Up at 4:30am to capture the dawn from One Tree Hill was a different way to start the day. It’s surprising how many people are out and about at this time. At least 3 of us silently watched the sun burst from a cloud bank on the distant horizon, framing Passage Peak and Cats Eye bay with a cacophony of colours.
Suspect the place has performed far more spectacular morning shows in the past and will again in the future. We’ll take what we are served though and be happy for it. Buggying back down the steep hill and sliding back into bed made the whole expedition worthwhile, waking a couple of hours later to see the HobieCats sliding over the waters was inspiration enough to hop down there and give it a go ourselves. After grabbing the inevitable coffee on the way we thus spent a lazy hour or so plying the waves, tacking and jibing without dislodging any heads this time. Spending time out there with a Green Sea Turtle was also a little bit spesh.
Splashing around in the resort pool (swim up bar not open
yet) with all the other people in the locale was a nice way to cool down after the
sailing hijinks. Having a couple of hours to kill – we could’ve gone for a
healthy walk but chose instead to lounge around the apartment in preparation
for the next adventure. This involved another boat/ferry over to Dent Island
for a salubrious lunch in the golf course clubhouse.
The only thing on this particular island is the golf course and is one
of the reasons why so many people come to HI at all. It is a championship
course, defined by the topography of a significant chunk of the Island. The
ferry goes back and forth hourly, there are mini busses on the other side to
get all and sundry up to the clubhouse where the golfers mount their carts to
do their rounds, restaurant diners take in the fabulous views whilst consuming
delicious grub and wedding guests sit around, eating, drinking and taking photos
of themselves looking the best they’re ever going to get.
We had a glorious lunch (way over the top in both calories and costs – but what a great experience!) and then got a tour of the course – which involved zipping around in our own carts – all in a row led by the oncourse professional who must have arguably one of the best jobs in the world.
It would not be possible to walk this course playing the game as there are significant distances between holes and a narrow, winding, hilly one-way concrete road connecting them all. This was golf carting to extremes – seems a bit strange that they ply us with alcohol and then let us scoot around the treacherous tracks with great abandon. Pretty good fun and the views are simply stupendous. Will play golf here one day, however when questioning the Pro he said they have sold a million balls since the course opened. That’s a lot of balls. And not surprising – this blogger would lose at least a couple a hole as there is no forgiveness here – It’s either hit it straight or say goodbye to it. Putting that one on the bucket list we bussed back down to the ferry and enjoyed the 10 minute crossing back to the main island with a boat load of happy guests, all so because they had all seemed to achieve their various aims of going there in the first place, mostly to do with balls. Even the wedding party.
Back to the accommodation, the lunch consumption caught up with us and we crashed out for the afternoon siesta (again!) – had a dip in local pool to wake up and then sat on the balcony watching the full moon rise over the distant hills that define the other side of the passage and the bay. Buggying into town to collect Fish & Chips for dinner and returned to balcony to watch the eclipse and the blood reddying of the moon. A very spectacular end to the day.
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