What a huge week this has been. Our week in Tasmania was fantastic - very cold for the most of it but we did expect that from the current forecast.
On Friday we caught the shuttle bus to the Sydney Airport Hotel & arrived there in good time. Everyone going on the trip stayed in the same hotel for the night & we had dinner at the St George Rowing Club. There were eighteen of us which was a good size for a golfing group & we all had a great time together.
Saturday morning we flew out to Launceston which is only one and a half hour flight which was really good. We were there by 10 o'clock which gave us time to visit the Cataract Gorge Reserve which we enjoyed. We all took a ride on the chairlift over the gorge and walked back over the suspension bridge. Thankfully at that time the weather was still good. Our accommodation at Launceston was just fabulous (photos attached of the apartment) We stayed at the Peppers Seaport Inn which is on the river. Right next door were all the restaurants and the boat wharfs.
Sunday morning there was a fierce wind blowing and rain which was dissapointing. We made our way to the Barnbougle Dunes Golf Resort at Bridport which was about 80 klms away. By the time we arrived the rain had stopped but the fierce gale force winds remained. We checked into our cabins at the resort & went straight out on the golf course. It was a fantastic course but the wind was horrific. We could hardly stand up & our buggies kept blowing over. The sand was blowing out of the bunkers straight into our faces & it was hard to take a steady stance against the wind.
We managed to get through nine holes on this really amazing golf course but it defied common sense to keep going. Some of us finished at nine holes & the others struggled on through it all. I had enough & was happy to wait out the time in the comfortable clubhouse with the warm open fire. That night we had dinner at the clubhouse & it was a beautiful meal.
Monday morning the weather was even worse with rain adding to the problem. We were going to try to have a round but the thought of being wet in the bus over ruled so we decided to head off to St Helens and Bicheno having some historical stops off on the way. It was a nice tour & we enjoyed the changing scenery down the coast. Our accommodation at Bicheno was good with a club walking distance away where we enjoyed a lovely meal.
Tuesday we headed off to hobart so we could arrive in time to play golf at the Tasmanian Golf Course. It is a fantastic golf course. Beautiful setting that reminded me of some of the courses in New Zealand with the water all around. It was a challenging course & everyone enjoyed the day. Our accommodaton in Hobart was the Salamanca Inn which I would recommend to anyone. Our rooms were big with all conveniences. It also had a full laundry with multiple washing machines and dryers together with detergent for no charge. Amazing - and it was walking distance to the Salamanca Markets and the wharf. We had dinner at the Irish Pub that night which was a good night.
Wednesday we visited the Cascade brewery, had a tour through the factory and tried a few ales. It was quite pleasant weather which helped. Then we had a drive through the countryside to visit the Richmond historical village for lunch and then called into a couple of wineries on the way home. That night we had dinner at the Casino which gave some of our group the opportunity for a flutter.
Thursday was a lovely day so we were lucky enough to be able to drive to the top of Mt wellington & the view was spectacular. From there we visited the Cadbury Factory prior to playing golf at the Royal Hobart Club. I loved that course too. We had a really good day. We had dinner at our hotel that night as we were a lttle tired from the long day.
Friday we decided to forego our previously planned "free" day and have another round of golf at the Tasmanian club. That was really enjoyable as we had played the course before which made it better. The fairways and greens at this course were something special. That night we had a happy hour in one of the rooms & had our presentation for the golf results of the week. The good news is that we came home with more golf balls than we had taken so we were happy. Dinner that night was at a restaurant called the "Ball and Chain" and we had a fabulous meal there.
Saturday the weather turned on us again & it was raining earlier in the day. It cleared long enough for us to visit the famous Salamanca Markets before making our way to the airport to fly home at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The flight was a little late & we arrived in Sydney about 7 o'clock.
In all it was a great week in spite of the few days of bad weather. We decided that we will just have to go back & play Barnbougle Dunes again - but pick a better weather time - if there is any.
Sunday was a recovery day (no golf) & we finished at the Golf Club for dinner & to catch the presentation for the Golfers Blog.
Monday (today) we were on F-Troop duty at the Golf Club & I split up the orchids that were donated to the club & planted them out.
The rest of the day it has been catch up here at home.
My tennis elbow has not improved so I am going to skip golf this week to hurry the healing process.
I will be putting a detailed report of the Tasmania holiday together with a lot more photos on my travl blog which I will do as soon as time permits.
In the meantime I have attached a few photos from each place I have been.
