Well, 1 week ago today Candice arrived in Scotland. I drove to Dundee airport which is about 16 miles away from St Andrews and pick her and Debbie up as they flew in from London city. After an introduction to the flatmates and a few wines we decided to head out into the what I like to say "toon" or better known as town (it sounds like "toon" when the scottish say it). This is when I lost my camera. It wasn't a big night as Candice had a huge night with the Londoner's the night before.
The next day we went to a little fishing village called Anstruther. Here is where the "Best fish n chip shop in UK" is. They have won the competition the last 2 years and have won the best fish n chip shop in Scotland since 2000. And it really is an amazing fish n chip takeaway. Apparently on Friday's the queue goes right out the door and you are waiting for at least 1 hour to get served. We went Sunday afternoon so we didn't have to wait to long but there still was a queue. They have a "secret recipe" for the batter hence why it is so good. The fish is Haddock. To me it tastes similar to snapper but not as nice.
The next day I took a half day off work to show the girls around so I was home by 10am. But Debbie didn't wake up till about 12 and we didn't get out the door till 1pm so I was pretty much better off doing a full day at work and them wait for me for 1 hour till I got home at 2pm. But hey, they're women and take for ever to get ready. I took them for a walk through the town and then down to the golf course where they saw the tournament ready course with the grand stands and everything up. Both Candice and Debbie were well impressed. We then had a putt on "The Himalayas". The Himalaya's is pretty much like a mini putt but on actual grass and it's just over huge undulated greens next to the golf course. It was a pretty grey day and it looked like it was going to rain pretty hard on us so we headed home after that.
Tuesday after work we went to "Scotlands secret bunker" which is just on the way to Anstruther. It was a nuclear fallout shelter underground. It's the size of a shopping mall under a farm. It's something you would see in movies and if you are a big war fan you would love this place. They are actually having a dance party there in the beginning of August which I was going to be playing at but I didn't hear back from the promoter so I'm probably going to head along to see how they turn the place into a dance venue. It would be an amazing place for dance parties as it has so many rooms you can get lost in.
After we were done there I met Nick my flatmate at the Castle course for 9 holes and it gave the girls a chance to walk around and have a look at the course and the stunning views from there.
Wednesday the girls went off to Edinburgh for the night. Nick and I played golf again on the New course. I actually had a really interesting day at work, actually everyday is interesting but today I made some trial plots and seeded 30 different types of fescue mixes and we're going to be marking them on how they germinate and preform over the next 3 months so that will be interesting as it's something I want to get into when I return to NZ. At the moment there are huge yellow fields everywhere too. It looks pretty colorful as well when you will look into the landscape you see fields and fields of green and then the odd yellow field. The yellow fields are oil seed and it is used for cooking apparently.
Yellow field
My seed trials
Thursday I headed to Aberdeen which is about 2 hours from St Andrews for a golf tournament and also a chance to have a look at the new "Trump" Course which is going to be built. The site where Donald Trump is going to build his next golf course is absolutely spectacular. The holes are all marked out now but no construction has started yet. It's all on sand dunes and each hole just weaves in and through sand dunes. There really will be some amazing golf holes there. It would be fair to say there will be some of the best golf holes in the world there.
14th Hole - The green will be in the valley.
Tee to the 14th Green on trump course
Dunes of where a couple of the holes on the new Trump course will be.
After having a look at where the Trump course is going to be built I made way to Mucar Links golf course which is where the golf tournament is. It's another seaside links golf course with some amazing holes and some really bad golf. Some of the worst golf I've played since I've been here actually but I still had a really good day just admiring the views and the sunny day. I also got to wear my suit afterwards which was pretty much the main reason I went to the tournament in the first place.
So all in all, I've 3 rounds of golf in 3 days. Tasted the best fish n chips in the UK, seen the new location for the new Trump course and also got to see Aberdeen. Quite a productive week as I didn't think I was going to be doing much. Candice is just starting to settle in now and is on the job hunt. The more I think about things the more I don't want to go to London after my stint here so Canada is looking more and more likely. Perhaps Spain next summer for the job I got offered? Close to running of the bulls too :-)
What do you think??
haha why am i not surprised. debbie was always the last to get up. heh heh
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