Opening Scene: Getting to Dent
OffSprings both got up early and for some strange reason ran
over to Escape Beach and back before the rest of the cast had really woken up. By
now the tide has turned and is fully in in the morning and so the reports of that
side of the island being spectacular were unsurprising. Mid week the water ways
below the castle are definitely quieter than on the weekend. And thus hold a
certain mystique at times when there is no visible presence of mankind on them.
Very little opportunity to fully embrace the serenity though, as the script for the day had a very strict times to adhere to. Leaving Non-Blogger to her own devices (including buggy) the other 4 cast members packed their meager equipment and buggy’d down to the port. Blogger and OS no.2 whipped over the hill to get some take away coffees from the Koala’s in perfect time, as stark contrast to yesterdays shenanigans (after 2 trips to the island we now know this is the place to get early morning coffee’s away from the maddening throngs hanging around harborside).
Checked in on the ferry, and had the laziest safety instructions even given (i.e “if we get into trouble – read this sign, the lifejackets are in that cupboard, if you need to put them on read that sign how to do so, if the captain is lost – there’s a number to call down the back of the boat”...) and then across the rushing tidal waters to Dent Island we went.
Play of the Day Scene: 18 holes
<Sporting Dept Activated>
Dent has one purpose on the planet (according to first world
humans at least), that being a golf course, so of course we golfed. Lots
of it. For OS no.2 it was the first time she’d ever swung a club and what a
place to do it in. The views are spectacular, the fairways fair to play on and
the rough akin to an evil monster that feeds on balls and fear. We were warned
not to go into the knee high grass that lines the fairways as snakes are active
this time of year – that’s enough for this blogger to take heed. Probably also
how they have managed to lose over a million balls since the course first
opened. By scaring the beegeebes out unsuspecting tourists to stop them looking
for their wayward shots. If your ball goes off the fairway – forget it. And so
forget them we did. Lots of them. Blogger was getting pretty stressed by the 6th
as the stock of ammunition bought up from home was rapidly diminishing. And the
golf was pretty terrible as well (concepts interrelated of course).
On our side though, was there was no-one else on the course –
so we had it all to ourselves (pretty much) and therefore could stuff around as
much as we liked, and stuff around we did. Possibly one of the slowest rounds ever
played on the course – we were meant to take 4 hours – ended up being 6 ½ and
that was with the rush at the end. Ball shortage problem was solved when
Blogger and OS no.2 delved in to the forest behind the 6th green “there
must some balls in here as there is no grass” was the statement and by golly
there were. 5 minutes later we emerged with pockets brimming and then all the
cares in the world were lifted. The lord giveth and then we gave back to the
lord – pretty much all of them by the time we finished – balls being sprayed in
all directions – sometimes they even went where wanted them to go.
The teams were neck and neck by the end of the first half, stopped back at the rooms for a refresh (for about 5 minutes) and then started on the back nine. There is no way the course can be played by walking – the gaps between the holes are significant. It was designed to make the best of the island and with all the room they wanted – the idea of a 500m gap between events is no issue. The outcome is a spectacular and extremely challenging layout. By now the nice fluffy clouds that were protecting the us from worst of the blazing sun had disappeared and the heat of the day started to take its toll on the weary swingers. As we moved further and further away from the club house, higher and higher we got and the views more and more amazing. By the time we got to the south end of the island, time and distance seemed to be lost in the sheer joy of being there.
Our smart baggies interrupted our reverie by advising we had
to be back at the club house in 45 minutes as the last ferry was leaving
shortly after that – and we still had 6 holes to play… That shook us up. So the
game plan changed to 4 ball best ball and lets keep moving. Crazily enough all
of a sudden, shots started going straight and long and balls on greens started
to fall into holes (as directed) – so we had a hoot of time blasting our way
along the cliffs of the last 4 holes with no care, lots of laughs and new style
of game play. These last few holes even had longer gaps between them, the significant
placing of them in strategically located spots for challenging holes becoming
even more apparent.
Still no-one else on the course. If it had have been busy we
would have been totally stuffed, however as it was extremely quiet it was a
fabulous event and a hole lot of fun (18 of them in actual fact).
Made it back to the ferry in time and crossed back across
the tidal rip (going the other way) with a bunch of very properly dressed folk
who’d just gone there for the nosh and grog in the rooms (they would have articulated it somewhat differently of course).
Closing Scene: Exhaustion
What better way to wind down after a day of battle in the fields than with a relaxing dip in the moat back at the castle. It took the four gallant warriors at least an hour to do so whilst the lonely damsel was stuck in her tower, forlornly watching the sun set over the distant hills, wondering if she should let down her hair. Nuh stuff that – have a glass of white instead was the answer.
As far as memorable days go – that was a ripper.
1 comment:
Loud applause and a standing ovation!
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