Nathalia

I was delighted to come across this article about Nathalia Football Club's recent success.
My Nan lived in Nathalia and we spent many many wonderful holidays staying with her and visiting our cousins the Gallaghers.
On occasion we would go and watch the Nathalia footy team play.
We were not impressed one year to discover that they had adopted the black and white stripes of the much loathed Collingwood but thankfully good sense prevailed and a couple of years later they reverted to their traditional purple and gold.
Nathalia's greatest claim to fame is in being the home town of Richmond legend Francis Bourke, who I think was selected in the AFL Team of the Century, though I could be wrong about that.

World Youth Day

Some of the colour and energy from WYD in Sydney. This is supposed to be a 16 pic collage but Picasa/Blogger are not cooperating.

I'm home!

The plane was two hours late.
Favourite Daughter picked me up, then I dropped her off at her new home in Maylands, a two story town house she is sharing with two girls.
I set off for Busselton but just past Mandurah was getting too tired to drive so found a side road to turn off and a quiet place to park and slept in the car....for three hours!!!
That refreshed me sufficiently to complete the drive home.
Only Mrs Holt Press and Sport Boy were there to greet me but they were both pleased to see me, as I was them.

After dinner the three of us went to the movies to see Get Smart which was very funny.

By my body clock its after midnight already so I'm about to go to bed. My own bed. With Mrs Holt Press to share it. :)

PS. as of tomorrow transmissions will resume on my home blog, Holt Press.

Ready to fly....Almost!!

I got up on time and made it to the airport on time, returned the hire car on time and checked in on time......but my flight is not on time!!
"The engineer is working on a problem with the air conditioning" - nameless Virgin Blue staff member.

So, naturally, when placed in this situation, I choose to blog!

The other good news is that the cafe is now open for business and I may be able to get some breakfast to go along with my bottle of water and Boost Bar. Did I tell you that I've become very partial to Boost Bars? In fact they are close to assuming top spot on my favourite chocolate bar list, a position that has been held by Cherry Ripes for close to 25 years. The only other bar to ever hold the position was a Chokito for which I used to scab up empty soft drink bottles to return to the local deli for refunds in order to satisfy my craving when I was about 13.
I'm looking forward to a toasted ham cheese and tomato Panini.
I've got my copy of The Age, perhaps the best newspaper in Australia, for my final fix of Victorian footy journalism.

The flight is now 5 minutes past departure time so I'm going to be late back, and late to work!!

Hopefully Favourite Daughter got my text and will be at the airport to pick me up when I arrive.

PS. The Shark couldn't do it! Despite the whole country watching and willing him on, it wasn't to be. We should have expected nothing else!

It Pays to Shop Around

It pays to shop around. I went into the city today to pick up my gear and get a hire car for the trip to the airport in the morning. I fly at 6.00 and need to be there by about 5.15 so will need to leave here (Gary and Christine's) by 4.45 which means I'll need to be up by 4.30, which means I need to go to bed shortly!
I tried 6 different car hire companies and was quoted prices ranging from $46 to $72.
Just as I was about to go back to Budget (the $46 quote) I decided to give Avis a try. They are usually dearer than the rest but I figured it was worth checking.
Their price?
$33.
Bargain!
Seeing as it costs $16 for the shuttle bus from Southern Cross and it would take me way longer to get there going by train and bus, the car is a winner.

The next challenge was packing!

I've managed it reasonably well and even got the check-in bags down to 23kg which shouldn't incur any penalty.

It's been a great trip but it will good to get home and see the family tomorrow.

PS. I finally got to see Ned Kelly's armour today, it's on display on the 5th floor of the Victorian State Library. It was pretty interesting to see first hand and up close such a significant Australian icon.

Shark Attack

Can The Great White Shark make history by becoming the oldest player ever to win a major in tonight's final round of the British Open?
I sure hope so.
I spent many an early morning watching him lose golf majors in the 80's and 90's, often from unlosable positions! The US Masters loss to Nick Faldo when he had a 6 stroke lead was the worst. I was there in person in 1984 when he lost an 18 hole play-off to Fuzzy Zoeller in the US Open at Winged Foot.
I'll be staying up tonight and hoping he can produce the magic one more time.

I caught the 10:29 train from South Geelong back to Melbourne this morning, just! It was about to close it's doors as I ran to the platform but I made it.

I dropped my gear off at the locker at Southern Cross and took a tram to the Queen Vic Markets. I only had an hour before the footy started so it was a bit of a whizz up and down the aisles looking for gifts for the family. I managed to find several things that I'm confident they'll like. I also needed to get a new backpack, because A. mine is falling apart and B. I can't fit all the stuff I've bought in my existing bags!!

Back on the tram down Elizabeth St to Telstra Dome for my final football game of the trip, Carlton V Sydney. It was a good game in front of a noisy crowd, split about 80/20 in the Blues favour, but it was not their day, despite leading by 5 goals at one stage and looking like winners, the Swans stormed back to take a 20 point lead late in the last quarter. Carlton made it interesting by kicking the last three goals but that wasn't quite enough and Sydney won by 2 points! I've had the privilege of watching Carlton lose two weeks in a row!!
While I was at the footy I ran into an old friend from Perth, Catherine Wood, who now works at a school in Pakistan. She was home visiting her parents and going to her first game at the Dome. It was good to see her and catch up on one another's news.

After the game I headed back to the lockers to do some rationalising and repacking. I think I've got it reduced down to three bags for the trip home on Tuesday morning!
I then caught the train to Epping where Gary and Nathan came to pick me up, I was glad when they arrived because the weather had turned cold and wet.
It's always good to see Gary and his family, my visits have become quite regular over the last few years. We've got Foxtel on the big screen watching the golf and awaiting the Shark's tee off.

Carn the Shark!

Box Forest

A few photos from our last couple of days at Box Forest; the WA v Vic basketball game, won by the Vics but the Busso kids were not disgraced.



At the assembly, all sporting new clothes they'd bought. These coloured hoodie jackets are very popular in Melbourne.
Rhys speaking at the assembly. My apologies for the darkness of the pic, until I get home I can't do much to edit my photos. He did a great job as our respresentative and speaker.

Cats Dominate Dogs

Fears of not getting a ticket dragged me out of bed at 6.30 this morning and down to Kardinia Park by 7.00. It turned out I was 4th in line, and probably could have slept another two hours and still got in comfortably, but better safe than sorry! My position in line meant I got quite a good seat, behind the goals but high enough up to have a better view of the whole ground than last week. I took a chair with me and passed the 3 1/2 hours in the queue reading the paper, talking to the bloke behind me, and trying to ignore the know-it-all bloke ahead of me in the line. He knew everything about everything and was determined to share his knowledge with everyone within earshot whether they liked it or not!!

Once I was in, I went back out! I got a pass-out, left my seat in the protection of the bloke sitting next to me who I knew to be trust-worthy cause his name was Marcus, and took Lucy's car back so she could get to work. I took the bus back into the footy and wandered around parts of the stadium I wasn't familiar with while waiting for the big game to start.

It was a tight and tense first half with the Dogs applying plenty of pressure and the Cats making plenty of mistakes. The scores were level at both 1/4 time and 1/2 time but in the 3rd qurter Geelong got ahead kicking 5 goals to 2. In the last they put the pedal to the metal to power away, kicking 8 goals to 1 to leave the Bulldogs trailing in their wake and run out winners by 61 points.

I watched the last quarter from the new grandstand, having secured a seat belonging to a lady who was leaving early. The view was spectacular and the footy breath-taking.

The Dogs were playing for top spot, having lost just the one game this season but Geelong showed that they remain the team to beat for this year's flag.

The absence of injured stars made no difference. Emergency Ryan Gamble came in late for Wojinzki and was top scorer with 4 goals!

Gary said to me on the phone yesterday he reckoned the Bulldogs were the team to dethrone the Cats. After the game I SMSed him, "Do you still think the Dogs can beat the Cats? No Ablett, No Ling, No worries!!"

After the footy I called in to visit Mrs Holt Press' parents Alan and Mary and spent a couple of hours with them. I asked them how they met and heard some really interesting stories about how they got together, their parents, siblings, children and friends. They will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in November!!! Although they both have significant health issues they are in relatively good shape and spirit and I really enjoyed my visit. I even gave my father-in-law a hug for the first time!

Pay More Attention!!

Hmmm! It pays to read the fine print! The flight I thought I was catching at 7.15 was actually due to land at 7.15, and take off at 6.15!!!!! No wonder they paged me!
And, despite the discomfort of "sleeping" at the airport, if I hadn't done that I'd have missed it completely! All's well that ends well but I felt pretty silly at having mis-read my itinerary.

I was pretty wrecked when I arrived back in Melbourne so I caught the train back to Dennis and walked to Jacinta and Jeff's place in Northcote and went to bed! The only thing that disturbed me was a strange dream, something I've been having quite a few of lately but not enough to stop me getting a very handy 4 1/2 hours sleep, after which I felt much better.

The next challenging task was packing! Typically I've bought and accumulated significantly more than I came with and all my bags are bursting at the seams, literally! I thought I'd got it all sussed and under control until I was about to leave and Jacinta asked "Is that your pillow?" Where was I going to pack a pillow? Somehow I managed and headed for the station at Merri. Thankfully there is a good locker system at Southern Cross station and I was able to store my gear there before meeting up with Russell and going to the football. He is a life-long Collingwood fan, I, being a good footy fan, hate Collingwood so I barracked for North Melbourne who went on to win a pretty good game.

We caught the 11.05 train down to Geelong where I'll stay for the next couple of nights. I need to be up early tomorrow to get down to Kardinia Park so I ca get into the footy. The game is a sell-out and although my membership ticket will get me in, there are limited places available and I don't want to miss out! This is going to be one of the games of the season!

Go Cats!!

Sydney

I'd blog now if I had time but for some strange reason my name was just paged to come to the boarding gate for my flight to Melbourne. I say strange because it is 6.04am and the flight is not due to take off until 7.15!

For those of you thinking of spending a night at Sydney airport, don't.

I do not recommend the experience for either comfort or convenience!

Rendezvous with The German Shepherd

Still in Sydney, the Pope and I have an appointment in a couple of hours at Darling Harbour.
I caught up with Alex and the 5 boys he was "supervising" at Circular Quay and we hung out for the night on the steps of the opera house where there was a "concert" of worship bands from all around the world, Jazz, African, Latin and rock. There were 1000s of young people, pilgrims as they're called, from many different countries, singing and dancing and playing and laughing and having a wonderful time all without the influence of alcohol or other drugs. It was a great atmosphere. At one point we went for a look inside the opera house and found a young woman singing beautifully to an appreciative audience of mostly young people.
Food is included in the pilgrim package and it was a virtual feeding of the 5000, all fed in groups of 6. Sadly not all the pilgrims respected keeping Australia beautiful so I spent about an hour cleaning up and picking up rubbish from the steps.
At the conclusion of the concert we took the train "home" to Schofields, near Quakers Hill, out beyond Blacktown where the group from Al's church are staying on a rural property with Bill and his family. Alex kept us all amused and apalled on the train ride home regaling us with stories and anecdotes of all things grotty!

This morning I went with the group to Catechesis (teaching) at Blacktown's catholic church where a bishop from Denver spoke about the church and the Holy Spirit then took questions from the floor. It was quite interesting and informative and there were many young people who are clearly serious about their faith.
I also bumped into Anselem from Kuwait/India who we met on the train home from the footy in Melbourne one night.

I've taken some time off on my own to do a little shopping before heading into the city.

I'm not sure where I'll stay tonight, Schofields is about two hours from the city by train and with a 7.15am flight I'd need to leave at 3am and I doubt the trains are running at that time of night (morning). I may go and crash at the airport and cut out the travel all together.

Stage One Complete

The kids have gone home and I'm on my own. I had the rare privilege of being able to sleep in this morning, having slept without the disturbance of snoring, sleep walking, or sleep talking, to have a shower at my leisure, and to set about the business of the day without thinking about where 13 kids were.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I had a great time and the trip went exceptionally well, but there is always a sense of relief when you finish a project or trip and I think the kids were feeling it too. Rhys said on the way to the airport, "I've loved this trip but I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight".
He had special reason to feel pleased and relieved, having given a talk at the Box Forest assembly to nearly 500 students and staff and doing a spectacularly good job of it.
Troy's powerpoint on Busselton and the trip was fantastic and Rhys even ad-libbed his way through it as well as his prepared talk.
We presented the school with three framed prints by Jenny Taylor, depicting scenes from Busselton and the cape which they were very pleased to receive.
Then it was the final pack-up and clean-up before departure.
There was a small hiccup regarding the whereabouts of a football but that was successfully resolved and we were off. A stop at Red Rooster for lunch meant we couldn't take the detour I'd hoped for to see Ned Kelly's armour at the State Library; I'll have to do that on my own.
Next stop Avalon airport.
Check in went smoothly, with only Dana nudging the 20kg baggage limit. At the airport I gave Robbie and Jacqui gifts of Melbourne T-shirts and badges as thank yous on behalf of the kids and myself for their help and support throughout the trip.
Then Chris and I waved them goodbye as they headed out to board the aircraft and we set off on the return journey to Melbourne.
Jacqui sent me a text a few hours later to say they had all arrived safely and all the kids had been picked up from the airport, our final responsibility completed.

It has been a memorable and satisfying week which I'm confident was thoroughly enjoyed by the kids and staff alike.

I am now at Sydney airport having just arrived for a couple of days along with hundreds of thousands of other "pilgrims" here for World Youth Day (Week!) and the Pope's visit to Australia. I stayed the night with Jacinta, a teacher from Box Forest, and her husband Geoff, and last night had my first taste of a Melbourne style Trivia Night (Quiz night) at The Terminus pub in Northcote (an area very familiar to me as my Nan and Pa lived there for 50 years). It was well run and good fun and gave me a few ideas for next year's Big Busso Quiz Night.

I'm about to head into the city and sometime this afternoon rendezvous with Alex who has also come over for World Youth Day.

The Last Night

It's our last night in Melbourne and there's a mix of sadness that the trip is nearly over, and anticipation of getting home to familiar beds and showers that don't have to be shared with 16 people in the queue.
The Box Forest students came back to school today for the start of their third term which gave a different feel to the day. Two lots of kids had to move their beds and belongings out of class rooms that were going to be used for teaching. A group of us were introduced to the staff at their Monday morning briefing and the principal, Paul Dingle, brother of noted environmentalist and healthy house expert Peter Dingle, welcomed us and expressed his enthusiasm for our visit. We offered an open invitation to the staff and students at Box Forest if they ever want to come for a visit to WA and promised that Busselton would return the favour of hospitality and welcome that we have received.

These boys like to shop so we headed off for one more expedition in consumption, to the Direct Factory Outlet at Airport West near Essendon. They emerged with hoodies and shoes and shirts and footies, all very pleased with themselves. They had spent a very productive hour at the Queen Victoria Markets on Sunday morning prior to the Hawthorn v Sydney game. Brightly coloured and patterned hoodies are all the rage over here and the boys now look like a fashion parade as they walk down the street decked out in their new gear.

After plundering DFO we returned toi the school for the big interstate basketball game between WA and Vic. The kids were apprehensive about it, bemoaning the fact we couldn't play footy, but actually gave quite a good account of themselves, with Sean landing the first three-pointer of the game and earning a $5 bonus from Robbie as a result. The Box Forest team were better, they looked as if they had some sense of system and tactics, and won by 28-18. Not a thrashing, and certainly not a pantsing.

Lunch and a few errands held us up for a while in the afternoon so we were a bit late getting away and thus only ended up with 20 minutes at the National Gallery of Victoria, just long enough for the boys to declare, "That's not art, a 2 year old could do that"! They were only occasionally impressed, even though the display included works by such renowned artists as Matisse, Rodin, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Picasso, Manet, and Van Gogh.
I could have spent a couple of hours there but 20 minutes of culture was in the end about all they could handle, their conversation with the gallery attendant being more focused on the number of cameras and the relative monetary value of the paintings than of any appreciation of artistic merit. I'll go back for a visit on my own and take my time.

Next stop was the Myer Music Bowl, an iconic structure in Melbourne that has played host to many concerts and performers. Pearl Jam and REM have played their but my memory of the venue is seeing Skyhooks play there in 1981. What a great band Skyhooks were, so much better than those namby pamby long haired boys in Sherbert but I digress. They kicked the footy on the grassy hill, just as they have kicked the football on every flat or green surface they've traversed for the last week. They've kicked them in the class/bed room, the corridor, the gym, the basketball court, the MCG car park,the streets of Glenroy etc etc.

With the light fading we re-boarded the bus and headed for famous Lygon St Carlton to meet up with Chris and have dinner. The boys were happy with the first place we showed them, Threshermans, a slightly upmarket food hall.
This was our culmination dinner of the trip so I footed the bill from trip funds which the kids enjoyed. Ahmed, one of the Box Forest kids who came to the footy with us yesterday and played in the basketball game today joined us for dinner. Chris told me a little bit about his background and story and we both agreed it was great that he had connected with the Busselton kids and were especially pleased that he was able to join us for our night out.
I got the group to all sit around one table and had a bit of a debrief and feedback time about the trip, asking them about the good and bad things, their most memorable moment and a rating out of 10. The comments were over-whelmingly positive and the ratings hovered between 8-9, with Robbie giving it the perfect 10. I gave each of the group a small footy gift, wrist bands or model cars in their club colours. We also gave Chris a gift of some Jenny Taylor placemats as a thank you for all the work he's done to make our visit successful, not least picking us up from the airport on Tuesday night. I've enjoyed getting to know Chris a bit more on this trip and further strengthening the relationship between the two schools.

After dinner and the debrief we walked into the city and went to the movies, watching Will Smith in Hancock which everyone seemed to enjoy. Then it was a tram back to the bus and the drive back to the school for the last time.
The boys were still awake and making a noise when I left them to come and blog, but it's 1.30 now so I really hope they'll be asleep by the time I get back there.
Tomorrow we have an assembly before packing up and departing for the airport.

My apologies for the lack of pictures from Sunday, our day at the Queen Vic markets and the Hawthorn/Sydney game but I forgot to get my camera battery out of the charger so wasn't able to take any pictures that day.
Blair enjoyed seeing the Hawks beat the Swans. Aprt for the Dockers fans all the kids teams have won their games over the weekend.

By this time tomorrow night they'll be well and truly home and probably tucked up in bed getting their first snoreing/sleep walking/talking in their sleep-free, uninterrupted sleep in a week.
Troy went sleep walking last night, wandering around the room saying "What is it? What is it? before heading out the door. I got up to follow him and when I called out he woke up and turned around wondering what he was doing in the middle of the corridor.

Pictures People and Places

Blues and Saints
MCG painting
Robbie (Mr Happy!)
Rhys enjoying the Bombers
The boys on Whitten Oval, home of the Western Bulldogs

Places we've been

Phar Lap @ Melbourne Museum
Didak and co @ Gosch's Paddock
After the Bombers won @ Docklands
Troy has a kick on Windy Hill
The boys at Essendon training

What's Been Happening

With Ansalem, one of the World Youth Day pilgrims, on the train home to Glenroy
Three Cats fans who sat behind us at the footy
In the Long Room @ the MCG
Matthew Lloyd lining up for goal
Wired for sound

Footy at its Best

Big Tackle in a physical game @ Kardinia Park
Big Bees @ Eureka
From the top deck @ Docklands
Goalmouth action at Geelong
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park and the MCG

Seen around Melbourne

Mitch @ Eureka Skydeck
Everywhere they go
They always take the footballs with them
Funnel Web spider at Melbourne Museum
With Geoff our tour guide at the MCG
Juddy skyhigh

Scenes

EJ Whitten statue
Danny atop Eureka Skydeck
Well built busker
Docklands crowd
Eternity @ the Melbourne Museum (only an hour really!)

Arden St, underwhelming!
Asleep at last!!!!
Juddy in the Australian Captain's chair at the MCG
Daisy and fans
Dane at his favourite ground

Friday Night Footy

Gotta love kid's ingenuity! Sean has used a proxy to enable me to blog from the school, hopefully.
And with a little luck there'll be pictures too.

It's been another big day in the home of football.
We split into two groups this morning, one set off to see Essendon train at Windy Hill, the other headed for Gosch's Paddock to watch Collingwood train.
There were lots of people at both sessions and the kids took photos, got autographs and enjoyed seeing AFL players up close. Dale Thomas was the big drawcard at Collingwood but Dana was very disappointed with Anthony Rocca's non-appearance. There was a funny, and telling, moment when a little kid in a Magpie jumper pinched one of the footies the players were using for goal-kicking practice and took off with it. But he didn't get away with it, the trainer behind the goals took off in pursuit and caught him and got the ball back.
Angus Monfries was the only Essendon player who paused long enough to sign autographs at Essendon, the rest headed straight into the rooms for their warm-down. Rhys and Troy got to kick a footy on Windy Hill which should keep them happy for the rest of the trip.

The two groups reunited at Gosch's Paddock and we then took a tram into the city so we could go up to the Eureka Tower Skydeck on the southbank.
It only cost the kids $7 and it was money well spent as we enjoyed panoramic views of Melbourne from the 88th floor, some 297 metres in the air! If you're ever in Melbourne I thoroughly recommend it, the views are stunning, although I will have to confess to Sean that the land mass he could see in the distance across Port Phillip Bay was actually Geelong, not Tasmania.

Next up was a bit of culture, a visit to the Melbourne Museum. The kids groaned and protested but in the end they appreciated it, it's a very cool museum, the star attraction of which is the body of Aussie icon Phar Lap. There was a vast collection of beetles and bugs and 4 live specimens of that most feared Aussie creature, the Funnel Web Spider and very nasty looking they were too. I also pointed out two of the fish sculptures that had been a feature on the Yarra River during the Commonwealth Games. I have a particular interest in these fish because I was able to purchase one of them on ebay after the Games, on behalf of a group of people in Busselton, and am proud to say that it is the only one of the 72 fish to have been taken outside Victoria. It is currently at the school awaiting some finishing touches before installation.

An hour of culture was about all the boys and Dana could stand and I found them out on the forecourt doing what they've been doing at every opportunity since we left Perth, kicking a footy!

We hurried home to the school via tram and train so that the kids could shower, change and get ready to go out for our first AFL game, Carlton V St Kilda at the MCG. There were 55,653 people there and the noise and atmosphere were fantastic. We had excellent seats, on the second level behind the goal at the city end. It was a good game too. Carlton started well but kicked poorly. In the 2nd quarter St Kilda started to get on top. In the third they got out to about a 6 goal lead but in the last the Blues got some momentum courtesy of a couple of great snapped goals by Eddie Betts and reduced the margin to just 7 points. Most of the kids were barracking for Carlton (who knows why!) (the Judd factor probably) but the small group of us barracking for the Saints were rewarded when St Kilda kicked away again and ended up winning by 29 points.

There was a final train ride back to Glenroy then the bus back to the school. Hopefully the boys have done the right thing and settled down by now after a big day. I tried to impress upon them the need for sleep in light of the even bigger day ahead tomorrow. We'll see when I get back to the room after posting this!

The kids have had a great day, they loved being at the MCG for Friday night football and are looking forward to the next chapters of the Melbourne Footy Trip.

Day Two

Robbie roused everyone out of bed at 7.00 this morning, and at 7.15, and again at 7.30 and finally, and successfully, at 7.45! It wasn't a fair choice: cold wet grey Melbourne winter morning or comfy warm bed! What would you choose?
But the equation of 16 people and one working shower was the deciding factor. No-one braved the cold showers today but a few opted to wait until tonight. I washed my hair under one of the kitchen taps for my daily ablution.

We were due at the MCG for our tour at 10.30 and with the weather looking threatening we opted to take the Box Forest bus and the kids had their first taste of driving in Melbourne traffic. I don't think they're keen for too much more.

I need to apologise at this point because I'm unable to illustrate today's events with pictures. There are plenty of photos but sadly my camera battery is dead and will need recharging before it's willing to talk to the computer.
I also need to apologise to Matthew Kreuzer for calling him Justin yesterday, Sean pointed out my mistake, which is only fair cause I've pointed out plenty of his!

Our tour guide at the G was an old bloke called Geoff who was the proverbial walking encyclopaedia, if there's a fact or story about the MCG that he doesn't know it isn't worth knowing. The kids were mightily impressed with Australia's biggest sporting icon, and, as we learned, the 4th largest capacity stadium in the world. The view from the top of the great northern stand was awesome and they're all even more eager to go back tomorrow night when it has 50,000odd footy fans in it.
We saw the Long Room and sat in the arm chairs the Australian cricket captain and vice captain sit in to watch the test matches at the G, saw the media centre and sat where the journos sit as they report on games, and finally walked onto the ground, or the small cordoned off section behind the goal square at least.
At the end of the tour Chris thanked Geoff for guiding us and he in turn complimented the kids by saying they had earned the highest rating he's ever awarded in his personal tour group rating system, an A+ triple 4!!

After a quick lunch we embarked on part two of the excursion, the National Sports Museum, a treasure trove of sporting artefacts and memorabilia: Bradman's bat, Warney's baggy green, Jack Brabham's world championship winning formula 1 car, Cathy Freeman's suits from the 2000 Olympics, the green and gold one she won the 400m in and the white one she wore when she lit the Olympic torch, Raelene Boyle's silver medals from Munich and Montreal, Dawn Fraser's togs, Walter Lindrum's billiards cue, Carji Greeve's inaugural Brownlow medal, and much much more. We didn't really have time to take it all in and appreciate it but it certainly gave me a taste for another visit next time I'm in Melbourne.

Seeing as we had the bus we set out on a tour of Melbourne's sporting venues and footy grounds that took in Rod Laver Arena, Olympic Park, Albert Park, the Lakeside Oval, Princes Park, Whitten Oval, Flemington Racecourse and finally Arden St.
We stopped at the Western Bulldogs ground for a closer look but they are doing major construction work there so it looked like we wouldn't be able to get in, until the friendly barman/security manager generously offered to give us a quick look around. The contrast between the MCG and Whitten Oval is like travelling from a first to a third world country. Unfortunately we missed seeing Jason Akermanis by about half an hour, and we weren't allowed to have a kick on the ground, but it was still good to see it just the same.

We found Arden St after a bit of searching! A less impressive facility it is hard to imagine but seeing as Dane is a Roos fan we got out for a kick of the footy. While we did that a large contingent of police and ambulance officers were attempting to remove a man from behind the goal who was extremely intoxicated on something.

Gotta go, the net cafe is closing.

Had a BBQ for tea then took the kids late night shopping at Northland SC, where they indulged their consumerist hearts.

Day One in Melbourne

Brendan Goddard (St Kilda) and the boys at Avalon airport last night.


We've been in Melbourne for just under 24 hours and it's been a busy time already.
The flight from Perth was delayed about 45 minutes. That combined with luggage retrieval, bus loading, and a "mandatory" stop at the Little River BP Roadhouse for food of the takeaway variety, meant we didn't get to Box Forest until close to 2.00 and the last kid fell asleep just before 3.00 (Melbourne time)
Sleeping would have been easier but for the snoring of a certain nameless individual (Josh)! Just as he went quiet, his mate Justin piped up, talking in his sleep.
"Stand up. 2 eggs. 2 eggs, they're in your pocket"

This morning there were a few hassles and delays with a lack of hot water in the showers. Sam and Sean bravely took cold showers, which on a bracing winter's morning in Melbourne, is an act of some courage!

We headed off to the supermarket to do our first lot of food shopping. We spent $320 on food for the next couple of days, and the kids spent only a little bit less than that on snack and junk food!!
They haven't quite grasped the concept that food is included in the trip!!

Chicken ham and salad rolls for lunch, on Vietnamese rolls, a local specialty, met with general acclaim and Chris said, "This is the healthiest lunch I've ever eaten"!! Hopefully an exaggeration!

After lunch we headed for Glenroy station to catch the train into Southern Cross. The group discount tickets I found on the internet saved us about 50% of the fares if we'd paid them individually.

The boys, and Dana, were suitably impressed with Telstra Dome/Docklands, stopping to take pictures on the bridge from the railway station.

Entry to the NAB U/18 National Championships was free but it wasn't simple!
We tried to go up to the 2nd level and sit on the wing, but only half of us were successful. A hyper-vigilant doorman stopped the rest of the group, saying general public were restricted to level 1. After some to-ing and fro-ing I managed to get the group past security and the boys began to appreciate the almost magical powers of our ID cards. Names, photos, and the AFL logo on professional looking ID tags open many doors as we discovered at the Commonwealth Games.

Sadly WA were out-classed by Vic Metro in the grand final of the championships but we had fun spotting the rising talent of Australian Football, the kids names as potential top 10 draft picks such as Nick Nattanui, Daniel Rich and Jack Watts.
The footy spotting was not confined to the action on the ground either.

It started last night when a couple of the boys sat next to Brendan Goddard's girlfriend on the plane then went to say g'day to him at the airport.

Today they saw or spoke to Matthew Lappin, Justin Kreuzer, Trent Cotchin, Nathan Buckley, Cale Morton, Chris Grant and David King.

I sat and had a chat to Geelong Football Manager Neil Balme about the ticket situation for the Cats V Bulldogs game next weekend. That's him with the glasses and red trimmed jacket.

Once the game was over we took a tram into the city, walked down Swanston St, had a look at Federation Square and the Yarra, then caught the train home to Glenroy. In peak hour! A very squishy affair.

Spaghetti bolognese for dinner was followed by the intro to the Sgt-at-arms fines session.
Then it was down to the gym for a footy kicking game I invented a few years ago. The kids loved it but finally it was time for bed and a chance for me to blog.
We've got an early start in the morning and have to be at the MCG by 10.30 for our tour.

All going very well so far, the odd headache or sore neck here and there but otherwise everyone is well and having a good time.