Goat Track Golf

ready to throw down on this hilly "goat track" course!!

Lee convinced me to be his golf caddy for the day and we headed out to one of the more secluded and hilly golf clubs in Auckland - Waitakere Golf Club.  The day was absolutely gorgeous and needed the SPF100 even though the temp was in the low 70's.  For some reason they wouldn't allow dogs, even on a leash, so li'l Ella chilled at the house for the day.

collared shirt?  on an island?

The first time Lee tackled Waitakere, he went in a foursome that included two guys he works with, one of their brothers, and one of their sons acting as a caddy.  The more "established" (read SMART) gentlemen of the foursome hired a golf cart for the course which is rather unusual for Kiwis as most use a truller or carry their clubs for the entire 18.  Let's just say that by the time they reached the 14th tee the brave souls walking the course were knackered and the younger son abandoned the group at the 9th hole in favor of the relaxation of the club house!

Needless to say... we rented a cart :)  I'll hand out clubs and keep score with the best of them - even offer unwanted advice on putting - but just not game with carrying the clubs up and down the hills and back and forth across the fairways for five hours!!!

The course is really beautiful.  It's set in the middle of the Waitakere Ranges and native bush surrounding the west coast.  Some of the holes are really challenging Par 5 doglegs and others have unique tee offs starting in the bush with the green no where in site.

hole 6 par 3 with tee in the bush

rolling par 5

tee'ing off hole 1

nice chip shot with the new wedge!  par?

Lee had some amazing drives on the course and set himself up for several birdies and par shots.  Unfortunately, that short game still needs a bit of work....

nice form... lined up... 

and the crowd goes... awwwww... time for the 19th hole!

Blog Bottlenecks

Sorry the blog posts have been few and far between for the past few weeks!!  We've had several huge events occurring that have taken precedence over postings...

1. container arrival
2. insurance claims
3. unpacking!!
4. catching up on sleep in our comfy bed :)
5. getting the li'l jeep up to "nanny state" standards
6. arrival of our columbian-american via australia for the past year house guest - Alex
7. golf, golf, golf - need i say more....
8. and of course, work

We are pretty much settled now and blog posting will resume.  Li'l Ella and I have gone to a few really cool spots but I have been both camera and iPhone-less during our jaunts.  Almost everything warrants a second visit with camera in hand - so watch out!

Musick Point

21-Jan -- One of the best things about living in Auckland is the ability to make a day trip and explore tons of areas. Depending on the mood of the day, you can choose a lazy beach day, a tramp along a mountain track, or some sightseeing and market purchases.  Just about any activity you could want to do is within 30 min to an hour of our home.  Even snow skiing is only a few hours away!

After our hunt for sea glass on the east coast, we decided to venture to some of the more southern east coast beach areas just to see what was there.  We picked Bucklands Beach as it looked like an interesting peninsula of land.

musick point

At the very tip of Bucklands is Musick Point.  There is an old radio station - very art deco style - and really, really steep "stairs" leading down to a beautiful little rocky beach on the point.  Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, there was a plethora of sea glass hidden amongst the rocks.  We found some larger pieces that had been polished by the sand and salt water that were pretty amazing.

panorama from tip of musick point

The big flat rock out in the middle of the water just begged for Lee to climb up on top of it - just figuring out how to get through the water without getting non-swimming trunks wet was a bit challenging :)  Ella of course had to follow!

traversing low tide

Once out there, the formations on the big table top rock were really amazing...

hey!  how'd you get up there?!?!

The water had carved out a beautiful landscape...

 

It was definitely another perfect day for exploring in Auckland!