Broome, Australia (II)

Thursday | December 8, 2017

The rancor and animus on The World still looms large. That is why I was pleased to get off the ship this morning for a round of golf at the Broome Golf Club. In advance, the ship's pro had warned us that the course was rustic, and indeed it was. There was no driving range and the course was not terribly well maintained. But it wasn’t as bad as some of the others we have played.

The temperature was beyond oppressive. I supplied by unprepared golfing partner with bug spray, suntan lotion, two bottles of cold water, nuts and candies, and even some tees.

It’s always fun golfing in Australia, especially when kangaroos run across the course.

On this particular course, the speed governors prevented the carts from going at any speed at all. We asked the groundskeeper about that and he said “most of the blokes out here are drunk, so we have to slow them down.”

Another thing about Australia I had forgotten about was the abundance of flies. They cover a person to the point where there may be 10 or 15 on one’s head at the same time. Needless to say, they can be quite distracting when taking a stance over a drive, or lining up a putt.

And the ants . . . Ants are seemingly everywhere. Thankfully, they were not the red fire ants that gave me such troubles in Brazil. But these guys were still annoying.

Nature also played a prominent role on this golf course. Burned and petrified trees added to the dramatic landscape.

And finally, I must report on the cacophony of sounds emanating from the various types of birds on the course. Some of them sounded like the howler monkeys we had met in Africa only a year ago. Interestingly, a friend told me about an app he saw being used in the bush of South Africa a few months ago that is similar to Shazaam. This particular app picks up the birds’ sounds and displays information about what type of bird it is, how prevalent they are in the area, etc.

Again, I did not play too badly and my scores are improving.

Fortunately, the course was relatively close to the ship, so we were back onboard by 12:30 PM. I enjoyed the afternoon in the apartment.