It's Pennant Saturday so no bowls for us today. We decided to take a long drive to check out a few clubs in far Eastern Melbourne semi-rural region and hopefully see some good Pennant play. BORONIA First stop is Boronia where we got a nice welcome. We got our obligatory photo out the front. Peter came to welcome us and tell us a bit about the club. There are two grass greens. Today they have Sections 4 and 7 against Yarra Junction (where we've been) and Ferntree Gully where

We've done all of regional Victoria so now we're starting in Melbourne. First cab off the rank is Mooroolbark in the East. First person we met was Geoff at the table. He'd put us all in to teams. It's a comfy little clubhouse. With a success board. And a sponsor donation. There's a great outdoor area with a lovely mural. And acknowledgement of sponsors. And a committed former member. There are three greens. Two grass And one is plastic synthetic. We played on the first gree

We love being back in Victoria, even if it's just a day trip from Albury. Last time we were here we missed Wodonga so came today for a game with the ladies. It's a nice little clubhouse. With a great painting of the Foundation President. Sooo many Pennant shields! There are three nice grass greens. There are two out the back. We played on the front green. It's the Jack Dunstan Green. There's a little story about him. It's ladies' bowls day Thursday but men can play. We pla

So we're back on the road after a family hiatus. Our first stop is Albury. We've been here before - last year. We visited Commercial Club but didn't get a game. We've come back for that. There are two nice carpet synthetic greens. Robin looked after the money. They put the teams on the board Pat, Jean and Vice President Kaye Played against Ron, Colin and Mal. Jean took first blood. Mal was bowling well, though 2 to 11 behind. Mal had two then Jean stole it. Bowls everywhe

Bungendore is 45 minutes from our home in Canberra. We've come today for Sunday afternoon social bowls. After this we'll have finally finished all the bowling clubs in Canberra. It's a little clubhouse. One can access the bar from outside. They've won a few Pennants The boys sit outside. Stu looked after social bowls. They weren't sure how many would turn up because the footy is on. They advertise Sunday Social on the website https://share.google/a8UCY6wHINkusVv9Ka and

We've been off bowls for a while. Jean's Mum passed away in early August so we had to race down south to Nowra from Qld. We were there for a month then we came home to Canberra. Our first game back is at Queanbeyan. It's located at the council greens on the main drag. The clubhouse is tiny. There are a couple of nice trophies. Chris staffed the desk. The Collet family is recognised. Pat from Queanbeyan RSL chatted with Jean for a while about the state of ACT clubs. There

We tried to come to Elliot Heads on Tuesday but we had a long drive from Woodgate and would get there too late. So they put our names down for Thursday afternoon. It's a nice country clubhouse that was taken over by Waves club in Bundaberg. It was opened in 1977. Steve, Lynda and Cherryl were in the office. Brian looked after the raffle. All the ladies sat around to wait for the game. Some of them were organising afternoon tea. Lorraine told Jean Elliott Heads has the best

We came to North Mackay on Thursday to put our names down. We found out they have an 8:30 game on Monday so we did that. We put the alarm on to get up early. It's a nice, big clubhouse. We chatted with Jim and Alan. MONDAY Sandra the Ladies' Ambassador made us feel welcome and explained everything. Wayne and Shane were in the office. The club is called Goosies. It's next to the Goose pond. There are two under-cover Tiger Turf greens. We played on the outside green. Today i

Our mate Keiran invited us to come to Mackay RSL Memorial Bowling Club for Saturday bowls. It's a cute little clubhouse. The past Men's and Ladies' Presidents are proudly displayed. The club is decked out for Blue's 80th. He's a veteran and former President. We'd met Keiran when we were in Daly Waters. He gave us his number for when we came to Mackay. Keiran introduced us to President Steve who presented Mal with a shirt 👕. Jean asked Steve if the had a badge for her hat.

We dropped in to Mackay City on Thursday to get a photo. We discovered they have bowls on today so we put our names down. It has a nice long bar. With a good trophy case. The ladies' club was opened in 1993. Barry and Geoff were at the desk. Mal chatted with Barry for ages. Then we sat with David and Jamie. It's a nice Tiger Turf green under cover. Jean will be happy! It's been down a while. It will be replaced in August this year. It's named after Dr C.E. Williams. In the

We arrived at the caravan park at 12:10. Jean told Mal to ring Northern Beaches to find out what time they play. If it was 12:30 we'd miss out. It's 1. The bowlers hung out in the Sports Bar. We met Ian. He was expecting us. They'd had to make special arrangements as we were supposed to have our names down by 12. They fitted us in! They are building a new under cover green. The got a $500,000 Government grant. The new green will be ten rinks. It's a blue lagoon Tige

Pioneer Valley in Gargett is sporting club with a strong bowls focus. We popped in for a quick visit and got to plug in for a while. We had to drive on some dodgy roads to get there. We saw they have 15 amp power so thought we could stay here. We plugged in. We got our photo of the club sign for our map. We looked at the bar through the window. It's only open from Thursday to Sunday. Today's Tuesday. It's a grass green with a tennis court behind. Dave came down for a ro

We dropped in to Cutheringa on Thursday to put our names down for a Saturday afternoon game of bowls. SOUTH TOWNSVILLE First we stopped in South Townsville. They were closed but we got shown around by a couple of the staff. They are very proud of their crabs! CUTHERINGA We came back for our Cutheringa game on Saturday afternoon. We got there early and managed to watch a bit more of The Dunn Cup streaming live Suburban vs South Townsville. It's a Nth Qld 4's competition t

We're staying in Townsville for three days. We've nearly done all the clubs here so Jean contacted Toni at Magnetic Island via Messenger to get our names down for Friday afternoon Bowls. We caught the barge over. 40 minutes. It's a nice little clubhouse. It reminded Jean of Maldon in Victoria. The main difference is a view of the ocean. It has a nice outdoor area. Not surprising. We met Greg who organises things. Jean chatted with Ron, James, John and Ken (Noddy) who wer

We've been wanting to come to Marlin Coast Bowls Club for a while. We'd been given the number for Crackers the Caretaker when we were somewhere in Australia. We wanted to meet him. We rang Crackers to find out when they have social bowls. We had a great chat. He told us to turn up for Friday afternoon rollups. It's a great social occasion. Crackers told us it was probablyTerry from Port Fairy who gave us his number. It's a nice little clubhouse. Crackers told us it's

We did a little tour of Cairns and visited two clubs. Stratford and West Cairns. SRATFORD We went first to check out Stratford. We thought we wouldn't get a game there. They were putting up a new shade out front. It's very nice. We met Darren (Dusty) who told us they were devastated by floods and are just rebuilding. There's a separate bar. A local artist painted the toilet doors. It's only the second club we've seen that has a photo of the King. The green is still recover

While we're at Proserpine we decided to drive the 50 minutes to Bowen to get a Sunday game and to see the other club Wangaratta. We got our map photo. The bowlers all hung at the bar. It's a very old clubhouse - 1923. It was donated by Mr and Mrs Ezzy. There's a nice trophy case. Carol and Col came for a chat. They've just moved here from Tamworth. There's just one green. It's Tiger Turf - Jean's favourite - under cover. They are the Bowen Bandits. It's triples today. They

Yet again we didn't plan to do more than take a photo at Proserpine but our caravan park was just next door and the members were very friendly. The bar is separate from the main clubhouse. Mike was the first person we met. He came out when we arrived and gave us the rundown on everything abut the club. He gave us a Proserpine scorecard as a keepsake. Ken came over for a chat. There is just one grass green. It's the Brian Cooke Green. There's an old fallow green. The plovers

We're on our way to Cairns. There are lots of clubs we didn't do last time we were up here. One club, on our way, is Marian. We popped in to get a photo there and discovered a tournament so we decided to write a little blog post about it. We got our obligatory photo for the trip map. Jean went in to get a photo of the bar. The bar lady ducked because she doesn't like photos. There are long lines of photos of the ladies' and men's past Presidents. We asked one of the bloke

Yes we've been silent for a while. We came home for six weeks after our WA trip to see the kids and grandkids. Since then we've travelled 2,000km. We're on our way to Cairns. We've stopped along the way to photograph some clubs but today we'll finally get a game at Sarina in Nth Qld. It's a good-sized clubhouse. When we say "We'll get a game." We mean Mal. Jean has a cold and injured her rib in a coughing fit so is in too much pain to play. She'll take photos for t