star course. Remarkable what a little rain can do. It is an excellent bargain for $12.50 and a free glass of beer.

If you are up this way and looking for a budget golf experience with some kangaroos on the course then this is the place for you. It is a regular 18 hole lay out.

My one real complaint is they only have pots of beer, called middies in NSW. That is, they do not have the larger beers called Schooners. A pot is $2.20 at the course. Of course your first one is free.

Schooner of mid strength beer in the clubs are $3 and a lite beer is around $2.80.

Beer in Australia is good and it is served cold. They have lite beer (2%), mid strength (3.5%) and full strength (4.9%). The lite beer is good and worth drinking if you are doing the driving. Remember .05 is the limit here.

One problem with the schooners is the bottom of the glass can get warm if you do not drink quickly. The schooner holds 425 ml of golden, sparkling, crisp, cold beer.

One other term you should know about is the term SHOUT. No, not talking loudly. When you purchase a beer for your friends you have justed shouted them, or it was your shout. If you are in a large group of people and you have consumed a number of beers and you have to leave prior to you buying around, the Aussies will remember and you are expected to get the first shout the next time you are together. The best practice I find is to purchase the first shout then the rest of your mates will have to purchase the rest. You can leave at anytime and do not have to remember that you owe them a shout.

Don't refer to it as a jump as one of our golfers did last year. To get jumped has an entirly different meaning. It might be very tiring if you went into the bar and said you would like to jump them.

There are good things about Australia other than beer and golf. There is Fish and Chips. You can purchase excellent fish for a reasonable price. Last night Beth and I went to the marina and ordered Baramundi,grilled for her and I had Baramundi battered with chips. Beth had a side Greek Salad. That's right you select the fish, the amount and the way you want it prepared.

Of course we took an iced cold bottle of Chardonnay in our cooler bag to the marina. While we waited for our order of fish we cracked the bottle, toasted Australia for beening so civilized and sipped our wine while we watched the people and boats go by. O-yes they had live entertainment as well. Don't forget your cork screw and wine glasses.

Total cost for a filling meal was $19.

Around Coolangatta there are two fish shop's we like to go to. One is on the road into Kingscliff. Purchase your fish and chips and go across the road and enjoy them while you sit on the Tweed River bank and watch the boats.

The other area is where the fishing boats dock in Tweed. Go south on the main road from Twin Towns RSL Club past the shopping center, past the Bowls Club and just before the road turns right you will find a number of fish shops. I forget the name of the one we like but they have a large deck at the back looking on to the fishing boats. Go around back, find a table, open your wine and order your meal. Enjoy.

We like Baramundi and Snapper. You can also choose from Whiting, Dory, Shark and other types of fish as well as prawns.

Beer, Wine, Fish and Chips, Golf, Sun, Sand and Sea, life down under is good mate.

Tewantin Golf Course

Weather:Weather continues to be the same. Right on the average for the month 28-30. At night it is easy to sleep with the ceiling fan on and just a sheet.

Golf Course: Yesterday we played at Tewantin. Green fees of $40. Front 9 was disappointing as the fairways grass was more like quack grass from home. This is typical of the lesser courses over here. However the back nine must have been re-turfed as it had the more typical short fine grass close to Rye grass. The fairways were wide and the greens faster than the other courses. Very good club house with lots of gluten free items on the menu for around $15. We do offer Tewantin in our unlimited package for the gold coast but with an up grade in price. Not sure it is worth the upgrade over the other courses. This year I give it 3 star rating, maybe 3 1/2. There were heaps of kangaroos on the course with lots of bird life as well. Many of vistas were typical Australian.

Sunshine Coast

Weather: the weather has been very consistent over the last week. The temperatures have been 22 to 28 with overcast sky. There has been a large amount of rain that has fallen during the night with only a few brief showers during the day. Today we expect 29 and the humid is high.

Golf: so far we have played two courses. Both courses were reviewed in the past. We played Mt. Coolum and Nambour. I have lowered my ratings of both courses to 2.5 stars and 2 stars. Mt Coolum had one fairway and tee box under construction. Nambour is hilly, only par 68, rough around the edges. Both courses have slow greens but with the rain at night were green and playable. At Nambour the price is only $14 but you need a power cart because of the hills. We walked it but found the going tough. Mt. Coolum is $30 but there are better values on the Sunshine Coast for around the same price. Do not waste your time playing these courses unless you are going to spend a month or more here and want to try them.

Nambour is the course I reported on last year that had the rope tow on the 18th green to help you walk up the hill to the club house. You might want to check last year's blog. You can find it at http://www.golf2005.blogspot.com/

Today I think we will try one of the courses that we include in the unlimited package for the Sunshine Coast. That course is the Coloundra Course.

We have been teeing off around 1:30 pm and finishing around 5:30. Mt Coolum day was not too hot and pleasant after 3pm. Same for Nambour.

Activities: So far our mornings are taken up with walks. We are about 1km from the river and 30 minutes to Hastings street. Noosa is a play ground for the rich and famous. Lots of restaurants and shops. Most restaurants have their main meals listed from 18 to 25 dollars. We enjoy the yacht clubs at Noosa and Mooloolaba as well as the surf clubs at Mooloolaba and Noosa. There are two good surf clubs one in Noosa and one at Sunshine Beach in Noosa. Meals in the clubs run around $10.

Arrived in Australia

Flight over was long but uneventfully.

Departing Edmonton with AC you have to get your boarding pass first from the automatic machines. Then you take your luggage to the counter for checking. They will give you seats all the way to Singapore and your bags will be checked all the way. They only eyeball your luggage for weight. The AC lady indicated 23 kgs was the limit per bag. You will have to take your clubs to the oversize area for scanning and then on to the belt.

In Vancouver you will take the turn just before you leave the hallway and go left to international departures. We left from gate 70. Since you have paper tickets please check in at the desk as they will want to change your boarding pass. If not happy with seats this is the place to ask for a change. Our plane was full so could not change. Ended up with window and next to it. It was ok but I hate climbing over people to get out. Window does have more leg room as it does not have the hard drive for the movies under the aisle seat.

We were happy to get off for an hour in Korea. Take a while and look around the airport as it is very nice with some great shops.

I watched 5 movies to Korea and one after for my normal total of 6. Had a little nap and we were in Singapore 1/2 hour early. Got our transfer tickets, coupons and got on the bus to the hotel. Arrived at the hotel around 1 AM.

The exchange rate at the airport was 1.40 S$ for 1 C$. At the hotel it was $1.30. There are a number of ATMS near where you check in at the hotel desk. Please read tip booklet for directions to hotel desk.

This year we did not check our clubs but took them on the bus. The price for this was S$4 each for the round trip. Cheap so might as well do this. At the hotel we left our clubs in the storage room where you get off the bus. If you want to take them to your room that is ok.

Since you arrive late there is only one bell person on duty. So it is best to take your bags up the elevator to the lobby and check in. You will have to give them you MCO.

The hotel is in an excellent location. You can walk the one or two blocks to the river where you will find your free boat ride and many restaurants. China town is only a couple of blocks more. You will be there during the Chinese New Years so lots will be going on.

If you go the opposite way that is north on North Bridge road you reach the famous hotel called Raffles. If you are there after 5pm you can get a Singapore Sling in the famous long bar. You will need one of your coupons for this. There is excellent shopping at the Raffles Center.

Across the street is another excellent location for dining. It is a collection of 17 restaurants called Cnijas Hall. Not sure if I spelled this correctly. Try eating around 8 as that is the time the locals start to show up.

The Hop on Off Bus is close by the hotel and this takes you for free around the city. You can get off at any place you want and then the bus arrives back 30 min later. If you like Orchids then you must go to the National Orchids area at the Botanical Gardens.

The zoo is also worth a visit as is the Harbour Cruise.

Cabs are very cheap. It cost us S$4 to travel a good distance one morning.

The hotel has a decent buffet breakfast and you will get 50% off so it will only be about S$9 or $6.30 C$.

The hotel has two very good swimming pools and a decent gym.

Make sure you check with the SIA Tour Desk to book tours and most important your return transfer to the airport. If you are in the main group you will be told what time you are to get the bus.

There is a golf shop in the hotel that had some excellent prices on golf balls. The sale may be over when you are there but check it out if you to purchase some balls.

For your arrival in Brisbane please declare all food and related items or throw it away. This year we had no problems at all. If you want to purchase alcohol you can get it after you get off the plane and just before you clear immigration.

The weather is good, highs 28 and lows 22. We have had rain each night so the courses are green and appear in good shape. We are golfing today for the first time as we had work to do the first two days. We do not have AC only ceiling fans and have slept very well with windows open and the fan on.