Sydney – More Golf

Following a day off for the harbour cruise it was back to the main focus of our trip – golf.

Opened in 1899, Killara golf club is described as being on Sydney’s north shore, 14 km from downtown. It’s in the hills, similar to Pymble GC which we played earlier.

Described as a parkland course the fairways are bordered by giant gum trees. In turn, those trees provided cover for the flocks of cockatoo birds that, while neat to look at, have an incredibly loud screech.

It was a tough walk with the small wheel trolleys but the early leg pain has subsided.

The day ended with a BBQ hosted by the club and another great evening to chat with our new found Aussie friends.

The next day we set off for Manly GC in the north beaches region. Founded in 1903, Manly was one of the four founding clubs of the New South Wales golf association.

Sadly as we arrived, so did the rain. It drizzled, it rained, it poured! We all began our round but over the course of the next few hours, most abandoned and headed indoors. In fact, Mark and his host and one Canadian lady and her host were the only golfers to stick it out and play all 18 holes. We were rewarded for our perseverance (?) with a nice gift from the club.

Those that stopped early found something to pass the time.

Because of the rain the camera never came out so these pictures have been lifted from different sources.

The course is extremely tight in some areas with heavy forested boundaries, lots of water and penalty areas crossing the fairways. Keeping it in play with wet hands and slippery grips was a challenge.

Fortunately it was a red jacket dinner at the club so everyone had a complete change of clothes. Speeches and an exchange of gifts concluded the evening.

Back at the hotel it was organized chaos as everything had to be hung to dry as we’re packing up and heading to Melbourne tomorrow. The forecast there is dry and extremely hot. Fingers crossed.