Yesterday afternoon I caught up with Scott, who I met 8 years ago when he was living in London. He’s an Aussie and a keen golfer, who I knew through golfing mates. We became pretty good mates while he was in England, playing together several times as he explored golf in the UK. I guess we’re quite similar in many ways, not least in that we can both be pretty outspoken. He worked as a tabloid journalist in the Uk but now he’s in PR for a government entity. His wife Kerry and he returned to Sydney some 6 years ago and now have two young daughters, the younger of who only arrived three weeks ago. Since he returned to Australia we’ve kept in touch electronically but we haven’t seen each other since.
I’m always amazed how easily you can slip back into talking to someone you haven’t seen for years. The idea was to get a few holes in to help me stay awake. We played 14 at Bonnie Doon, the course he belongs to. I took my camera but as we chatted and played simply forgot to take any photos. I’ll blame the jet lag. Bonnie Doon is undergoing a pretty substantial remodelling, led by Mike Cocking and Mike Clayton, with some input from Geoff Ogilvy. Scott has been a pretty strong advocate of their work and in the flesh it is easy to see why. Although not long, it feels a big course. Lots of trees have gone and there’s plenty of width. For an English golfer, the most striking thing is the use of substantial sandy waste areas but there’s some really clever use of contours and lots of shots where considering your options is essential. Clearly, as the work approaches completion, this is a course with some serious potential. I’m going to have to plan a return when all 18 are complete.
After the golf, we sat on the clubhouse balcony and drank a couple of beers. A great introduction to Australian golf, though after a decent start my game showed the affects of the journey, or at least that’s what I’d like to put it down to. I’m looking forward to catching up with Scott again a couple of times before I leave Sydney.After being dropped off back at the AirBnB I’m staying in, I chatted with Nick, one of the hosts and a friend of his. Both had visited the UK recently and we talked for an hour about the differences between our countries, Brexit (that always comes up in conversations with foreigners, I find) and politics more generally. Nice guys, and I enjoyed the conversation, but having felt fine all day, tiredness it liked wall at 9pm and I called it a day.
My first day in Australia was a long one but really enjoyable. It feels as if I have been here much longer than one day already. On Nick’s suggestion, I’m going to visit Manly today. I’m going to need to find a bar to watch the Melbourne Cup, which everyone here is anticipating. It seems the whole country stops to watch the race, and everyone I have spoken to suggests that no work gets done today, as Australians spend the morning betting and then retire to a bar to watch the race. Apparently even the Australian Parliament stops work to watch. Sounds like fun.
A Golfing Sabbatical in Australia 