After an excellent breakfast at Swallow Ridge we said our good byes to our wonderful hosts Mike and Chris, and the great facility.
We headed south back toward Auckland for a round of golf at Gulf Harbour, a Robert Trent Jones course that hosted the 1998 World Cup of golf. Jones likens the course to Pebble Beach. Over time the course has hosted many professional events.
Having toured the Alabama Robert Trent Jones Trail in 2013 with Pete and Bunny we were excited to play another one of his courses.
We arrived for a early afternoon tee time, got a sandwich in the clubhouse,
We hit some balls and made it to the first tee.
We were reminded of our trip to Alaska, with all the spectacular views and then doing the Canadian Maritime provinces the next summer. As beautiful as the eastern Canada views were, it was unfair to compare to Alaska. Hence it would be unfair to compare Gulf Harbour to Kauri Cliffs, not to mention the golf fees were probably 20% of Kauri Cliffs! The course was a nice front nine to play, challenging at times but not a tough course.
The back nine starts to climb up to the cliffs that overlook the ocean and Auckland off in the distance and challenges all your golf shots, with the tower in the middle of the city. We absolutely loved the back nine and enjoyed all the views along the way. It was a pleasant afternoon of golf. It was off to Panorama Heights in Western Auckland for the night before we headed south towards our next golf adventure at Warakaei Golf Club and our next B&B.
It looks like beautiful country – enjoy.
Wow, great to here from you. Thanks, we are having a great time. We will be back in early March, and maybe we can get together. Best to Richard.