As you can see from my photo I am literally in the Sth Pacific!! I landed and my good mate here in New Cal picked me up from the airport and offered me an afternoon fishing! I didn't hesitate as it was a perfect day and even my sea legs were going to be able to handle it!
We had an awesome afternoon and I managed to catch a bunch of fish thanks to Kiki and his "father in law"!! The big one did get away though and we were left wondering how big it was and what it was? That's fishing!!
My preparation for this week was an interesting one but my favourite week of the year. I arrived home last Sunday from Japan and 2 hrs later I was on the road with my family heading west to the towns of Murgon and Cherbourg with a team of 35 from our church for a 4 day mission trip. We set up a school holiday kids club for the kids of both towns, mostly indigenous kids really needing some fun and love in their lives. We also have a willing team of workers who set about doing some projects around town to help out businesses who may need a hand.
It is my favourite week of the year for a number of reasons. I get to take my kids out there and have them open their eyes to see that there are kids in this world who have very little in life and that in fact what most of them truly crave is some attention and love! My kids always amaze me by making new friends with these kids and catching up with old friends from the past two years. It is always a sad time as well as we encounter some kids who are clearly having real trouble in life and take serious time to open up to adults as the adult figures in their lives often tend to be abusive. My heart melts and breaks over and over on this trip and the drive home leaving them all behind always sucks. For 4 days though we pour as much love into those communities as we possibly can and hope in some way we make a differ nice to some lives out there and also that our eyes will see things differently too.
New Caledonia is like a second home for me as I have been coming here for years and staying with the same family on course the whole time. Some years they are away in their homeland of France and just let me stay in their house, but this year they are home which is awesome as I love catching up with them and their family! The people here are great and it is such a great week.
The course hasn't changed at all although I think the greens may be in slightly better condition this year which might mean some lower scoring. I played well today in round one hitting all the par fives in two shots and one par four in one shot meaning some two putt birdies. Another couple of birdies and one bogie to go with them meant a nice opening day of -5.
I spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool and also checking out the local mountain biking hangout just down the road so that maybe I can check it out later in the week if I get the chance! For now it is time for some more great French company and some dinner and maybe a wine from the south of France!