KEEPING MY POWDER DRY

 I've been checking out golf courses to see if there's one I want to join (and can afford).

On Monday I played 9 holes at Karori Golf Club. The course is pretty good but a bit too remote. I'd probably think twice each time before driving the 25 minutes to it - it's less of a last minute decision to play.

Today I played 9 holes at Berhampore (Mornington Golf Club). This is the one I first played on back in about 1962. It's changed a bit but still has the 'goat track' holes I remember. The course is nice but the hills are challenging.

It was good weather on both days that I played - lots of blue sky, sunshine with no wind. Yes, this is Wellington I'm talking about. Sadly though, this is unlikely to be the case through Autumn and Winter.

The 9 hole round at both courses cost $25 (Berhampore cost is $25 for both a 9-hole or an 18-hole option! Maybe they think most casuals won't be able to do the 18 holes and they are correct as far as I'm concerned as I don't have either the stamina or interest to play 18 holes at a go).

The membership cost (9 hole midweek) at Karori is $750 a year although the first year introductory is discounted to $560.

Berhampore 9 hole midweek membership is $485 but full membership (7 days a week 18 holes) for a Gold card holder is $545 (non Gold card is $740 a year with $590 first year introductory).

Are you with me so far?

Looking at the best on-going deals offered at each:

Karori: $750

Berhampore: $545

 Berhampore gets the nod.

I then thought about the frequency that I might play at either and, assuming at best, once per week less the unplayable times in Autumn and Winter, I came up with an optimistic 36 times which, at $25 a round would add up to $900 paying green fees.

Looking at it another way, to get 'my money's worth' at Karori I'd have to play 30 times a year and at Berhampore 22 times. Berhampore once more gets the nod.

I'll put it to the boss aka The Old Girl, She Who Must Be Obeyed and occasionally, Her Indoors to see what she thinks.

If I were to carry on paying green fees and, over the next few months play 10 times, that's half the cost of the Berhampore membership - a 'no brainer' as those other bloggers will be familiar with.

*******************

A side note: Playing at Berhampore to day I managed to lose my sunglasses which I'd bought on-line back in August. These are polarised colour-changing ones which fortunately were still available to buy on-line at $42 (delivered). I ordered another pair and hopefully they'll arrive in a few days.

THEY'RE HERE

 

As you can see the new computer chair mats arrived and have been installed.

"Whew" I can hear you say.

Nothing to do with this:

A GOOD WALK RUINED*

* 

 I took some more interesting photos of shadows today and would have shared them except that a grumpy old ingrate has shown no interest.

If it wasn't for the fact that he makes up for about 90% of the readership of this blog I'd have ignored him but ... beggars can't be choosers.

Today I drove out to Makara - a camel and a packed lunch away- and played 9 holes at Karori Golf Club.

I did this to check out the course to see if I wanted to join it. It was a 23 minute drive from Thorndon even though the golf course website reported it as being 15 minutes from Wellington! Who did they use - Sterling Moss? There were some roadworks in Karori and the new Karori village speed limits have slowed things down a bit but ... 15 minutes - really?

I also wanted to see what the course was like in regard to upkeep, condition, location and interesting features. While not as interesting as The Pines in Whangarei Heads where I've been a member I think it will do. I also think that they might let me join without being blackballed in the vetting process given that they have bogans from Northland as members!

I'll try out some other clubs but, on talking to some members there, they said that one of the advantages of Karori is that it was easy to get a tee time and that during the week members can come and go and play a few holes without having to wait around. This casualness is what I've been used to at The Pines so is an attraction. I don't want a formal membership where I have to play in groups.

It was the first golf I've played for months and months and for every good shot I played I followed up with a crap one. That's OK though as I'm only interested in the exercise and the chance of finding some golf balls. The course is a bit hilly but this will help with my fitness. I think that I might join as a 9-hole member.

"I'M TOUCHING CLOTH HERE"

With apologies to the more sensitive readers this video clip from Still Game is very funny.

Richard, in his blog posts, often mentions the urgent need to use the toilet. It reminded me of Winston in Still Game.

STILL GAME

LIFE IN THE SHADOWS

 One of the The only interesting thing on Richard's blog this morning was an image he used.

This is a good photograph that he stole from somewhere and it makes good use of stripes and shadows. I like stripes and shadows. See: LIFE IMITATING ART

Yesterday there were some interesting shadows cast in our house and on a neighbour's house.

This one reminds me of a Gordon Walters painting as seen below

This one reminds me of a Piet Modrian painting as
 seen below:

I trust you enjoyed that. No need to thank me.

LETTING YOU KNOW

I went for a long walk this morning exploring the Ahumairangi bush walks for future expeditions.

This from the web:

Te Ahumairangi (formerly known as Tinakori Hill) is packed with a network of trails.
The most popular trail is the Ridgeline Track which runs from the corner of Orangi Kaupapa Road and Bedford Street in Northland, up and over to Weld Street in Wadestown.
The Northern Walkway also climbs up from St Marys Street near Wellington Botanic Gardens in Thorndon to join the Ridgeline Track.

Elephant Rock loop
Start near the corner of Grant Road and Poplar Grove in Thorndon. Head up the track to junction and a large rock known as Elephant Rock. Follow the Northern Walkway uphill and past the East-West Connector, then turn right to quarry. Go past the old quarry and descend to Grant Road.
You can lengthen this walk by staying on the Northern Walkway until a sign on your right points the way to Wadestown Road and Sefton Street. Follow the markers back to Grant Road.
Use the mobile optimised webmap of Ahumairangi Elephant Rock Loop to help you navigate the complex Wellington Town Belt trail network. Tap the crosshair icon on the webmap and allow location services to locate yourself on the map.
Stellin loop
Start at Stellin Memorial Park carpark.
Walk up to the Memorial, then turn left down a flight of steps. Take the next right up the lookout, then up steps to the picnic area and uphill briefly on the sealed road (Ridgeline Track). Take the first right downhill into the forest until you come out overlooking Thorndon. Head down then turn right onto Stellin Track back to the Memorial carpark, or alternatively continue downhill on the Stellin Track towards the Botanic Garden.
Use the mobile optimised webmap of Ahumairangi Stellin Loop to help you navigate the complex Wellington Town Belt trail network. Tap the crosshairs on the webmap and allow location services to locate yourself on the map.

These are a network of tracks heading up, down and side to side. No doubt the old ex members of the Prowse Garden Road gang know about these tracks but they are new to me. I'm going to enjoy walking them even though they are in need of maintenance (but then, so am I).

I miss the bush walks of Whangarei Heads and, while not as spectacular in terms of coastal views and birdlife, the Te Ahumairangi ones will do. There are also the Otari-Wilton's bush walks a bit further over that I'll try as I build up my fitness levels. 

I'm going to enjoy this and the tracks begin a short walk away from home along Hobson Street, Tinakori Road and Grants Road.

So now you know.

"NOTHING NEW HERE" ...

 ... said the grouch from Wainuiolalaland, accessing my blog too early.

I've had a full day made up of a long walk around the waterfront early this morning, shopping and tidying up/sorting out the study/office.

It's been a bit of a mess since we moved in with lots of things just dumped on the shelves but today I spent a couple of hours sorting through papers and filing them in dedicated boxes. Believe it or not it looks a lot better which hopefully you can see here:

The computer chair mats I bought a couple of weeks ago are about to get the humpty-doo as The Old Girl doesn't like them. She has ordered a couple of clear plastic ones on-line so I guess my purchases will go to the garage and will be positioned under the exercise machines. Hey ho - a glass of Champagne is calling ...

NOT THE LAUNDRY POST, BUT ...

 I had fun today doing the vacuuming.

No, I haven't gone doolally or joined Robert in his commercial cleaning activities. I tried out the internal vacuum system in the house.

The Old Girl has been using it but it's the first time that I've given it a go. It works very well. There is a main 'engine' on the ground floor in a cupboard below the stairs. This drives the system that has plug-in outlets on each of the three levels. It is powerful with that added advantage of not having to drag a vacuum cleaner around which is a plus when cleaning the stairs.

I enjoyed using it but suspect that the excitement will rapidly wear off and it will become another chore. Hey ho.

GING GANG GOOLIE

 

I'm spending some time in the study this morning (The Old Girl is at work - at her office in town) making arrangements for our trip to Australia in August.

We were planning to go to Italy on an opera themed package tour, see: PRONTO but have decided against this and will do the GHAN train trip instead.

This is a 3 night, 4 day train trip from Darwin to Adelaide.

We like train trips and I might have mentioned this fact before 🙄.

At my age it's a nightmare making on-line bookings. In the past I've done stupid things like booked my trips back to front and cocked up the dates and times for rental cars etc. This time I'm taking a lot more care so the exercise is laborious (why should I be the only one to suffer - that's why I'm sharing this with you).

The first thing to do was lock in the train booking as this is a very popular attraction. I've managed to make a booking and have paid a deposit for the 'Ghan Expedition' starting on 8 August this year which is my birthday. Yay!

I can now work backwards and forwards to make airline, accommodation and rental car bookings to work around this.

We will fly direct to Darwin from Wellington. 'Direct' is a bit of a misnomer as it will likely mean 3 different fights on two different airlines and take about 12 hours but hey! Have a look at the map above to see where Darwin is. It is remote. The plan is to spend a couple of days in Darwin, probably the 6th and 7th August which means I can now look at ex NZ flights on 5th August. In Darwin I'd like to see where the pesky Japanese bombed Australia in February 1942 but doubt that The Old Girl will be interested so, as a counterbalance we will no doubt visit some galleries and museums and try to spot a crocodile or two. We aren't 'beachy' people so have no intention of sitting on sand for hours on end. Maybe two days will be too long.

On the journey we elected the 'Ghan Expedition' option which will include some side trips:

The Ghan Expedition

Darwin to Adelaide (March to November inclusive in 2026) - Coast to coast, through the fiery Red Centre, experience Australia at its dramatic best. Your four day, three night (2,979km) journey includes all meals and beverages on board plus your off train experiences at Katherine, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy (with optional scenic flight/tour of Uluru also available - additional fee).

Our arrival date and time in Adelaide is now set. We plan to spend a week travelling to and staying in Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and a couple of other scenic wine areas before heading home. 

I'll update you on the itinerary as soon as I can but Richard has put in a special request for a post on my laundry.

"Toodle-oo" as the Aussis say.

A COUPLE OF THINGS ...

The cupboard person called in this morning to measure for the garage cupboards installation scheduled for the end of March. We're making best use of the garage space by having fitted cupboards built in.

These will be used for:

• Kitchen pantry additional items.
• Rarely used appliances, pots and pans etc.
• Tools
• Electronic items, cords, plugs etc.
• Study 'overflow'
• All of the essential clutter that a household needs.

The clutter on the garage floor can be tidied up and, once installed I can have some garage carpet laid down and move the third exercise machine, the bike in.

The more observant of you will have noticed the small TV I bought, snuggled in on top of the existing built in cupboards. I'm quite pleased with this purchase of the 32 inch Samsung Smart TV. I saw them advertised in both Noel Leeming and Harvey Norman for $350 last week but when I called in they were sold out. I searched around and found that PB Tech also had them at this price and were selling out fast (nearly $200 off normal retail). I'd been searching for a while for a good quality TV that would fit the small space in the garage. The Samsung satisfies both requirements. We find that exercise time (up to an hour for me and longer for The Old Girl) goes quicker when watching TV. 

So now you know.