New Years 2010

Back on line after taking time off from blogging. It has been a busy year for B&B. Since you last heard from us we toured Tasmania before heading back to Canada in April. In June we went to the Coast Del Sol in Spain and set up the area for extended stay golf packages. The two golf pictures show the quality of and the scenic views of two of the of the courses. There are over 42 top quality courses on Costa Del Sol. Then on to Wales to see how the preparations for the Ryder Cup were coming along. If you think you might like to play the 2010 course give us a call and we will set it up for you. After Wales we visited Ireland and put together conducted tours. This deviates from our golf tour mode that we have established for Argentina, Australia, NZ,Spain and Uruguay.

After returning to Edmonton Dan and I did a short 4 day golf course review in the foothills of the Rockies.

October found us in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. We found what we think will be very good golf destinations in Argentina and in Uruguay. In Argentina we selected Bariloche for our 4 week golf destination. It is right in the Andes Mountains beside a beautiful lake. I am sure you will love this quaint city of about 150 000. In Uruguay we selected Punta Del Este. If you want a South American beach destination this is it. You can combine both countries if you wanted to extend your trip to 2 months. No matter what you do you must take a stop in Buenos Aires either coming or going. You will enjoy the various districts and maybe even take in a soccer match or learn to Tango.

This year bookings are down over past years and I am hoping it is because of the recession. We still have decent numbers for NZ and Australia with one couple heading off to Spain.

The picture of the condo is the one you could have in Punta Del Este if you are traveling with another couple as it is a 5 star 2 bedroom, on the ocean and brand new. The picture of the beach with the hand sticking up out of the sand is on the main beach.

Next year Spain, Argentina and Uruguay will be advertised all year giving you more time to make your travel plans.

Beth and I are off to Oceanside California for three months to escape the winter. We have a nice ocean front condo and we are looking forward to playing a lot of the different courses in northern San Diego. I will keep you posted about the area and maybe we can start sending Canadians to California for the winter. In fact we have 3 fellows that have booked two weeks at the same complex and will be playing the courses in and around the area. Who knows it might be an alternative destination from always going to Palm Springs. If so we will offer month long packages with airfare, car rental and condo. Golf will be extra unless I can find a course or two that will let us be members for a month or more.

Just a reminder to visit www.golfincanada.ca This is a great website for all the golf information you need or want. Make sure you click on the travel link on the left hand side and read the various destination reviews. I still have an Argentina and Uruguay one to do. If you are reading this blog and think we should do a review of your area or courses then let us know and we will be happy to check it out for you.

Have a happy New Years everyone and will talk to you in the new year.

Escape from Cairns

We left Cairns on Saturday and headed for Brisbane.

The groceries stores in Cairns were getting very low on food. The major chains, Woolies and Coles had no fruit or veggies. A lot of the other shelves were also empty. A large container ship did arrive Friday night and started unloading their cargo of food. This was the first of a few ships that were do to land so we could be rescued.. They thought it would take a day or two for the food to hit the shelves.

Friday night we went to the bottle shop to get a red wine for happy hour. They were getting low on stock as well. The fellow in front of us had a shopping cart full of beer. I said to him; “are you expecting the road to be flooded for a long time.” He replied; “not sure but I am not taking any chances.”

This shortage of food in Cairns was due to the cyclone that went a shore about 200km south of us. It was only a category one cyclone with winds up to 60 miles an hour but it contained a lot of rain. This rain on top of all the other rain that the area has had caused massive flooding and cut the Bruce Highway, the only highway north. This prevented all the trucks from reaching Cairns and points north of us.

Our week in Cairns was good but we got rain every day and got soaked at least three or four times. Each day their was massive down pours. We did get to see and do all we wanted and we did see some blue skies every now and then.

I think Cairns is about a 4 night 5 day place unless you are going to do some diving, golfing or fishing. The wet season last six months from October to April and then they have their dry season. During the wet you can not swim as the Box Jelly Fish and Iragangi are very dangerous. Not to mention the man eating crocodiles. The are is extremely pretty with mountains that come right down to the sea. The mountains are covered in heavy rain forest which to us is very unique. They ferns, palms, massive trees are a must see.

I think all the rain and humidity was bad for my camera as it does not work any more. Oh well I will have to just get a new one.

We are back in God’s country now as we are staying on the Gold Coast in Surfer’s Paradise for the next two weeks before we move in our exchange home on Mermaid Beach. The sky is blue the temperature is 25 degrees at 8 am and I can not see a cloud.

We golfed yesterday at Club Banora and we were the only ones on the back nine. Today we are off to mountains to play another of our favorite courses , Mullwillumbah.

Tropical Queensland

It has been a few days since I last published our blog. Since then we  flew to Cairns last Saturday.  We arrived in pouring rain. The plane unloaded on the run way so we got soaked walking into the airport. The luggage came and it was wet all the way through the suitcase. 

Then we went to pick up our Alamo rental and no one had a record of the reservation even though I had the booking number. The problem is Alamo goes through one of the other big car rental agencies. So we had to book another car at a higher price. I hope we have not been charged twice. 

Even though we have the world's best travel agent we still did not get the

 car we booked.

We got to our studio apartment and found it to be very nice, a little small but the complex has three good pools and is close to everything.  We booked this through Global Resorts Network and are happy with the place. If you want more information about this please visit Surf Sand and Sea.

The next day we went for a drive until we found that the wind was picking up and a cyclone was off shore and we were not sure where it would hit land. One lady told us to go get batteries, water, candles etc. So off to the mall where no 

one was buying these things. They were just shopping and staying out of the rain. Anyway we got no wind and very little rain. 

The cyclone went in about 400 km south of us and flooded everything  and cut the road to Brisbane.

Our first big day out was up to the Atherton Tablelands. The pictures of the valley, curtain fig tree, flowers and Barron water falls are all from that day trip. 

We had a very nice day with some sunny periods but when we reached the Barron Falls we got caught in a down pour.

The next day was a working day. We drove north up the coast on a very scenic highway that follows the sea. We stopped at two very good golf courses where we hope to offer a Cairns add on feature for next year. On Sea Temple Golf Course they took us on a tour of the links course in a power cart. While we toured the course we spent some time looking for one of the three big man eating crocodiles that live in the ponds on the course. So far, no golfer, has been eaten. We did not see them but the signs are all over the course reminding you not to go near the ponds.

We took our time and checked out the northern beaches and                 

the scenic look outs and visited a very expensive beach lodge. This lodge had bungalows that go for $1150 a night for the cabin, twin share, with all meals and drinks. Richard Branson was a guest there a short time ago.

Then on to Port Douglas which is very, very nice. It is maybe the Noosa of the north. Lots of accommodation, a good shopping street and a large marina.

Cairns is an OK city but it does not have a beach and nothing really outstanding. It is easy to walk around and it has a lot of shops that sell tee shirts and other junk for the tourists. 

Most of the tourists are from Asia as this time of the year  is the wet season so it is their off season for Australians. One indicator that this is a big tourist town is most of the restaurants have

 crocodile and kangaroo on the menus. But as my good mate George says when you have enough Roo you can always have spaghetti.

Today, Wednesday, we headed north about 150 km to the Daintree Wilderness and Cape Tribulation. This takes us through some of the oldest rain forests in the world. And what would a rain forest be with out some rain. We got soaked after we got off the river and had to run through the torrent

 to the shelter. Off course we had rain ponchos and an umbrella but why take it on the boat since it had a roof.

We only saw one female croc on the river bank but they said there were  plenty of them and some up to five metres long.

They are saying that another cyclone is forming off shores and we may get more rain and wind. We can just sit and hope it passes by. These are only category one cyclones so far but contain a lot of rain.

Aussie Bob and Aussie Beth on Australia Day

This year for Australian Day, January 26, we went to Coolum, the town just 3 kms north of us. We hurried to get to the parade that I thought began at 1030 but when we got there it was over. It started at 10 am. There were plenty of activities going on. They had rides for the kids and the young at heart, the market was in town and they welcomed a lot of new Australian citizens.In the afternoon all the big events took place.  

The main event was the toad races. We had looked forward to that the entire week.

They have 20 toads that they raffle off to the highest bidder. The winning bid owns the toad for the race. They raised $800 which 1/2 goes to the first three toads to cross the finish line

. The

 winner gets $200, second $150 and third $100. All toads are numbered and placed in the compartment of the circular box. On the count of three the starting box is lifted and 20 toads hop around. The toad that reaches the outside black ring of the toad course is the winner.

Great excitement.

However the next day on the TV we saw a cockroach race. We will have to check that out next year.

The rest of the day had tug of wars, thong throwing, and the Iron Man competition. In the

 iron man they had toeat a meat pie run around a post and return and drink a beer, run around a post and then carry a bale of hay around the

 post. 

Fireworks lit up the night sky.

We only have two more days here at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast. We enjoyed out time here but we are ready to move on. 

In Australia there are a few signs that you may not to ignore.

Our local village had a nice town square with lots of restaurants and shops.

Crikey What a Ripper.

Yes you guessed it. Beth and I went to the Australian Zoo yesterday. This zoo is the creation of the famous crocodile hunter, Steve Crikey Irvin. The only day of rain we have e

xperienced so far was yesterday. We got soaked and left early b

ut we managed to see most of what we wanted.

Over the years I put off going as I thought I had seen all the animals of Australia during all our previous visits. It was not until my good mate Dave told me he thought the zoo was

 very well done that I thought we should go.

The zoo is about 2 hrs by four lane highway from the Gold Coast, maybe 2.5 hrs. It is well worth making this day trip, especially for first time visitors to Australia.

We found the park very attractive, well laid out, with lots of shows, wild life, and tropica

l vegetation. It was one of the cleanest and greenest parks I have visited. Our day c

onsisted of walking around and viewing the many different animals, reptiles, birds and shops. We took in the croc show, elephant show and the tiger show.

It was also very neat that the Irwin family presented the croc show. That Robert is going to be

a character just like his dad

Everyone knows Australia is different, Australians do things differently. The water in the toilet goes down the opposite way, light switches operate the opposite of ours, the sun is in

 the north but the other day we saw another thing that was backwards.

We were walking the beach to town and we saw two people fishing for worms. Ye

s fishing

 for worms. They were using fish for bait and tyring to catch some worms that were about a metre long. They filled a bag full of dead fish and then mopped the wet sand with the bag leaving behind the smell of the fish. The worms would come up to eat. When they arched their backs the worm fisher would grasp it and a tug of war began. Finally after a minute the worm lost and was stuffed in their worm container. Later that day the poor worm became bait for the fish. What

goes around comes around.

The worms are about 1cm in diameter as the picture of their hole indicates.

The Beach is Back.

   

Yesterday we found that our beach was back from the King Tides so we went for a long walk towards Coolum. There were a lot of people on the beach when we got to town. Along the way we pasted walkers and most of them had  dogs with them.

That afternoon we were invited for lunch at the neighbors across the street. They have a very nice beach home where they spend their holidays. They live in Canberra which is a two day drive south. They served the Australian national dish, prawns.

They closed a beach in Noosa on the weekend because a number of stingers had been blowen into the swimming area. The picture shows one that was on the beach. They can give you a good sting. If hit by them you are supposed to go to the life guards and they put ice on area. A couple of years ago we were at a surf carnival when a couple of the young girls swam through them and got stung. They came out of the water screaming.

While in Mooloolabah we stopped into the David Hart Art Gallery and purchased a  picture, Tangled Flowers. We now have one by Pro Hart, David Hart (Pro's son) and Julie Hart (one of his daughters). They had on display one of his grand daughters (Cloie) works. The whole family paints. Pro Hart is one of the art icons from Australia.

A Great Weekend of Golf

   

Since my last report we played on three of the best courses in Australia.  The Golf Guide ranks Club Pelican at #16, Hyatt Regency Coolum at #18 and Twin Waters at #43. Each course was different even though they are just a few kilometres apart. Club Pelican is a very tough course designed by Greg Norman. The Hyatt is a mature, attractive course, groomed very well and designed by Robert Trent Jones. Twin Waters is carved out of Paper Bark trees with lots of birds and wildlife. All three have resorts associated with the courses.

We did take Saturday off for some shopping. We went to the Eumundi Markets.

 They claim to be the biggest and best in Australia. Who am I to dispute that. We also went into Noosa and checked out some of Beth's favorite stores. We had a bite to eat at the Tewantin

 Wharf and watched the ferries come and go. When in Noosa make sure you stop at the Yatch Club and the Surf Club for food and drinks. They both have great views of the water and you can just sit and enjoy all the goings on.

.  

Returning to the golf aspect of this blog I have to show you a few photos of Mt Coolum and the wild life that we see as we play these courses. Mt Coolum is the second largest monolith in Australia. Ayers Rock is the largest one. The variety of birds is outstanding and it is always nice to see a kangaroo or two.