John & Wendy Go on Holidays

One of the 'drawbacks' of living on the road is that you never get to go on holidays - no matter where you are that's home. On the weekend just gone we decided to take a break - we headed up to Manjimup for a golf tournament, leaving the caravan in Albany and staying in a motel. This wasn't quite the treat we had hoped for, the accommodation in Manjimup isn't exactly 5 star, and we even had to make our own bed one day as they forgot to service the room.

We had heard about the tournament when we were staying at Manji in early December, and by all reports it was a very popular and well run event. The only draw back as far as we were concerned was that the main sponsors were the Kristoffersson timber furniture company. Not that we have anything against their lovely handcrafted products, we just have no room in the van for trophies such as dressers and coffee tables. The upside was that local wineries were also involved in sponsorship, so we were aiming to bring home some of this product. In the event John obeyed instructions and didn't win any furniture - in fact, didn't win anything. Wendy collared one NTP and 2 longest putts over the 3 day event, which brought a very acceptable haul of a pack of toiletries, a tournament branded golf towel, 2 bottles of wine and, unfortunately, 4 wine glasses. The latter will be given away to people here in Albany - we don't have any glass in the van.

The real problem came when Wendy won gross runner up (we still have trouble coping with the concept of gross prizes in a stableford competition, but it seems to be a popular thing over here in the west). In fact, she wasn't awarded the prize at all, despite having 49 'gross points' over the 2 day major competition, somehow they worked out that someone else on 49 points won and another golfer with 42 points came runner up. We lodged a protest, and after much checking and rechecking of cards it was decided that the winner stood but Wendy was runner up on a countback, coming away with a large timber framed mirror. At least it wasn't a tv cabinet or wine rack, but still large enough that we are still debating where we are going to put it in the van until we can get it into storage somehow.

We took the scenic route down Highway 1 back to Albany today, stopping at the Swarbrick art installation in the Walpole Wilderness Area. This is a series of art works set in old growth forest, with the highlight being the 39 metre long 'Wilderness Wall of Perception', a mirrored wall giving the history of the conservation fight in WA and the local forest. A very pleasant drive through tall timber, stopping at some beautiful beaches (although not for a swim), got us back home feeling refreshed after our weekend away.