Brisbane at Last

We arrived in Brisbane (Brisie) Saturday at 7:30 pm. We cleared customs and immigration and got our bag in 45 minutes as our bags were the last to come off the plane.

Remember you can not take food into Australia and your golf clubs and golf shoes must be clean. Having just said you can not take food in you may be able to if you declare it. We always declare our food. This time we declared, candy bars, candy, granola bars, a loaf of bread and some almonds. They looked at it all and let us keep the food. Did not take long and well worth doing it this way. You can get into a lot of trouble if you do not declare or forget to declare your food, nuts or wood products.

This is our 4th day her and the weather has been very good. The first two days the temp was 28 degrees with clear sky's. Yesterday we had over cast skies and a temp of 25. The humidity is not too bad and around 70%. Nights have been cool and have used a sheet and a light blanket. We have turned the fan on for two of the nights. We have not used the AC unit at all.

Golf courses and lawn bowl clubs all look green and in good shape. Beth and I will be playing our first round of golf today. Not sure where but will report on the course tomorrow.

The last two days were work days for me as we had to go to the Gold Coast and get everyone registered at the various golf and bowling clubs. We also checked out the various accommodations everyone will be using.

I made a new contact that should be very useful for the golfers. If you do not mind playing experienced golf balls then I have the shop for you. Golf balls are heavy to carry around. Why not leave them at home an purchase some balls here. New balls are expensive here so this only works if you want used balls. Yesterday I purchased 50 noodles for $15. I like noodles as they are low spin and thus I do not slice them as much. If I get the time I will publish the prices for some of the more expensive balls.

This store also said they would sell you new pull carts for $39 and purchase them back from you for $20 if they are in good nick and they can sell them again. This is a good deal as you will have to pay anywhere from $3 to $5 to rent them at the various courses.

If you want to order carts please email me as soon as possible so the store can order them in for us. You will have to pay them when you pick up your carts and golf balls. This shop is only about 5 minutes from where you pick up your rental car.

There is some good and bad news about the golf courses. The bad news is Emerald Lakes is no longer on the 2 for 1 list. The good news is Lakelands, the Nicklaus course is. The rate for Lakelands is $140 but with two for one it is now $70 and this includes cart and range. I am looking forward to playing this course.

Here is a proposed list of courses that I would play during a four week stay on the Gold Coast.

• 3 rounds at Club Banora - green fee $18
• 4 rounds at Coolangatta Tweed- green fee $25, top 100
• 2 rounds at Lakelands- green fee $70 with cart, #17 in nation
• 2 rounds at Gainsborough- green fee $33 with cart- top 100
• 1 round at Ocean Shores- green fee $40 with cart and lunch, #48
• 1 round at Sanctuary Cove-Palm- green fee $69 with cart and range, top 100, this is one of the socials
• 2 rounds at Mulullumbuah (sp)-green fee $20
• 1 round Kooralbyn-green fee $34.50 with cart, top 100 - this is one of the socials
• 1 round at Emerald Lakes- green fee $49 with cart

Of course you can pick and choose your courses to fit your budget but most golfers in the past have enjoyed playing these courses. Beth is very happy just playing at Club Banora.

There are lots of other courses and some with decent green fees such as:

Gold Coast for $20 walking, Surfers for $30 or $16.50 after 3 pm, Byron Bay for $27,Mullumbinby for $11.

There are a few others that you might want to play but the fees are higher. These are Colonial, Robina Wood, and Royal Pines. These $65, $80 and $80 with 4 at Royal Pines. All these include carts and are ranked very high in the nation.

The ladies PGA will be at the Royal Pines during the first part of February so some of you might like to take this in. Most of the stars will be here.

There has been a change of dates for our hotel and golf to Kooralbyn. We had to move it a head one day. We are now golfing on Feb 20, staying the night and then golfing again on the 21. Our tee times will be around 1pm.

There is a lot of information in this posting. The rest of the postings will cover weather, golf, dinning etc and should be a little more interesting.