Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Riverside Oaks

The company I work for in China, Nanshan, has just purchased the Riverside Oaks golf course in western Sydney. It was privately owned prior to Nanshan's purchase and Nanshsan have some big plans for the development of the golf course and surrounding area.

Since Christmas some of my students from the golf school in China have been staying at Riverside Oaks with me and we have been training and seeing the sights of Sydney. It has been great to get out of the cold and snow of China and do some training in the sun and warmth of January in Australia. We have been covering all areas of golf with training involving long game practice, short game practice, putting, on course, fitness training and I have also introduced some eye/vision exercises and training for the students. We have had a lot of fun and the kids have worked hard as well.

As well as the golf training the students have had an opportunity to explore some of the sights of Sydney and I have attempted to introduce them to Australian culture, customs and food. They seem to like BBQ and they think the koalas and kangaroos are cute but they are a little scared of the spiders and they are disgusted with the taste of Vegemite! Tomato sauce gets mixed reviews but overall they are enjoying their time in Australia.

The students had a chance to touch and pet a kangaroo and koala and we took a speed boat ride on Sydney Harbour which they all loved and returned from in a very wet state! We visited the Sydney Aquarium and went sight seeing around Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. We are heading to the beach this weekend to give them a taste of an Aussie beach before they head home to China. They are a little scared of sharks but I am sure they will enjoy the sun, sand and surf.

We are here until the 5th of February when the students will head back to China for Chinese New Year and I will head to Melbourne for a month of leave. I am looking forward to the break, catching up with friends and clients and heading back to China in March ready to work hard with my students.

Until next time,

Brent