A TRIP TO THE SUNSHINE COAST BOWLING CARNIVAL – Doncaster Bowling Club
19th July 2017
A TRIP TO THE SUNSHINE COAST BOWLING CARNIVAL
Five Doncaster members escaped two weeks of the Melbourne chill and headed to the Sunshine Coast to participate in their 55th Winter Bowling Carnival. Gus Rosa, Nicole Carriero, Teresa Bowden, Bob Urquhart and Dinesh Balgovind had a great experience playing pairs, triples and fours at several of the clubs including Noosa, Tewantin, Maroochy, Caloundra, Wombye, Moolooolaba and Buderim. As you will see from the photos, beautiful conditions prevailed with around 22 degrees every day and lots of sunshine. The competition was stiff with well over 100 bowlers participating in every event. Bowlers came from all parts of Australia and there was a big contingent of Kiwis from across the ditch. Our best result was in the fours at the Mooloolaba where we finished fifth overall out of 46 teams. Mooloolaba which is fully under cover, and Buderim have synthetic greens but all the others were beautiful tiff dwarf greens. The open two bowls triples at the Tewantin Noosa Bowling Club was a whole day affair with 64 ends, while the mixed pairs at Caloundra was 48 ends. It was tough going but nevertheless enjoyable in the pleasant conditions. Interesting the scoring for all the events was the same: 8 points for a win, 4 points for a draw, 1 point for each end won, ½ point to each team for any uncompleted or tied ends and no dead ends. The winner was decided by the highest win points and then the highest ends points and then margins and shots differentials. An even number of ends was played in all the events. Given the large number of participants in all the events, good prize money was on offer, but alas we were not able to bring the booty home this time. The Sunshine Coast Winter Bowling Carnival is very well organised and runs for about six weeks in June and July each year. Apart from the bowls we visited the Buderim Ginger Factory, the Caloundra, Cotton Tree and Currimundi markets, a leisurely river boat cruise from Tewantin to Noosa, numerous beaches along the coast as well as frequenting the local RSL and Surf clubs for some fine food.
Dinesh Balgovind
Sunrise at Cotton Tree.
Triples at Tewantin Noosa.
Triples at Tewantin Noosa.
Chef Nicole’s pasta dinner.
Mixed pairs at Caloundra.
Sunshine Coast airport.