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

The Labor Club is evicting Jean's club - Weston Creek Bowling Club from of its premises. The club is to leave at the end of June - just one month away. The members are hoping to re-home at Canberra Bowling Club until they can get a new home. We came for our final game in Stirling. Everyone waited in the clubhouse for the card calling. Mal's brother Michael (in the middle) is a member of Weston Creek with Jean. Multiple pennant flags adorn the greens. There are three green

So we made it across The Nullarbor, through SA and Victoria. We stopped in Ararat Victoria for Jean's sister Ellen's birthday then made it home to Canberra. No sooner had we turned up at Mal's club Tuggeranong Vikings when our mate Hughey asked Mal to take his place in the Major Singles. Mal jumped at that. We'd had a nice time in Ararat with Ellen for her birthday. The Vikings club is doing renovations for the next year so there's no access to the clubhouse. The boys wer

We're finally on our way back home after 2 months in WA. We've done every bowling club in WA but one - Scaddan. It's the last one on Highway One before we get to the Nullarbor. We've been welcomed to stay the night. Quite fitting we think! We peeked through the window. The clubhouse looks cosy. There are nice gardens. Roses out the back and Hibiscus out the front. Jean's been talking with Trudi via Messenger. Trudi said we could park here overnight. Mal rang

We're on our way back home. We only have five more WA clubs left to do. Jean's been in touch with Albany Bowling Club via Messenger. Secretary Mark told us there's a game on Wednesday and that we could park our caravan there overnight. We've done our best to get here for that! When we were in Denmark (35 minutes away) we called to find out what time they started. We spoke with Kevin who took our names. We got there too late to play social. They were already on the grr

We rang Ellenbrook's President Robbie to find out if there's social bowls. He said no so we asked if we could roll up on Thursday. He said yes - after midday. We turned up. Robbie was the first person we met and he said "Actually we've got a game on today if you want to join us!". We jumped at the chance. It's a nice clubhouse with a friendly bar. We liked the plaques under the bar for founding and other members. They are the Black Swans. The bowlers all sat outside. T

We popped in to Willeton while we whizzed around country WA visiting all the clubs. We met some lovely people there so decided to write a blog. The ladies were all sitting having a nice chat when we arrived. Jean had a great conversation with them all about our trip. There is an impressive array of Pennant flags. Marg went and found an old over-sized Swan shirt for Jean. They have new dragon shirts now! There are two synthetic greens. The sky was stormy over the g