Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

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Jack's Point Golf Club, on Lake Wakatipu, beneath the Remarkables Range, South Island, New Zealand

February 10, 20153 min read2015

Dateline February 10, 2015, Jack's Point Golf Club

The first question the pro at Jack's Point gets is whether the course is named for Jack Nicklaus. It is not. It is named for Jack Tewa, known as Māori Jack, who saved two friends from drowning when their boat overturned on Lake Wakatipu in 1862, near what is now the Jack's Point village. He is also credited with the first discovery of gold in the Arrow River that same year, which set off the gold rush in the region. The course is one of the top-rated in the world. Snow fell the night before we played, so the Remarkables Range stood over us in white. On the second hole, an airplane landed on the grass strip just below the tee, then took off almost immediately with a load of skydivers, whose chutes opened against the mountains as we played on. The fourth tee is across a small road and through a stone wall, with views down Lake Wakatipu and out to the high ranges. It is a true links: you do not see the clubhouse again until you walk off the eighteenth green. We agreed that it was the most beautiful and challenging course we had ever played, and we told the pro so. We were rained out at The Hills the next day, and the local advice was that Jack's Point was the better course anyway, so we went back and played it a second time. That second round was the end of our golf in New Zealand. It was a spectacular ending.

#new-zealand #south-island #queenstown

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New Zealand

January 31, 20154 min read2015

Dateline January 31, 2015, Wellington

After a fantastic breakfast at Millhills, we took the road south for Wellington. The drive ran along the coast, through small beach towns, on routes 56 and 58. We pulled into Wellington and checked into the Museum Art Hotel for two nights. The hotel has a restaurant called Hippopotamus, and sure enough, from our balcony there was a very large Hippo looking back at us. The National Museum is across the street. An entire floor is given over to the social history of New Zealand, and we spent the afternoon on the Māori exhibits and the Treaty of Waitangi, signed February 6, 1840. Some patterns there felt familiar from US history. The next morning we drove up the coast for a round at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club, a true links course. It was raining. Then it was raining harder. We walked in after nine holes, took hot showers, and caught up on the blogs. For dinner the concierge sent us to Chow's, an Asian-fusion tapas place two blocks away, up three floors in an old-fashioned elevator. We ordered most of the menu. Next morning, the ferry to the South Island.

#new-zealand #wellington #museum-art-hotel

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New Zealand

January 29, 20152 min read2015

Dateline January 29, 2015, Golf at the Jack Nicklaus-Designed Kinloch Golf Club

Thursday morning, one more goodbye to Pat and Russell at Ambleside, and on to Kinloch Golf Club. Kinloch was designed by Jack Nicklaus, about seven years before our visit, for a wealthy New Zealander who knew nothing about golf. Phil, the club's golf professional, joked that the owner probably googled 'best golfer in the world,' found Jack, and asked him to build a course. Whatever the path was, the result is exceptional. The land itself does most of the work. Nicklaus barely moved any of it. The course is links-style, with carries that punish the wrong club, but it is one of the most beautiful layouts we have seen on the trip so far. We chose the white tees at 6,500 yards. They were a little too much for our games, but we did not care. Of the four courses we had played in New Zealand by this point, Kinloch was the most interesting and the most challenging. For a low handicapper it would be a great test. For us it was difficult, beautiful, and worth playing again. After the round we packed up and headed for Hawke's Bay and Millhills Lodge, with Cape Kidnappers on the schedule for the next day.

#new-zealand #kinloch #kinloch-golf-club

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