Well today was when we parted with Sue and Andrew after 10 weeks of travelling together. We have done many trips with them over the years and this was another great trip. We are both going back to new homes, “happily” retired to do some renovating before our next adventure, when and wherever that may be! Thanks guys for your support and company on this leg of our Be Brave On Tour. Happy hour will be rather subdued from now!
After our dinner last night and breakfast this morning, we parted ways and headed north to near Gladstone and then west across the Great Divide to Biloela, a small town about 120 k’s from the coast. Biloela is more known recently for it being home to the Sri Lanka family that our government is trying to deport back to Sri Lanka, despite the 2 children being born in the town. They have been detained for over 18 months now waiting for the courts to decide. The whole town is behind them staying and I hope they win. Just another small minded politician (and Dutton fits that to a T) not showing any heart or common sense.
Unfortunately Biloela is not the town I would choose but I’m sure the locals are the caring type displayed by their support for the family. We are staying in the Heritage Centre for 1 night and there is certainly some heritage (or old crap) here.
Onwards west tomorrow as we head to Emerald, about 320 k’s northwest of here. A couple of days there and then another 400 k’s to Longreach , now we are talking QLD outback.
The “Last Supper”, our dinner with Sue and Andrew last night at the Bundaberg RSL. The food was great and the Guinness wasn’t too bad as well.Biloela Main Street, dark clouds around but it was 30 degrees. As you can see, not much happens in Biloela of a Sunday!One of the many old artifacts at the Heritage Museum where we are staying. This tractor is 25 years older than me, gee I really feel old when I saw that.
Just up the road from Elliot Heads is Coral Cove and it was here that Andrew and I played our last game of golf together on this trip. So you know what that means, more of Ray’s CRAPP coming your way.
Coral Cove resort started in the early 90’s but unfortunately has not had the best of years. It seems its fighting hard to stay open and with new owners prepared to put money into it, it might survive.
Although I have to say that a course that has a length of 11 k’s is always going to battle. I know the course travels thru the housing and resort but its extraordinarily long. It’s clam in to fame is to have Australia’s only par 6 hole and @ 635 metres its a doozy! Never the less we were not that impressed as our rating below testifies.
Design – 8 out of 20 (very long and difficult to understand, let alone play)
Condition – 12 out of 20 (Greens and fairways were very underdone for a supposedly high class course and the undulations on some fairways were very disappointing)
Cost – 14 out 20 (For playing a single round the cost was reasonable but their membership annual cost was very poor)
Visual Appeal – 11 out of 20 (being spread out so fare it was hard to gain a true appreciation. It looked nice but nothing special except for the 2nd hole)
Facilities- 8 out of 10 ( The facilities were good, although there was no operating bistro on a resort course which was surprising, apparently they can’t get anyone to work there in the current climate)
Ambience – 6 out of 10 (Unfortunately we just didn’t like the course, there was no “vibe”)
So after all that, we have a final score of 59, which is very disappointing from my point of view as I was really looking forward to the game. I only hope the new owners give it a lift but to be honest, having to traverse over 11 k’s to get around the course they may have
The Coral Cove Golf Clubhouse.The view across the 2nd green to the ocean. The only real water view and also probably the only real decent view on the course.
Andrew and I managed to get to the Bert Hinkler Aviation Museum this morning before our golf date in the afternoon.
Bert Hinkler was one of the very early Australian Aviators, born and breed in Bundaberg. He went off to WW1 and then lived in the UK predominantly, unto his death attempting to break the flying record to Australia crashing into a mountain near Florence in Italy at the age of 40. He is most remembered for the first solo flight between England and Australia in 1928 and he had other record breaking flights as well. It’s amazing that nearly 60 years later his legacy continued although tragically with NASA’s Shuttle flights, but more about that below with the photos.
Bert Hinkler’s presence is seen and felt all over Bundaberg and other than the “Rum” Bert Hinkley would have to be Bundberg’s next local famous icon but probably not known as much as “Bundy Rum”. Sir Kingsford Smith tends to get the major plaudits re Australian aviators but there have been many others that have contributed to Australia’s aviation history but Bert may have been number 1 when you look into his credits. Anyway it was a very good museum and well worth visiting if you are in Bundaberg.
Bert’s AVRO that he flew from Sydney to Bundaberg in. He landed in afield just up from his parents place and taxied it to and parked in the garden out front.This is a replica of the glider that Bert built and taught himself to fly near Bundaberg at Mon Repos.Bert’s family home in Bundaberg North was being renovated by its new owners and they discovered many components from Bert’s gliders that he had built 60 years earlier. The above is a part of a wing rib that was given to NASA and eventually found its way above the Space Shuttle “Challenger”. Dick Scobbee was the commander of Challenger and he had this in a sealed plastic bag in his locker on board the Shuttle. As we all know Challenger tragically exploded about 90 seconds after take off, killing all abound. A few days later the the plastic bag was found floating in the water. 18 months after the disaster, Dick Scobbee’s wife presented the above to the City of Bundaberg where it now resided in the Hinkler Museum. Truly an amazing story!Bert Hinkler’s home (Mon Repos) from Southampton in the UK, was disassembled and brought to Australia in 1983 and re-built in the Botanic Gardens. Basically a re-run of Captain Cook’s Cottage in Melbourne. The Hinkler Museum sits alongside “Mon Repos” within the Botanic Gardens in Bundaberg.
We’re at Elliot heads which is 20 k’s out of Bundaberg. Great caravan park right on the water, so we have the sound of the sea crashing onto the shore of a nighttime, probably the last time for awhile until we get into NSW.
Spent most of the day in Bundaberg and mainly at the Bundaberg Distillery Company, home of “Bundy Rum”. It’s been 46 years since I have visited this place, I was a 15 year old on a school trip and whilst the years have flown some of the memories came back in a flash today. Although I wasn’t allowed to take a big swig of Bundy from a vat today as I did back in 1974, I did notice a lot of stuff from that time. I suppose the smell of molasses doesn’t change over the years, only the appreciation of the end product, particularly now there are so many varietals. Bundy Banana & Toffee Liquor could become a special favourite!
After the Distillery tour it was lunch at Bundaberg’s famous Grunksie’s seafood restaurant on the Burnett River. A bit of fish cleaning was going on the river and the pelicans gave us a flyby by the squadron (that’s a collective noun for a group of pelicans flying, so who said I just give out “CRAPP”).
Tomorrow Andrew and I are of to play golf, the girls shopping before we have a final dinner tomorrow night. We are going our seperate ways Sunday, Sue and Andrew heading home to Wodonga and we’re heading out west into the outback.
Elliott Heads beach.Took awhile to get here but it was worth it!Which one will I choose!Say no more!A hungry Pelican riding the wind over the Burnett River next to Grunksie’s Seafood Restaurant in Bundaberg.Quick shot in the Bundaberg Botanical Gardens.
Well today was our last day in 1770 as we head off to Elliot Heads (Bundaberg) tomorrow. We’ve spent the last few days basically relaxing and looking around 1770 and Agnes Water.
1770 has been good but it seems like a lot of the costal towns down the Queensland cost are very similar, although 1770 does have the strong historical connection to Captain Cook. For this reason, after Elliott Heads we are heading inland to Longreach to see a bit of the Outback. Not so much sand there but red desert dust, which we have not seen for 2 months.
What a pity COVID hit this year, the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s trip “down under”. All along the eastern coast of Australia, particularly where Cook landed, towns had planned major functions to commemorate the occasion and now that has been lost. I suppose the 300th anniversary is something to look forward to and hopefully I’ll be around, all be it at 111 years of age! Fingers crossed!
HMS Endeavour was anchored here in the bay of what is now known as Seventeen Seventy on the 24th May 1770.The cairn that commemorates Cook’s landing in 1770!Walking thru an idyllic rainforest for “breakie”. Our own Dandenongs in Victoria has some idyllic settings but its hard to go past FNQ and the Capricorn Coast.A family fishing just off our caravan park. The Pelican was fishing himself, kept going after the bait in the pocket of Dad, who was getting pissed off!Susan in the “Mangroves”. The green colouring is the Coral Spawn that has been occurring up and down the coast near the Great Barrier Reef. Whilst here it looks green, in the water its brown and looks like an oil slick, not very attractive but not harmful!The LARC (Light Amphibious Resupply Cargo) vessel that we went out to “sail” around the bay and Eurimbula Recreation Reserve. These vessels are left over from the Vietnam War but perfect for tourist trips at 1770!All aboard the LARC “Sir Joseph Banks” for our trip on the water.The LARC “hanging 10” on a wave coming into shore!Sunset over 1770 Marina. What is unique about this photo is watching the sun set over the water on the eastern coast. There is very few if not none, places were you can see the sunset over the water on the east coast!
Andrew and I took the opportunity to play the 1770 Golf Course (you wouldn’t expect anything less) today. The course is just outside of Agnes Water which is 6 k’s from 1770. Its known as the Town of 1770 Golf Club.
It’s a rather unique little course with only 9 fairways and greens but 18 tee boxes. It’s not a long course but anything off the fairway is into heavily treed areas, no long rough here. It’s either fairway or forest, so with a strong southern easterly blowing at times, it was a challenge to keep the ball on the fairway.
Having only 9 fairways makes it hard to compare with other courses but as I have stated before, we can only rate the course as how it played on the day! So here is my CRAPP report for the 1770 Golf Course.
Design – 15 out of 20 (Would have had a higher rating if it had another 9 fairways similar to the 9 on fifer)
Condition – 16 out of 20 (The greens were particularly worth noting, very consistent with a good even pace and roll)
Cost – 18 out of 20 (Very good value at $30 for 18 holes)
Visual Appeal – 15 out of 20 (A very pleasant outlook of the club and the course when to arrive, good green colouring on the fairways despite minimal rainfall in recent months)
Facilities – 6 out of 10 (All faculties were there but very much a minimalistic approach)
Ambience – 7 out of 10 (All in all it was a nice course, not many members around, mainly because it was a Sunday but it seems, many use this club just for their handicap not to actually play)
So after all this the final rating is 77, which is equal second so far! I think if it was an 18 hole proper course then we may have had a new clubhouse leader. Andrew and I are having our final game together this coming Saturday at Coral Cove, not far from Bundaberg. It’s reputed to be a very fine course of Championship standard, so we are looking forward to that.
The Clubhouse and practice green in front.The 1st hole from the tee box.The 18th green with the clubhouse in the back ground.
Woke up this morning to a beautiful day but unfortunately it started badly with a flat tyre on the caravan. With the van having new tyres, it was surprising that I had a failure. So after some grunting and groaning I managed to change out the wheel for the spare to discover we’d picked up a wood splinter that had pierced the tyre tread. So a un-planned stop in Gladstone to get the tyre repaired eventuated. Whilst is was a set back it did enable us to see Gladstone and have brunch down by the water on the Auckland Inlet.
There was a reason we didn’t stop in Gladstone, its not the most attractive costal city you would find. Down by the water with the parks and gardens was nice but its an industrial/mining town and the infrastructure is easy to see from all parts of the town.
Once the tyre was repaired it was off to Seventeen Seventy our next stop on the trip. Seventy Seventy was the first place in Queensland where Captain Cook landed back in 1770, hence the name. We have been looking forward to staying here with Sue and Andrew, as they were here a few years ago and Rick and Lisa also stayed here and loved it. We are here for the next 5 nights, so there will be posts about our stay in 1770 coming up.
Tides in at Seventeen Seventy.Tides out at Seventeen Seventy! The caravan park is in the background, so you can see we are right on the beach again.
We left Yeppoon today after a very enjoyable 5 days, we would certainly come back to Yeppoon and stay at the same caravan park. It maybe our winter hideaway in future years.
From Yeppoon it was down to Rockhampton, where we had a quick stop. Funny that it ended up being the Rockhampton Golf Club but it was tucked in with the Botanic Gardens and the Zoo, so it was a nice area to have a drink and water the horses!
From Rockie it was back out onto Highway 1 and down to Marmor and Alkoomi Adventure Farm. This is another farm property that has utilised spare land to establish a camp/caravan area for travellers, mainly the “Grey Nomads” but they take anyone willing to pay. Most of the farm stays are off grid (no power or water) and pretty cheap as well. We had already spent 5 days without power at Yeppoon but the travel to Alkoomi from Yeppoon charged up our batteries, so another night without 240 power was no worries.
Alkoomi had all sorts of activities but as we were staying just the one night, we did not join in but it was a good place and maybe we’ll get back one day.
All set up at Alkoomi.Green one side and brown the other. I suppose its “horses for courses” as to which you prefer!Full moon tonight.
We took the opportunity to play Capricorn Resort Golf Course today, so for all you devotees, here is another CRAPP report!
As I have mentioned previously, Capricorn resort has been closed for approx. 5 years, its basically a ghost town but the owners (still the Japanese Iwasaki family) have continued with the Championship Golf Course and the Resort’s Japanese restaurant. The Resort Course has been closed for 5 years and the emphasis has been placed on the Championship Course.
Andrew and I decided we’d play of the “Blue” tees, basically the longest the course plays at over 7,000 meters and par 74, so the challenge was on. Unfortunately the maintenance on the course was commensurate with the numbers visiting. Whilst the course was still in reasonable condition, I’m sure it was much better in the past when the resort was open and thriving.
So here is our CRAPP score for the Championship course:
Design – 18 out of 20 (basically it was a very impressive layout, probably an 18 rating was on the low side).
Condition – 13 out of 20 (this is were the course fell down. The greens were in very good condition but the fairway in places could have been much better with more maintenance applied).
Cost – 20 out of 20 (Outstanding value at $40 per person including a cart. I’m sure once the rejuvenation of the resort goes ahead this will change but till then its the best value golf I’ve played in a very long time).
Visual Appeal – 18 out of 20 (As the photos below highlight, its a very pleasing course to the eye. Looking down some fairways and driving to new tees, you feel like your in the Daintree rainforest not in Yeppoon playing golf).
Facilities – 4 out of 10 (Unfortunately this is were it falls away big time. The Clubhouse is very impressive but only the ground floor is used. The carts are very old and the general facilities around the clubhouse is poor. Hoping the revamp will make a difference)
Ambience – 7 out of 10 (Overall our experience was very good but because of the situation the resort is in and there is no real club atmosphere, The ambience rating was lower than it should be).
So the overall rating is 79, which is equal to the Yeppoon Golf Course as the highest rated course so far on BBOT. It was really a very good course to play and probably the best so far but the ratings don’t lie, so instead of being number 1, its equal first with Yeppoon. Strange how the 2 courses in Yeppoon have come up trumps in the rating. I would love to come back in a few years and play it again after the resort is up and running again. This course is to good to let it rot away as it seems it is now, hopefully money will get it back up to were it belongs!
Coming up the 18th fairway to the green. It’s a very impressive outlook to the clubhouse.A very interesting par 3 @ 220 metres. No laying up here with the water covering about 40 metres in front of the green.The 9th green in front of the clubhouse. I’d be happy to play here each week for the price but maybe off the “White” tees and not the “Blue tees”. It’s a very long course and hard work off the Blue tees but we haven’t played a par 74 course before so we had to go Blues today!
Yes its more of my CRAPP, as today it was off to play Yeppoon Golf Course. As per our previous golf days, Andrew and I had to contend with a hefty breeze again. Yeppoon is not a long course but the wind in our faces on some holes made it feel longer. Fortunately the weather was kind, mid 20’s with little humidity, unlike our previous games were the humidity drained us. Anyway here are the ratings:
Design – 16 out of 20 (The design and layout was very enjoyable, only negative being an abundance of dogleg’s)
Condition – 17 out of 20 (Considering its the end of the dry season with not much rain in recent months, the course was in good nick, particularly the greens, which were about the best I’ve encountered on my trip).
Cost – 16 out of 20 (The cost of $26 for 18 holes was very reasonable, even considering it was mid week)
Visual Appeal – 15 out of 20 (A good looking parklands course. The initial view coming up the main drive to the clubhouse just lowers the rating slightly)
Facilities – 7.5 out of 10 (Good facilities but not all available due to COVID. Funny how all the clubs we have played have different interpretations of the COVID requirements)
Ambience 7.5 out of 10 (It had a good vibe about it considering it was not a Saturday comp. The club has a strong membership and both Andrew and I stated we’d be happy to be a member here).
So the CRAPP rating is 79, which is the highest rating of any course I’ve played on during BBOT. Still a few courses to play before I get home so we’ll see how Yeppoon finishes at the end.
The Yeppoon Golf Clubhouse.From the tee box on the 1st hole, looking down the fairway.Looking across the 18th green to the clubhouse.
Be Brave on Tour 