Nelson Capers (and the Caddy extraordinaire).

At the end of October I finally made the long-promised trip to Nelson to play some courses and visit my good friends Rhonda and Megannan.

Wilma and I drove up on a Friday afternoon after she finished work and we  broke the journey at Murchison so I could get up in the early hours and dash across the camping ground to play a quick 9 Holes before breakfast.

Wilma and the resident pet saw me off at 8 am and I headed to the deserted golf course....

Ya all come back now!

 How glorious being the first player out on the course with the early morning mist just lifting...

and only my footprints and the trail of my ball in the dew to tell the sad story of a par missed...

Near miss on the 6th Green.

As for Conifers.....check these beauties out:

 As I headed up the 8th Fairway Wilma appeared on the horizon and joined me to pushed the trundler and take some photos.
A lovely 54 was scored and with No.31 course completed we continued up the road to Nelson.











 Now Rhonda ( my friend in Nelson) 

hates golf
or so she professes,and has always said she would never be seen on a golf course.

But she Loves me

and she loves an occasion so she very good-naturedly agrees to caddy for me.Not only does 
she caddy for me but she also shouts me most of the rounds I play in Nelson as a belated birthday present. 
And getting into the spirit of things we have to go in search of the perfect caddy outfit for her because she insists she wears a different outfit for each course. A girl has to look her best afterall!

Caddy Extraordinaire.

   We are a team............. stylin'it.

Rhonda ready for the 1st ever golf course experience @ Maitai

Lippy on..@Kina Cliffs

Gals at Best Island.

  And she was a great photographer too once we sorted out the brief
          i.e the photos were to tell a narrative of the round not to be arty creations and      
               juxtapositions of line,light and colour. In the end she took two cameras with her
               so she could fulfil my needs for narrative and hers for art.
            I certainly got a lot of action shots:

And she did not forget the Conifers ...

In Nelson I played:

              No 32 @ Waahi Taakaro (Maitai Valley)  
                            The major challenge being the Maitai River itself which I had to 
                                           drive over on the 1st shot of the round.Although I cleared the river
                                            beautifully I was not so lucky with a later lateral water hazard.

Driving over the Maitai.

Ooops!

    

 
 

 




         
              No 33@ Greenacres in Best Island.

                        Naturally we sang the theme music from Zsa zsa Gabor's famous 'sitcom' as 
                        we drove up the road to the Golf Club.This course was very flat but played 
                        along the Waimea Estuary with great views of the hills of Nelson. I 
                         managed to get a bit of bird watching in here as well as golf (Tineke will be
                         relieved to hear.)

Yellowhammer.

Spoonbills on Waimea Estuary.

     

                 No 34 @ Kina Cliffs.
          This has got to be in my top three of courses I have played.Fantastic and
               distracting views on every hole and each hole uniquely challenging.I would
                gladly play here again any day and we had an especially blue -skyed one.
                There were hills and uneven lies; there were plateau greens where the ball
                 just did not want to stick;there was water to avoid around some of the greens
                 and there were scary drives up and over bush to be made.
                A hard won 62 was scored
                 here but I was pleased with that given the difficulty of the course.Such a 
                beautiful course and we had it to ourselves!

Up and over the bush!No 3.

Hard to concentrate with a view like that!

An awkward lie.

  
And last but by no means least No 34 @ Nelson Golf Club.

    I had not intended to play this course as I figured it was a bit expensive and would be hard to get a Tee time but due to Rhonda's orchestration I was invited to join a group of wonderful ladies who had a gap in their Four as one of their number had done her Achilles tendon.
I was the youngest by about 30 years I think but believe me these ladies were no slouches and a great outing was had,Rhonda being especially happy to follow a full foursome around and record it for posterity.

Luckily I acquitted myself  well with a 56 so my partner Mary and I won the Match Play.
I was particularly pleased with my Par on the tricky No 6.
This course has recently had some huge number of trees cut down to make it into a 'real' Links course,but the day I played it was sunny and still.
Thank you Ladies for fantastic experience and what an honour to play with such inspirational women. I sure hope I am still getting around a golf course in such good spirits as you all are myself, in another 30 years.

And a big thanks to dear Rhonda for so whole-heartedly embracing my 'project' and coming along for the ride even though she hates Golf.
Hmm and she may even be there on a golf course again soon to witness me finish my 50th one.........................




The itinerary for my Nelson trip also included Motueka and Golden Bay where I would play golf and see some dear friends that were especially supportive of me as I was going through treatment 41/2 years ago.
I cut my trip short as sadly I needed to return for the farewell and funeral of sweet Lorraine.
A very brave lady who had undergone surgery that made mine look like a walk in the park(and it wasn't!)

I drove home in a gusty Nor west trying to make it for the Vigil on the Friday night.By the time I got to Culverden I realized I was not going to make it in time.

So I stopped , and played a very meditative round of golf, singing songs and trying to tune in to the Vigil.
The wind died down and everything became still and clear. A quiet peace enveloped me and as I holed out on  the 9th I looked up and saw this :

 

   




   
  
                                         

Introductions

But wait there is more.
There was another reunion to be had on my return.

(I had to abandon the earlier entry as the text suddenly went weird on me and I don't know how you correct that. 
Any ideas?)


On the eve of my departure to Invercargill I had spent the evening with Vida's 'Mum' at the emergency vets whilst Vida underwent a Caesarian delivery.
It was time also to see how she was recovering and to meet her pups.

She was standing behind the gates when i walked up the driveway and gave the strangest  gratified little bark when she saw me and rushed to greet me and herd me inside to show me her pups.

A serious little dog by nature, she is proving to be a most diligent and  solicitous mother.
There has been no golfing since my return to Christchurch ,but a lot of taking Vida out for a break from her progeny.

Vida showing me her pups.

 
Having shown me the pups she retires from the room to sit in the lounge (where she is not supposed to be!) and peers at me as I handle the pups-3 boys and 1 girl.
The Dad is a Border Terrier and none of them look like her at all !

Vida watching me.

Dog Days indeed.

I shall get back to the golf narrative tomorrow so stayed tuned for tales of  exceptional caddies and sibling rivalry.

Reunions and Returnings

Here I am ,back by popular request.

Back from my southern sojourn with Dad and No.2 Brother.
There were family gatherings and Jubilee events attended.

My Auntie Ona & Jack her brother(Dad)

Auntie Jean -obviously their sister!

The cousins-Wendy,Annie,Ariel ,Hamish.

There were Rest-home ramblings and reminiscences on the roads of Southland with Dad regaling us with stories of how long the trip between Winton and Gore actually took in a Baby Austin! And how the Edendale Hill has shrunk in these modern times of fleets of milk tankers. 
There was hail and heat and those clear blue skies when you feel you can see for ever.
And sun setting after half nine at night.

27C in Bluff and clear views of Stewart Island

And there was 

 good-natured rivallry

 on the golf courses of Southland as No. 2 Brother and I tried out a sample of the Fairways on offer(when we weren't in the rough of course)!

Hamish & Ariel @ Drummond  after the Jubilee

All in all a most exciting adventure which I shall expand on in the days to come as I attempt to get this Blog up to date before the end of the Fifty Fairways project on February 14th(my birthday) .

A perfect holiday , and with no regrets on my return as a great surprise awaited me.

The morning I flew back to Christchurch I received a text from Butler's 'Mum' saying they were in Christchurch for the weekend and I was welcome to come get Butler at any time. 

Well,well well. What a reunion.

Wilma picked me up from the airport but as she had to return to work I dropped my bags off at home and headed straight out to Brighton to see my wee friend.He saw me as I came through his old gate and stood absolutely still in the window for a split second before his whole body started wagging,too excited even to bark he came rushing out of the house and down the path to bounce all around making excited dog squeals and whimpers of delight.
After a quick catch up with the human friends, whilst Butler leapt about beside himself in joy, we headed off for a ramble over the Rawhiti Golf Course and down to the beach for some serious games of ball and bonding.
A beautiful experience that was repeated the following day also before I again had to say goodbye to my little four-legged mate. But his 'Mum' has invited me to come and stay at their house in Ohope sometime this year. She reckons she might go away for a break and I can look after Butler Boo for her...now that's something to look forward to. 

Hanging out with Butler Boo

 

Happy Butler 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Departures and Arrivals

Heading off to Invercargill on the 3 pm flight.
Meeting Hamish and Dad at the airport at two.
Am in a terrible rush trying to do my packing at the last minute as had only 3 hours sleep last night.
Had hoped to get this Blog up to date before I left and regale you with tales of a most amazing Caddy.
But last night Vida , my dog friend, went into labour at about 7.30 and things did not go well.
Her "Mum" had to get her to the Emergency Vet about 9 pm ,where I joined them.

Quick decisions had to be made to save her life and hopefully at least some of the puppies, as the placental sacs of two of them were out but no puppies in the birth canal to pull out!
Little Vida was so tired and had her 'please do something' look in her eyes.

A caesarian delivery seemed the only option.
She was prepped and under in no time.
We wait till 1.30 am until we could finally see her.
Very out of it on morphine.
But with four squirming brown pups(they look a bit like rats actually at this point)trying to feed.
The wonderful Vet nurses had managed to revive all three of the pups that weren't breathing.
Phew!



Photos will follow.
But you will have to wait till later to hear of my Nelson exploits and the caddy'extraordinaire' with an outfit for every occasion rivaling my own.

And how I got to the grand total of 39 courses played.

Oh alright just one photo then to give you a taste of what is to come.

Rhonda the Caddy strikes a pose to indicate the next hole.