Stories From Down Under: Day 16 - 19

Jan 19th - 22nd Day 16 - 19

Barnbougle
(Karen)

We finally made it to Barnbougle. Lesson #1: world famous golf does NOT mean accommodations or amenities are also world class. Upon arrival, we checked in at the golf shop and were told to drive to our rooms. We immediately missed the "white glove" treatment from Saffire. Our rooms were "basic" at best -- they did not even come with a dresser nor a closet. We were no longer "posh!" 😱 The exciting part of this trip is that our great friends Elaine Cosseboom and Bud Schultz are now part of our Sisselberg group. (And we are officially the Schultzeboomsisselbergs!)

The lack of amenities extended to the golf experience. No golf carts (pushcarts only and they are the basic pushcarts -- no baskets nor water bottle holders). But we were there for golf and the course was beautiful. We had three really fun days of golf.

Day one, we played the Barnbougle Dunes course and it was very windy (approx 25 mph winds). The strong winds made for a very challenging and tiring day (pushing our big carts up the hill into the wind). Day two, we played Barnbougle Dunes again. No wind. The good news re: no wind is that the Wallabies come out to play; they were hopping around the course. The bad news is that the flies also come out. They are not cute nor fun (notice the hood on Beth which she wore to keep the flies away!).

Day three we played the Lost Farm course and we had caddies. We each had our own caddy since these caddies are retirees and each pushes a cart (my caddy had an electric cart and Elaine's caddy couldn't hear!). We also had a "caddy in training," who was a buddy of Beth's caddy and he just walked along with us. They may not have been the best "instructional" caddies but they were fun to chat up and they were full stories.

The best part of our last day of golf is that we played a match: girls and against the guys best ball. To be far, the guys didn't have a shot at winning since we (especially me) got so many strokes (Bud is a scratch golfer!). The stakes were a gourmet, five course, home cooked meal. I can't wait to see Larry in an apron!

We all agreed that despite our first impressions Barnbougle was a great destination and a perfect addition to our Tassie experience.

On Monday, we set off two hours early for our ride to the Launceston Airport. The plan was to stop at a Lavender Farm, which was highly recommended by our caddy. A mile down the road, we stopped to fill our rental car with gas. This small stop turned into an unexpected -- and unwelcome-- adventure. After filling the tank with unleaded petrol, Steven learned that our car takes diesel! In Steven's defense, our previous rental car also took diesel and there was a big red sign next to the tank and our rental contract stated this vital information. Anyone familiar with diesel knows that you can not drive with petrol -- it will destroy the engine. Luckily, the gas station had an adjacent auto shop. After some convincing (and a flash of some Aussie bills), we convinced Ivan to juggle his schedule and spend the next hour draining the gas so that we could add diesel and be on our way. We missed the Lavender Farm, but most importantly made it to Launceston in time for our flight.

We are now at our final destination: Melbourne.