Barnbougle Dunes
Twelve months ago we planned a weekend at Barnbougle Dunes and everyone I spoke to said that we should take a dozen or more golf balls if we planned to play a full round of golf. We took their advice and also took a dozen bottles of wine to make sure the weekend was a success. In the run up to the trip across Bass Strait I dinged the car and lost my wallet so panic set in and I had to scramble to change the booking for the car, get a new driver’s licence, cancel the credit cards and generally reorganise my life.
The trip across Bass Strait wasn’t too bad although I am sure there have been smoother crossings. We got off the ferry on time at around 7.00am and after persuading the beagle in quarantine that we didn’t have any fresh food or drugs we set off for Launceston to find ‘The Mill’ where we planned to meet Phil & Sue Watson, Rod & Mary Besley and John & Helen Alsop for breakfast before heading off to Barnbougle. ‘The Mill’ turned out to be ‘Ritchies Mill’ or the ‘Silverwater Cafe’ but after two trips around the one way streets in Launceston we found the place and fortunately the others had arrived only a few minutes before us. 
I can recommend Ritchies Mill; the breakfast and atmosphere were good and the gallery upstairs was a bit touristy! We went up the east side of the Tamar Valley, stopped for lunch at Pipers Brook, tasted a few wines, had some lunch, bought some provisions and arrived at Barnbougle Dunes mid-afternoon. The villa was sensational. We had views over the golf course towards the north east and a fantastic view of the beach and the sea running along the side of the golf course. There were four bedrooms each with a separate bathroom and a central sitting room with sliding doors out to a balcony with the great views. We unpacked and a miracle took place – I found my wallet inside a pair of shoes. I have no idea how it got there but who cares. I now have two copies on my driving licence, $500 that I thought had gone forever and all I have to do is find out and change all of the direct debits that I have in place!!
The aim of the weekend was to play golf, bridge and visit a few wineries and after a good night’s sleep we started the following morning with eighteen holes of golf and managed to secure eight of the ‘big wheel’ carts that turned out to be much better than the typical golf course buggies. The men hit off on the first par five and the hole presented no real trouble! I had a birdie four and things went progressively down hill from that moment. Phil scooped the day with a very solid 40 points, John also had a good day scoring 35 points and Rod and I failed to trouble our handicaps! We dined very well at the club house and then spent the night listening to the rain bucketing down.
Fortunately the rain all but stopped in time for us to hit off again the following morning. Jenny and Sue decided to join the coffee circuit whilst the rest of us played another eighteen holes. Rod, John and Helen hit off first followed by Phil, Mary and I. The drizzle soon stopped and the weather was perfect for golf. I was pleased with the first nine and finished up with 20 points only to come thundering down on the second nine with a miserable 8 points for a total of 28. Phil had another good round of 35 and Mary played well for 31 points. I was surprised to find that John had done much the same as me with 20 points on the first nine and 9 points on the second nine. What was it about the second nine that caused John and me so much trouble? For my part the driver stopped working and once that happens the rest of my game goes to pot!
The next day was our last and we planned to drive down the Tamar Valley and stop off at few wineries before Jenny and I headed off to Cradle Mountain and Strahan and the others set off for the airport and back to Melbourne. We booked for the same weekend in 2009 and set off for Beaconsfield. On the way we stopped at the Bay of Fires winery, admired the beauty of the gardens, tasted a few wines and finally got to Beaconsfield to look over the mine museum. Beaconsfield was the scene of an accident some time ago when a rock fall killed one miner and trapped two others. The effort to find and save the two trapped miners was recorded in the museum and it was quite emotional to read the letters of sympathy for the miners and their families and the letters supporting the bravery of the people who risked their lives to save them.
From there we stopped at Rosevears (Tamar Ridge) winery and had some lunch overlooking the Tamar river. The view was sensational and the weather was perfect. It was a perfect setting for the end of a most enjoyable weekend. Jenny and I stayed on for cheese and coffee and listened to the running of the Melbourne Cup. As usual the horses we picked in the sweep failed miserably so we set off for our hotel in Launceston to get a good night’s sleep before going to Cradle Mountain.
A selection of the photos that we took can be found here.
