a weekend in St Andrews

I know I have been pretty slack at posting another update on here, but the truth is, I"ve mainly just been playing golf since I last updated it. Well... not entirely. I got a new set of King cobra irons for just 35 pounds which is a steal! So now I've got 2 sets of golf clubs here.. but I guess.. no place better then the home of golf!
I've decided to update the blog once a week unless something really exciting happens to me.
I have also been pretty slack at taking photo's the last week (well not really, just you would have seen them all, I've just been taking photo's of the amazing sunrises I've seen lately).

Last weekend consisted of a good old fashioned club night out in St Andrews (Friday night). The night was called "bleep" and apparently the club is NEVER as busy as it was, but in my opinion the club was pretty dead. So that just goes to show what the clubbing scene is like in St Andrews. It's more about pub's and watching football. Though the music was right up my alley. Big Driving Electro!

Saturday I went to the pub to watch the Manchester united game with my flat mates and met up with a couple other people there that I had met from Friday night. Which lead to a after shin dig at my place but we were all in bed by 10pm.

Sunday I was meant to go the Rangers game, but decided against it, I was just to tired.

I hear Candice had another surprise leaving party last weekend! nice one everyone who went! I'm still waiting to see the photo's!!

The sunrises here have been absolutely amazing. I"m so fortunate to be able to start work and see it rise every morning! You have already seen some of the photo's in my other blog. They have just been getting better and better!

Over the next few weeks there's a couple of people from NZ will be in Scotland so I might meet up with them. I'm hanging out to do the Haggis tour (Don't worry no consumption of haggis, it's just what the tour is called). it's 3 days, and goes to the Isle of Skye, Lochness and Stirling! so a fun 3 days! I'm sure it'll be much like the contiki tour. So I might see if one of them want to do that with me. Else I'll just do it by my self.

I played in a golf tournament last week. PLAYED CRAP. Enough said.

So a summary of my last week... Meet a few more cool people.. Went out to a party in St Andrews and ended up staying out with this guy I only met that night. Played crap in a golf tournament. I've joined the gym and going 4 times a week. Playing golf twice a week And.....

Still loving it here! Still pinching myself being here.

I don't know if I have told you already or not.. but the grandstands are still going up... 22,000 SEATS!!!

Till next week - Sorry if this blog is a little boring! I'm still hanging out to take photo's of the ruins here which I can post up for you.

Getting settled

It has just come to my mind that because of all the flights in and out of UK at the moment are at a stand still there will also be a delay in international mail getting to where it needs to go. So Gribble, Phil, Nicki and Kristina (GPNK) your postcard may take a little longer to get to you then I think. Damn that Mt Eyjafjallajokull! But it's given me a new goal to the list. which is to see a live volcano. So Candice... Hawaii maybe? or White Island when we get back to NZ :-)

This weekend has been an eventful weekend for me around St Andrews. On Saturday after working for 4 hours, Me, Nick and Lewis (my new flatmates) moved into our place. Address is:

17 Sandy Herd Court,
St Andrews, KY16 8HL
Fife
SCOTLAND

If you feel like sending me huge packages.

Nick is 28, Australian and worked at Royal Melbourne which is Australia's number 1 golf course, and Lewis is 26, English and has done the Ohio State program which a program where you work on USA's top golf courses for 6 or 12 months. It's pretty cool as we are all here for the same reason and have the same passion towards what we do and what we want to achieve. It's also nice to talk about grass to people that know what I'm talking about.

There has been some amazing sunrises since I have been here. This is a photo of Saturday's as I was coming into work.



Attached are a couple photo's of the new place. So Candice, this is what you're coming over to. It's a 10 minute walk to town and it's a awesome walk. You go through a walkway and without even realizing it, you pop out in the middle town! When we popped up in the middle of town there was a parade going on with pipebands playing and marching around, it was a pretty cool thing to catch.




While I was in town I manage to score a wicked deal with the o2 mobile network. As I was going to convert to the orange network they offered me 5000 minutes to a nominated number in New Zealand! So now I can talk to Candice as long as I like (as long as she answers her phone which is a rarity) but wait there's more! People in New Zealand can call me, and it will only cost you the same as it would a local call. If you want the number facebook me and I will give it to you. I sent it to Candice on Saturday but I doubt she saved it as it would've been 2am in NZ.



Anyway, after a quick shop in town we headed home for a few drinks which turned into a lot. I got to meet a few more people from the other golf courses around and one thing lead to another by the end of the night I met some really good people and what do you know... It looks like I'll be supporting the scratch perverts at a gig end of August which is at Scotland's secret bunker. A massive WW2 military base which is all under a farm. So it looks like a farm but when you go through the barn, there is a base the size of a shopping mall underneath it!

All in all it just made my day today (Sunday) a bit more slower - Work at 5.30am. But how about this... As I was racing out the gates and went of a speed bump quite fast and the exhaust off my car came off, so now it sounds like a big bore exhaust! it's quite embarrassing as it's a 1.1L hatchback. Haha! and to top it off, today is the 1st day it has rained in Scotland since I have got here, but the rain was gone by 12pm.

Here's a photo of the "Red Rocket"


Anyway after work tomorrow i"m going to the garage and hopefully get it fixed. I'm joining the gym this week so wish me luck. I've also entered a monthly St Andrews Links Staff golf tournament - as they employ over 100 greenkeepers and then there's the caddy's, admin, restuarant and housing staff I thought it would be a good way meet some more people.

It's really nice to finally be moved in and not living out of a suitcase anymore.

Also thanks for the phone call on Saturday night, Sunday morning for you - It was really awesome to hear all your voices again :-)

And I'm also in a new frame of mind of what I want to do after I've finished in Scotland. I just need to discuss it with Candice first. I can get work in Dubai and even Spain, so I might not move to London. The course in Spain is Jack Nicholas course and as part of it I can get a villa on the golf course! How inviting does that sound? But the 6 months I'm doing now are for me, so I would like to see what Candice wants to do for the next 6 months.

Italy is the next holiday I have planned, but I would like to have a look around Scotland, check out the Isle of Skye, Inverness, Lochness etc but I think I might wait for Candice to get here. Otherwise I'll see when the flatties are free for a mission.

Thanks for tuning in! Till I write again....

P.S feel free to leave a comment.

1 week!

I can't believe I have already been here 1 week! 1 week ago today I arrived in Scotland, and I already feel pretty settled in. It feels like I have been here longer. I had my first game of golf yesterday with my new clubs and I was off to a shocking start! I got 50 on the front 9 and 44 on the back, so a total of 94. I'm happy with that score as it is St Andrew after all!

I don't know what everyone is going on about Scotland having bad weather as I've had really nice weather since I have arrived (don't quote me on this in one months time). I'll attach some more photo's of the Castle course which I'm going to play tomorrow after work with a couple work mates. I took them yesterday morning.



I move into my new place this coming weekend with a guy Nick (28) who is a greenkeeper from Australia and Lewis (26) who is English and also a greenkeeper :-). If any of you want the address of the place, facebook or email me and I'll give you it so you can all send me hand written 10 page letters (back and front). Thanks. In all seriousness though, I'll help pay for the envelope.
Letters aside, if you want my UK number to just ask Candice or Gribble as they will have it.



Stage one of missing everyone is kicking in now, but like I have always said, it's a character building experience that will only make me grow. It's a must before settling down. Plus Candice will be over in 2 months time. All the emails you guys (you know who you are) sent me are amazing! something I'll treasure for life, just goes to show what amazing friends I have and I don't take it for granted one bit. You all are really AWES (always worth every second). I've been keeping my self really busy which keeps my mind off things, it's mainly when I look at facebook photo's etc. Dam facebook! haha! Oh also, I'm looking at joining the gym next week! yep! you heard it here first! So Steve... arm wrestle is on when we next see each other. I'm going to mainly work on my left arm so you have no excuse.

AAnnyywwaayy....



I still haven't gone around town and had a good chance to take photo's of all the buildings and stuff for you all. Sorry, I'll aim to do that this weekend. Though I am working both days, I'll be finished by 9.30am! yyeess!

I find it interesting here that if you wanted to take a cart out on the golf course you have to go and get a cart license that lets you take it on the course, so you're a qualified golf buggy driver! but if you want to take a cart on the "Old Course" you have to have a permanent disabled license.

Here's something for the greenkeepers: Castle Course
Greens are pure fescue pedestrian mowed at 5.5ml - cut every day
97 Bunkers - All hand raked - raked every day.
Tee's are all pure fescure, pedestrian mowed at 8ml cut twice a week.
Jacobson fleet except the walk behinds which are Toro, and there are also 2 GM3250's for the approaches, though alot of the approaches are pedestrian mowed.

back to normal stuff...

I really miss home made meals! It just isn't the same when I do it myself! Though I might give a chicken pie a shot once I move into my flat this weekend (thanks Lynda).
Hope you are all having a good week! miss you all!

will keep you up to date with how it all goes :-)

Till my next blog!

New car, Edinburgh and more...

So I've had a very productive last couple days! I have got a new old car :-) a 1995 Citreon Saxa. It's 1.1 Litre so perfect as I just need something to get me around for the next 6 months. I know I will be able to get my money back too. I also went to a golf shop and got some new golf clubs as the ones I got given to use I didn't really like. The golf shop also said that they will buy the clubs back off me when I'm finished here at St Andrews! How cool is that!

I have also found a new flat for us to move in, So we will be signing the lease for that next week as the place I'm in is only temporary and more people will be joining me in current place this week. Although I would like to milk out staying here as long as I can it's better if I was to move out. It was pure fluke that we got something in St Andrews as there is NO rentals in town anywhere! This was just pure fluke.

Aaannyyyway... After my productive way I started my mission to Edinburgh to meet up with Casper and Shelly who I met on the contiki last weekend in Amsterdam.

I caught the bus from St Andrews to Leuchers train station and then from there I caught the train to Edinburgh. It takes 20 minutes from St Andrews to Leuchers and then another 1 hour train from Leuchers to Edinburgh.



Once there I was roaming around for about 1 hour looking for the hostel I was going to be staying at and meet up with Casper too. Though this gave me a REALLY good chance to see Edinburgh as I went all over town from one side to another looking for it. Once I found it, I realised at one point I was only about 100 meters from the place but decided to turn around! haha.

While I was wondering around I saw someone playing bag pipes :-) It was awesome wondering around the city though. I was really taken back by all the buildings.





Well, once we grabbed a bite to eat we decided to go to a comedy club to find out it was sold out. Soooo we went to the casino instead which was next door, and the casino in Edinburgh is so small it makes Sky City look like Vegas. Anyway, I walked out 25 pounds up after being there for just 2 drinks.

So we decided to stop in at every pub from there back to the hostel and have a drink in each.... One of the bars had a live band which was pretty cool, It also had 2 pound Jagar bombs!

The last stop was at a club playing tech/house and Dave Seaman was playing which was also cool, I ended up meeting a few promoters too so is a good we contact to make if I consider playing, but it's a bit of a mission from St Andrews unless they pay well.

Back to the Hostel around 3am and up at 8am to catch the train back to St Andrews.

Today I walked the old course with a new guy Lewis who has just joined us in the clubhouse flat too. He seems like a easy going guy which is cool :-)



To wrap things up... Edinburgh is a amazing city - the buildings are just unreal! I don't know how long they have been there but they are HUGE. Though during the night in some of the pubs or bars I saw 2 fights break out, so I think the city in a few places is pretty aggressive but I guess you get that anywhere just depends where you go. I'm still holding out to check out the castle for when Candice gets here. but I've taken lots of photo's.

Click here to check out the photos from Edinburgh

A couple little video's for you :-)

Well, second day of work, didn't really get to many nice photo's besides this one


The Video doesn't really do the course much justice, it really is a lot more spectacular when you are there.



Here is another video from the roof top of the Links Club house which is where I am staying.



The old course dates back over 6 centuries! they have records of it being there in medieval times! how crazy is that! And to think... it has stood the test of time and still hosts 1 of the 4 WORLDS biggest golf tournaments!

I"m going to Edinburgh this weekend to meet up with Casper (Who I met on the contiki) so should be fun. And will get lots of photo's for you!

P.S. To my little bro Adam! :-) Love and miss you!

1st Day of work at St Andrews

View from the roof top of where I am staying.... click on images to enlarge


The famous Swilcon Bridge


Mint morning from the roof top

I can't believe I am here! I've achieved my goal to work at St Andrews golf course! HIGH FIVE to all my friends who have helped me get here and encouraged me to "just do it" and to my Dad who has always told me to do what I love.... Well here I am!

1st of all, I got up at 4.30am. It was no hassle really as I was super excited even to put on my new "St Andrews" uniform. And yes everyone to answer all your questions it is VERY warm. The pants have so many zips with a fleece inside it's like wearing Ugg boots but all the way up my legs. I had my thermal top on and then the usual polo, jumper, jacket and another jacket on top of that.

I got picked up at 5.30am - (We will be starting earlier and earlier due to daylight hours) And taken to the greenkeepers shed of the castle course. OMG, this is the most spectacular course I have EVER seen, and I have seen a lot of golf courses. This is St Andrews Link's newest course and is rated in the top 100 of the world. This course runs along the cliff tops of St Andrews and has the most amazing definition of grasses with views of the ruins of St Andrews castle and looking down onto the "old course" which is where I will be during the open, but for now I am on the Castle course.

It was a amazing sunrise I'm kicking myself for not having my camera as you could see all the undulations of the mounds and everything which you wouldn't be able to see during the day. I will take my camera and fingers crossed for another sunny day. You wouldn't believe it, but it isn't actually as cold as it is made out to be. Although it might have been because of all the layers I was wearing, but by the end of the day I was just in my pants and a tee shirt.

I am blown away (literally and metaphorically) by the course. It really is spectacular! I will get some photo's up as soon as there is another mint morning (So you may be waiting a while with the reputation Scotland has) I got my golf card today which means free golf on any of St Andrews Links courses Monday - Friday! woo hoo! and also discounts in the pro shops and restaurants. With every weekend I work I get a rostered day off the following week which will give me a chance to play golf!

I've got photo's of the famous Swilcon Bridge and I walked across it yesterday, I'm just waiting to make some friends or for Candice to get here so I can get a photo on it. Though I rang my little brother Shaun when I was on there as he loves that bridge.

The British open is going to be amazing! - They have already started to get the scaffolding up for the grand stands etc and already started allocation jobs for what each green keeper is going to be doing! and it's 4 MONTHS AWAY!

Stay tuned as I will put some more photos up of the Castle course which is where I am working.

Day 14 - Arriving to Scotland

I flew into Edinburgh airport around 2pm and it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be! I was meant to catch the bus to the Haymarket station but missed the bus stop so I caught to the next station where there was a train to Leuchers. This gave me a bit of a chance to see Edinburgh town as well while I was on the bus. I was actually jaw dropped when I saw the town and the big castle on the cliff! Edinburgh castle is MASSIVE! I couldn't believe it! But I thought I would give Edinburgh more of a chance to actually look around when Candice gets to Scotland so we can look at it together.

So off to Leuchers I went. The Trains are really flash with really big toilets in them! - Oh and the flush does go the opposite direction up here! just for all you that are wondering!

5pm I got to Leuchers station where the director of greenkeeping for St Andrews picked me up he drove me St Andrews, took me out for dinner and introduced me to the all the other head green keepers which was nice. After that he took me to the flat where I am now and I can't believe where I am. I am bang smack middle of the St Andrews Golf course staying right on top of the club house! - to give you an idea it's the penthouse apartment of one of the best golf courses club houses. I walk up onto the roof top and I am looking at all the famous buildings and golf holes surrounding me!

I know you want photo's - so I will get them up soon :-)

I can't believe I'm here everyone! I've made it!! I'm still pinching myself about it!

next thing to do is get a car!

Stay tuned as my 1st day of work is tomorrow! I'll let you know how I go there!

Day 13 - Leaving Amsterdam

Well... having a 12 hour bus ride ahead there isn't much to say besides the bus left at 8am and there were some broken people! it was sooo funny to watch them all! The girl I was sitting next to had to stop the bus to spew. I was pretty much entertained by just watching the states of a lot of them. We came back through Belgium and France once again and crossed the Dover Straight to get and once again I got to see the White Cliffs of Dover. It was a real buzz seeing both the French coastline and turning my head and seeing the English coast line.. once again 4 countries in 12 hours... Holland, Belgium, France and England! haha.. and yep another stamp on the passport :-)

All in all the Contiki tour was amazing, I got to meet some really awesome people and made some new friends. It was also a really good way to see and experience the culture of Amsterdam. :-) If there would be anything I would say to do next time would be to look at getting advance tickets to the museums etc as that saves all the waiting time for cues. I wish our tour guide told us that before we got to Amsterdam.

Tour.. 8/10

Day 12 - Day 3 of Easter

Another early start having to be on the bus by 8am this time we only just made it. Nathan my room mate didn't make, he was to hung over from last night. But Casper and I were determined to get on the bus as we really wanted to do the bike ride out at Edam. And guess what... WE MADE IT.

We got to Edam which is about 30 minutes out of Amsterdam and we biked using what they call "granny bikes" and cruised around the countryside of Edam (where the cheese comes from) and went past windmills waving to locals. That ride took about 45 minutes then we headed to a cheese and clog factory where we were showed how cheese and clogs were made, and we also got to taste all the cheese.

Once this had finished we headed into Amsterdam town where we went to go to the Van Gogh museum but once again the cue was so long the wait was about 3 hours. Being easter it was really busy, so I'm planning on heading back there with Candice. Anyway.... as a result we went to the Heineken brewery and that is the best brewery tour I've been on where there is a 4D motion master and heaps of interactive things to play with.

After that we headed back to the hotel and got some downtime which was probably the 1st time on the tour. Around 6pm we headed into town and for dinner I got the BEST pancakes ever!!! Bacon pancakes with salami, cheese, tomato. AMAZING. Once we finished dinner we all had to meet at a bar called the grasshopper and then headed to the red light district where we went to a live sex show. OMG this is so funny! I"m really glad we all went as a group else I would've felt like a seedy old man. None the less it was a really funny show though! Positions I have never even seen before!

Once that had finished we were free to roam around and do what we want. So we met up with the other tour group at a bar called balushis and partied. I got back to the hotel about 1am as once I get to a point to drunkness I just want to go to sleep. I think I was probably one of the 1st to get back!

Well, 12 hour bus ride tomorrow morning! woo hoo!

Day 11 - Day 2 of Easter

After a fairly big night, we had to get up and get to the coach by 8.15. Me being a morning person I found it quite easy but a couple of people missed the tour and we headed to the famous Keukenhof Gardens where there are 6 million tulips - just one massive garden! There were some really pretty flowers there an a glass maze where I walked into one of the glass walls in front of EVERYONE!



There were some amazing flowers there, but I was more amazed about how they maintained the grass so immaculately and I didn't see any workers there! There is 10 hectors of flowers and grass there and all of it maintained to perfection.

After that we were dropped off back in Amsterdam town where we went to go to the Anne Frank house but the cue was so long there was a 3 hour wait, so instead we went and got some lunch and a walk around town, found the Red Light District and then before we knew it it was pick up time to head back to the hotel.

5.15pm we all headed out to a fishing village called Volendam where we experienced a slice of maritime tradition with our dinner at a old style Dutch restaurant by the sea. I ordered the fish thinking it's a fishing village so the fish should be good... well it wasn't. I wish I got the steak.

After that the people who wanted to go to town got dropped off. A lot of people were broken from the 1st night so they didn't head out, there was probably only about 10 of us that headed out. I checked out one of there biggest clubs on my own called Escape because no one wanted to pay to get in, but luckily I made friends with one of the DJ's from the night before and he got me in. Amazing club, but didn't take any photo's as I wasn't a loud to.

After meeting up with the others and another stop at a coffee shop we headed home as we knew we had a bike ride in the morning!

Day 10 - day 1 of EASTER

6am Start - meeting at the Royal National hotel in Russel square London, All check in, and away we go on our coach. All up in our group there were 51 people, and a lot of them were solo travelers as well which was great. After about 3 hours of driving we got to the White cliffs of Dover which is where customs is and also the ports for the ferries. After receiving another stamp on the passport away we went from Dover to the France. The day was so nice, and looking back at the England coast line where dover is it's just one big wall of white - hence the name "White Cliffs of Dover" I guess. There was a point though where you could see both the England coast line and also the French coast line which was cool!

The ferry took 1.5 hours, and then we were off on our mission heading through France and Belgium. 1st thing I noticed in France is that there were no farm animals... and second thing was that every town (even if it was tiny) had a big cathedral. We made one stop in Belgium for Lunch - Dutch being the main language, they still spoke really good english. So I played it safe and went with Mc Donalds.

We arrived in Amsterdam around 6.30pm and got allocated our rooms and this is where I made my 1st proper friends out of NZ, Nathan from Ireland, and Casper from Oz, We had another guy Kan in our room, but he was kinda "that guy".

8.15pm we all got back on the coach and made our way to our 1st experience of Amsterdam. Amsterdam has more canals in it then Venice (apparently) so we went on a canal cruise with unlimited beer and wine - so yes we all made the most of that, it was also a great opportunity to get to know everyone on the tour. In my opinion this was probably the highlight of the weekend for me.

Once we did that we went out to Amsterdam town, checked out a couple of the clubs, and I finished off by going to a coffee shop with a couple others :-P

Day 9 - LONDON

Sorry for not updating for a while, I've been in Amsterdam, but will fill you in on that soon... Well... London.. What can I say! awesome place, but fricken FREEEEZZING!! When I got in from my flight from Hong Kong it was 5 degree's and when I woke up in the morning to go for a walk it was 3 degrees! I'm staying pretty central London in Russel Square at the Imperial Hotel which is pretty good. Though... as I was going for my walk around just to have a look around the square the I saw this girl coming walking up towards me in the distance and she was begging everyone for money. When she came up to me asking if I had any money she then stopped and asked "Oh Hang on.. Do you speak english?" and that's where I pulled out the "No Speakie Englay" hehe! worked a charm!



Well once I had done my morning walk, got breakfast I met up with Diego and Jess which was awesome! They hadn't done any sight seeing of London yet as they have only been here 5 days so we walked around and saw all the main things such as the Thames river, the London Eye, Big Ben (Which is HUGE) and Buckingham palace. Going up the London Eye we opted to pay extra to get a pimms and our own cabin and our own tour guide so that was pretty cool too telling us about everything we could see. The buildings in London are amazing! just walking around you know that the buildings have been there for centuries and centuries!

After our day of walking around central London we heading to Diego's to chill out and to catch up with Stella, Ben and an old cityvibes photographer Ash later on that night. It was really good to see everyone again but with me leaving for Amsterdam in the morning I was reluctant to have a big night, so I made sure I was home and in bed by 12am! (Had a 6am start with a 10 hour bus ride ahead).

London's awesome! great people and I'm looking forward to moving here with Candice in September once I finish at St Andrews :-)