Tuesday 29th March 2011

We have had an amazing first week of our golf/touring holiday in Western Australia.

The weather has been picture perfect but the week was not without incident.

Monday 21st March 2011 we left on schedule for the airport but then had our first incident about Turramurra where the limo front wheel started to wobble. It was unsafe to continue so we had to wait for a reserve limo to finish our journey to the airport which we made by 15 minutes. We rushed through our check in a bought some sandwiches on the run for lunch.

A couple of hours into the flight we had our second incident when I suddenly became violently ill, causing havoc on the plane. I suspect food poisoning which possibly was the half sandwich we had on the run to the plane. I was so sick the hostess moved Peter & I to business class much to the relief of the fellow passengers. I was mortified as I never suffer from motion sickness and actually enjoy flying. I suppose that was one way of getting to business class. I do not remember much about Perth airport except where the toilet was.

We checked into the Vines Resort in the Swan Valley for two days. Our rooms were lovely & the resort well set out with all the trimmings you would expect of a golf resort. The only problem we had was the distance that we had to walk from our rooms to the main amenities. Unfortunately I could not eat for two days so I did not appreciate the resort as much as I would have otherwise done.

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 we played golf on the Lakes Course at the Vines Resort in beautiful weather. I was still sick but did not want to miss out on the golf so I joined everyone for the day & it was a very successful day.

Wednesday 23rd March 2011 we travelled to Mandurah for our golf part of the tour.

We stayed at the Sebel Hotel which was right on the waterfront & a beautiful place to be.

Our rooms were really good with plenty of room and it was easy to walk around the waterfront to the shops and restaurants. In the afternoon we took a ferry ride around the shoreline & saw some dolphins in play in the bay.

Thursday 24th March 2011 we played golf at Meadow Springs Golf Course which we really enjoyed. It was a beautifully kept course & again we had perfect weather.

Friday 25th March 2011 we played golf at Kennedy Bay Golf Course which is a links course with the most deadly bunkers which was very daunting. It was a hard course but we really enjoyed the day. At this stage I came down with a head cold which was very annoying as I had fully recovered from my stomach problem.

Saturday 26th March 2011 we played golf at Secret Harbour Golf Course. It was another links course but a little friendlier that Kennedy bay. We had some good scores come in that day so we had a really great day.

Sunday 27th March 2011 we played golf at The Cut Golf Course. It was a stunning course along the beachfront with fabulous views. We found it difficult to play but we were up to the challenge. We all enjoyed the day and we were very lucky that we did not have any wind to interfere with the day. We had our incident no 3 during the night when there was a fire alarm at the hotel at 4.00am in the morning. We were all evacuated from our rooms out into the front street which was a lot of fun.

Monday 28th March 2011 we all went our separate ways as we left Mandurah. Col & Lauren were flying back to Sydney. Col & Alice got a hire car of their own & went off to do some touring of the Margaret River area. Mark & Anne continued with us still sharing our hire car to do our touring part of the tour. We travelled to Albany via Boddington & Wagin which took us through some farming country. We checked into the All Seasons hotel which was more like a motel. Our rooms were very ordinary but the restaurant & location made up for the rooms. The restaurant had good and reasonably priced meals so we ate at the hotel for the whole of our stay in Albany which was very convenient.

Tuesday 29th March 2011 we had a discovery tour of Albany visiting the Wind Farm, The Whale World and some of ther lookouts. We checked in at Albany Golf Course & the boys booked in for a game the following day. It was Men's day only so Anne & I are taking a rest day.

We have had a great holiday so far with more to come. So keep checking in. I will update when I can find some time.