New Golf Destination for 2009

As most of you know we started with Australia and NZ as our two golf destinations seven years ago. We expanded to add the sport of bowls about three years later. Last year we added Fiji as a stop over destination and expanded Australia to include Adelaide.

Fiji has proven popular with a number of golfers taking 1, 2 or 3 days for a stop in Nadi. We use the very nice, 4.5 star, Golf Terrace Apartments at the marina in Nadi. The golf course is very good and every one enjoys their stay. Some have taken the one day Captain Cook Cruise to the outer islands for snorkeling and exploring.

We have only had two couples try our Adelaide portion of Australia and they found the golf and wine tasting just excellent. 

During the last couple of years we  explored parts of China and Vietnam looking for other golf destinations. Unfortunately we have did not find what we were looking for in either of these two countries. China is just too expensive when it comes to golf and Vietnam did not have infrastructure for a low cost, long stay golf program.

Beth and I have completed our plans to check out two more countries for a possible winter golf destination for Canadians. We will be in Malaga Spain for the last two weeks of June. There are about 40 golf courses in the area and the area has a lot to offer golfers when they are not on the course. The other important factor is there are plenty of holiday rentals that do not get used during the winter as Europeans find it a little cool for them. However if you are in Edmonton and having 2 or 3 weeks of temperatures around -30 then +21 looks and sounds very nice.

We hope to locate enough apartments, find a car rental company and locate a number of quality golf courses that will give us some decent green fees.

After Spain we will spend three weeks in the Cardiff Wales area. Once again there are plenty of courses. If this area works out then we will be able to offer a summer destination as Wales is not that attractive in the winter.

I will also be reminding you about the Global Resorts Network, over the next few blogs, Beth and I joined last May. We believe it offers excellent value and permits you to stay at top resorts around the world and have some money left over to pay for your green fees. You can check out my site at www.surfsandandsea.com for more details.

We will be staying in resorts booked through GRN in Cairns, Surfers and Malaga over the next 6 months. Watch for pictures and text about our experiences at these resorts.

It is just a little over a week before Beth and I head down under once again. We can hardly wait to get out of here. The last 3 weeks has been very cold with a good deal of snow. Walking bare foot on the beach in 29 degree weather not that far away.

During January we will be on the Sunshine Coast working. Yes I have to golf all the good courses up that way and write up the reviews for www.golfincanada.ca . If you have not visited the Golf In Canada dot CA site please do so as it has lot of good information about golf in Canada and around the world.

First week of February we will visit Cairns in northern Queensland. This will be just to check out the area as it has been 40 years since we were last there. Then two weeks at Surfs Paradise and then we move back to Mermaid Beach where we have stayed on two other occasions. We are looking forward to Surfers as we have never really walked around it, explored it or spent much time there. Yes it is only a little way from where we have stayed the past 6 years but it never held much attraction for us.  We only stopped there may be once or twice a year and then only spent about 1 or 2 hours. Living there will get us out and about on foot and let us explore the streets a little more closely.

As tonight is Christmas Eve Beth and I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Now that it is November our minds have turned to golfing down under once again. It seems like a long time ago that we returned from Australia via Fiji in April 2008. Right now almost all our packages for this coming golf season have been shipped. I think there is only two more to send out.Economic problems that the world faces has not hurt us too badly. We still have a good size list of clients that are going to Australia and NZ this year.

There are a few items I wish to cover at this time.The first one is Fiji.Fiji is a great place to take a 3 night 3 day stop over. We have excellent accommodations at the Golf Terrace Apartments. This complex is situated on the 3rd hole of the golf course and across the street from the marina. In the marina you can find about 6 restaurants, shops and a cruise center for day cruises to the other islands.The golf course is a good one ( you can read the review at http://www.golfincanada.ca/ and then click on travel link on the left hand side). I suggest you play at least once just so you can add Fiji to your list of countries where you have played golf. The greens are about $55 CDN with shared cart.Accommodations are a little expensive at $150 a night plus tax but the apartment is nice and the pool and BBQ are are very attractive. It is better then staying out near the airport for around $90 a night. At the Golf Terrace Apartments you are right on the hop on hop off bus line. This bus takes you around the resort area and you can get off at the golf course, tennis courts, and all the 5 star resorts for lunch, exploring, or shopping. You can also get a cab to Nadi for some more shopping.I would suggest you golf one day or two and take a day cruise to the outer islands for some wonderful snorkeling. diving or exploring.

This summer we visited Northern San Diego Country for golf and golf course reviews. You can see this review at the above mentioned site - http://www.golfincanada.ca/We stayed at the Welk Resort in a large one bedroom and had a great week of golf and exploring. The accommodations were excellent and we only paid $599 for the week including taxes for the one bedroom. If you want to find out how we managed to stay there for such a small amount please check out http://www.surfsandandsea.com/If you are thinking about a winter vacation in California then I recommend this area as you are so close to everything and the golf is excellent and reasonable.

In October Beth and I took a two week trip to China with a small group of 16. I wanted to check out the golf courses in the Shanghai area. They have a number of courses but most of them are out near the airport. This means you have to get a shuttle bus and the ride can be about 1.5 hrs. Once you are there the green fees are over $100. The courses are very good and all done by good designers. We also checked out a few courses around Shanghai but again found they were mainly in an industrial complex far from the center of the cities.Given all this it is not an area I was prepared to offer as a golf destination. Shanghai is worth about 3 nights and the rest of the area is not all that interesting as far as world destinations go. I would combine Shanghai with Beijing and the other more interesting places in China.I was surprised to see that China has about a dozen top quality resorts that are offered with Global Resorts Network. (http://www.surfsandandsea.com/)

A number of this year's golfers have asked about using or purchasing golf GPS for their trip to Australia and NZ. I can recommend Igolf's new Neo. It is an excellent unit and is maybe the lowest priced of all the GPS systems out there. You can find this on http://www.golfincanada.ca/

This year Beth and I leave for Australia on January 1st and take a two night stop in Vancouver and night in LA. We arrive on the Sunshine Coast on January 6th and stay until the 31st when will will go to Cairns for a week. We booked a great resort in Cairns for only $599 for the week by using http://www.surfsandandsea.com/We plan to take a few tours and just chill out ( if that is possible in the tropics) and explore the area.We then come back and stay in Surfers Paradise for 2 weeks at another resort that we booked once again through the above mentioned membership. This time we are only paying $385 per week for this one bedroom condo.After that we go back to Mermaid Beach where we will stay from Feb 21 to Mar. 28. This is our third time staying on Mermaid Beach. This is a private home that we have done a number of home exchanges with over the years. The owners will be in Canmore Alberta enjoying spring skiing while we golf and surf.