Saturday 18th February 2012

Gosford Golf Club at 7.00pm Sauturday 11th February 2012

Gosford Golf Club at 7.00pm Saturday 11th February 2012

Golf Presentation Night - speaker Alan Davidson

and Club Patron Les Arndell

Our Southern Highllands Golfing holiday has regretfully come to an end.  We had a good time in spite of the interference of wet weather to the golf courses.

We had a few days recovery between our two weeks at Byron Bay and our golfing excursion which gave us a bit of catch up time at home.

Wednesday 8th February 2012 I spent the whole day cleaning out the front gardens which had become a jungle in the couple of weeks that we were away mainly due to the constant rain that had fallen.  The weeds are loving it.

Thursday 9th February 2012 was also more gardening and catching up at home/

Friday 10th February 2012 I cut some roses to take to my hairdresser Kath who had the job of rejuvenating my hair which had grown very long while we were away.  Kath reminded me that I had a facial credit on hand so I was able to have a facial at the same time which was a bonus.  Friday afternoon at 5 o'clock we went over to Rod and Anne's to look after Joel and Emily while they went out to a friends birthday party.  It was dress up night so Rod went as a pirate and Anne went as his parrot.  I had a red feather boa in my dress up wardrobe which was perfect for the parrots head and a green and gold vest (from Irish Day dressup) which completed the look.  Peter was on raffle duty at the club so he came back after that to take me home.  Joel was very good & we had fun playing with his toys and reading books.  Emily was an angel and slept for the duration except for her night feed after which she went straight back to sleep.

Saturday 11th February 2012 we drove to Shane & Sam's place at Gwandalan to check the new house out.  It is a much bigger home on a lovely block of land than we thought and they have got a lot of work ahead of them to update it all but the house has got a lot of potential.  Shane had painted the main bedroom which looks nicely refreshed.  The house outlook is good with a lot of verandah space and entertainment areas.  The garden needs a lot of work -  but all in good time.  While we were in the area we called in to see Len and Helen at Summerland Point.  They are only a short distance from Shane & Sam which is great. When we got back to Gosford we found that our street was being refurbished with new bitumen which will fix all the potholes out the front of our house that were getting very bad.  I wish we had known earlier that all the diggers and tractors were going to be there as Joel could have been over to have a look.  He is right into diggers, trucks, rollers etc and would have been beside himself to see them all in action.  At 6.30 we went over to the Golf Club for the Annual Club Presentations so that I could record it all for the Golfers Blog.  It was a good night and well attended.  Unfortunately there were no trophies for me this year.  My golf is at the crest of a slump.

Sunday 12th February 2012 we were packed and ready at 8 o'clock for our Southern Highlands week of golf.  We were booked in to play at 1.30 pm at the Wollongong Golf Club where we intended staying for two days. There was a group of eight of us to play golf and we were looking forward to a great week.  When we arrived at the Wollongong Golf Club to check in we found that the course was closed due to the recent storms and they did not know when it would reopen.  That was a blow to all our arrangements so we managed to get into Gibraltar Country Club at Bowral which has got a similar stay & play golf package deal to Wollongong.  The accommodation was beautiful with huge bedrooms and ensuites.  There was an in house restaurant and bistro, indoor pool and gym.  The golf course was very wet and not in good condition.  We managed to have a five holes of golf in the afternoon before the weather closed in and poured down more rain.  We had dinner at Gibraltar that night and Mark presented Anne with a diamond and ruby ring to celebrate her birthday and 40 years of marriage which was a good highlight for the week.

Monday 13th February 2012 it was too wet to play at Gibraltar so we decided to play at Highlands Golf Course at Mittagong which was a drier area.  We were able to have carts there which surprised us as the course was very wet.  It was a lovely course with some very challenging holes.   Peter discovered that he had left his bathroom bag at home with all his medications in it so we found a Doctor at Mittagong who was able to give him another script.  I was in the woes as well as I had an infected tooth which was causing me some grief.  The Doctor gave me a prescription for some antibiotics which took down the swelling which will get me through until I can get to my dentist at home.  As well as that I had developed a head cold and spent the week somewhat under par which was a shame.  While we were at the chemist we spotted some heart shaped chocolates that were Valentine Day gifts so Peter bought one each for us girls. We went back to Gibraltar and had dinner there so that none of us had to drive.

Tuesday 14th February 2012 Peter presented all the girls with a chocolate at breakfast to celebrate Valentine's Day which was another highlight for us. We played golf at Highlands at Mittagong once again as it was still the driest course around.  It was still very wet underfoot but much better than the course at Gibraltar.  There was thunder and lightning in the distance and by the time we finished our golf the rain had arrived in force.  It was very heavy in the Wollongong, Picton area and Bowral also got a lot more rain.   We were booked into Dormie House at Moss Vale for the next three nights.  The course there had got a lot of water and there were no carts allowed at that time.  We checked into our rooms without any trouble.  We had a nice room overlooking the practice putting green that had a king size bed and small bathroom but adequate.  It is very old style accommodation which is quaint but in need of maintenance.  Some of the rooms were not as big as ours so it is luck of the draw.  The dining room was good and they had plenty of lounge/sitting rooms & nice outside areas in the gardens.  Dormie House is part of the Golf Club which is right next door walking distance away.  The Pro Shop was well presented and the staff very helpful.  There were  no carts allowed on the course.

Wednesday 15th February 2012 the carts were still not allowed on the course.  We were booked to play early in the morning in the daily competition.  It was still raining at breakfast time so we decided to wait and play social golf in the afternoon.  I was not feeling well so went back to bed for an hour or so.  We drove into Moss Vale later in the morning and had a look around the shops.  The others went for a drive to see the Fitzroy Falls which they said was lovely.  We met up with some of the other Gosford Golfers that were staying at Dormie House at the same time as us & arranged to play golf with them in the afternoon.  It was a long hard walk around the course that day as it was heavy and wet which made it hard going.  We were all very tired when we finished so needed a nanny nap before dinner.  We had our own table in the dining room which was very sociable.

Thursday 16th February 2012 there were still no carts allowed on the course so we had to walk the course again.  It was a nice hot day so that made the golf more pleasant.  The boys had a golf challenge day between them so I played with Alice and Lauren.  We managed to scramble our way around with Lauren managing to play half the course & then walked the rest of the way with us.  Anne could not play golf without a cart so she treated herself with a new hairdo an manicure.  We had lunch at the golf club We needed another nanny nap after that so we all met for dinner later that night.

Friday 17th February 2012 we needed to check out of Dormie House and return home.  Our original thoughts were that we would pick a course somewhere on the way home and have another game on the way home.  All the courses we thought might be good did not have any carts out because the courses still had not recovered.  The big corporate day that was to have been held at Moss Vale had been cancelled which meant that we could get back on the course early.  They also had the carts back on which meant that Anne could have a game.  It was a nice hot day in the morning and we found the course much easier to play with carts
We had reached the 16th hole when we could see dark clouds rolling in. Thunder and lightning were in the background.  By the time we had played the 17th the course sirens went off to call us in off the course. It was a shame as we only had one hole to play and Peter had a really good score.  As it turned out the storm bypassed Moss Vale and we got very little rain.  We had a few drinks and a late lunch at the club after golf and set off for home about 2.00pm.  It was a long slow trip home through Sydney on a Friday afternoon as we expected it would be.  We all got home safely after stopping off for some bread and milk I was happy to have an early night.

Saturday 18th February 2012 (today) we had a nice sunny day which was good to get all the washing up to date. I had to go out to the chemist for some more antibiotics for my tooth and picked up some fresh fruit etc.  I was able to get an appointment for next Monday to see my dentist about my tooth which I was happy about.

The rest of the day has been a bit of a catch up and another early night coming up tonight as I am still feeling under par.  We are not booked in to play golf tomorrow so may give it a miss until my energy levels rise.