Hi All,

I drove down to Mutare last Friday to join 32 other players in the annual Goldberg Bowls tournament – it’s been a long time since they’ve had so many competitors. The standard of play was high and very competitive – lots of fun and comradery. Eleven teams played a Round-Robin of 2 wood trips all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Bowls seems to flourish more in smaller towns with squads travelling East from Gweru, Kadoma and Bulawayo. Good to see so many locals watching the Irish / Springbok Rugby match on Saturday night in the main clubhouse. Kadoma Sports Club has a big Potjie and a bowls competition this Saturday afternoon if anyone is interested in joining in.

This is the time of the year when our Msasa trees start their blossoming for Spring and the bushveld colouring is that magnificent dry, light yellow – in stark contrast to the boring old Eucalyptus that border the Australian roads I was traversing last month. I chatted to a couple of guys from Mutare who are in the forestry business – both expressed concern about the number of forest fires that can be expected in the Eastern highlands over the next four months – the thick undergrowth is dry, and it just takes one wayward match to create a massive fire that can sometimes take days to overcome.

On Monday I drove south from Mutare to Masvingo via Birchenough Bridge. Once again, I was mesmerised by the views along the way– just Indigenous trees and stunninggranite outcrops – not one pothole either on my whole trip. There are, however, goats wandering all over the roads, so this calls for alert driving. One unfortunate baby goat was hit by a GP car driving just in front of me – the driver just carried on as if nothing had happened. The poor kid looked like it had broken a leg and had been left bleating to die in the middle of the road. I stopped and carried it over to lie under a nearby acacia – I didn’t have the heart to do anything harsher!

One cannot visit Mutare without playing a round of golf at Hillside which I duly did – the condition of the course and greens is great for this time of the year. Self-elected club manager, Kevin Woodward, does a fantastic, pro-bono job caretaking the course using his limited resources very cunningly. Make sure you plan a trip to the Eastern highlands over the next school holidays to admire the Msasa and Munondo tree colouring. Ciao Mike G.