King Island
/You have to go to King Island
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You have to go to King Island 〰️
Our first-time visitors to sleepy, rural King Island were in awe at the the golf on offer on this humble island, home to two world class courses. Our group of King Island newbies flew in from Essendon on a tiny plane, landed at tiny King Island Airport and travelled on a bumpy road to their glorious accommodation with a wallaby waiting to greet them on arrival.
The fun started the next day as we headed to the northern tip of the island to Australia’s best public course. Its rating is no surprise with the fairways rolling down to the ocean, it is one of the world’s best seaside courses. The weather was perfect, we had escaped the rain in Sydney and relished the opportunity to play golf in the sun in such a glorious location. The bonus was - no wind! We had a brilliant day, I can’t say that the scores were fantastic, but everyone was smiling, you couldn’t but be happy. The only fly in the ointment, or should I say flies in the ointment - march flies; so many, gathered in one place. I don’t know if march flies are a regular pest at Cape Wickham or if they had gathered for a special event, possible the annual March Fly Festival as we were there in March. Maybe if it had been windy, they’d have been blown out to sea. Don’t let the possibility of march flies spoil your fun, be prepared, wear long light pants and long sleeves and don’t forget the insect repellent. Cape Wickham is home to numerous copperhead and tiger snakes, we saw a couple, but the march flies were far more threatening on a still and sunny day.
The sunshine continued on Day 3 at Ocean Dunes. Another wildly beautiful course shaped across sand dunes, with magnificent views. The course can be trickier than Cape Wickham’s challenging layout - a Par 3 with a wicked open water carry to greens edged with ridges of rock comes to mind. It is good thing that once again we were lucky enough to have a still day, with barely any wind, or getting to the beautiful bent grass greens would have been even more difficult. Both courses were magnificent but this one just edged in front of Cape Wickham for this group. The were no march flies to be seen, but we did spot a couple of snakes. Be prepared with lots of extra golf balls because it is definitely not worth looking for balls that have missed the fescue blend fairways and found the rough, even if it’s just a metre in.
There is third course on the island, King Island Golf & Bowling Club, it is a 9-hole course and it resembles the layout of St Andrews. It’s a good spot to fit an extra round of golf in, meet the local golfers and make the most out of the few days you spend on King Island.
Accommodation on the island is not plentiful. Cape Wickham has 16 villa style rooms, each boasting views across the golf course. There’s the local King Island Hotel in Currie and also a handful of lodges. Ocean Dune’s new owners, a Melbourne based consortium intend to build much needed accommodation on the course - good for Ocean Dunes, and good for golf on King Island.
Other than golf, you could visit King Island Dairy, book a gin tasting at a local distillery and for history enthusiasts, visit the King Island Historical Society Museum. The produce on the island is excellent, meat lovers will love the steaks, for seafood lovers, lobster is a must.
Spend a minimum of two nights, or get your fill of fabulous golf and stay for 5 days, playing each course twice and spend a little time exploring the island.
Get in touch and we’ll arrange your next great golfing holiday.
