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We drove over to Murchison on our way back to Shepparton from Rushworth on Saturday. They were playing Pennants against John and David from Merrigum who we met yesterday. The entry way had bowls on the gate and as a garden border. It's a tiny little clubhouse. There are two grass greens. They played Division Five Pennants on the Northern Green. We rolled up on the other green. It's the Southern Green. They had interesting contraptions to step on and off the green. Everyone sat in the outdoor under cover seating area to watch the game. We asked President Bruce if we could roll up on the Southern Green. (Mal and Bruce) Our rollup was good. The green was a little quick with a wide and a narrow sides. Again Mal was all over it. He even had a Resting Toucher. Jean went better going back to the clubhouse. Jean had three then Mal drove and sent the kitty up into the air and the bowls out. The kitty came down in the same spot. The scores ended up even. The Pennant players had a break for smoko at 3pm. Jean expressed surprise at a break during Pennants. John replied "We're good unionists here. We have to have a break!" Murchison put on quite a spread. They invited us to join in. We sat and had a great chat with Bruce about our trip. After reciprocal thanks and announcements Bruce introduced us to all the players and John called out to tell everyone that Mal will be at the Over 60's at Merrigum on Wednesday. Murchison - a great chat over smoko!

Mal rang Rushworth Bowls Club the other day to find out about social bowls. People at other clubs have told us it's a great little club. We decided to come on Saturday to watch them play Pennants. Jean checked out the nice little clubhouse - decked out for Pennants refreshments. While we were taking our photo in front of the sign Laurie came and introduced himself. He told us to go and check out the town market. We did but it was closing. Mal had rung yesterday and spoke with Debbie who came out to see us. She told us they have training Monday morning but we're going to East Shepparton that day so will just roll up today. Lots of people knew who we were. Clearly they've been chatting about us. It was Premier League Division Three against Shepparton Park. Laurie skipped. Mal stood and chatted with John who's been bowling here 25 years. He used to live in the house across the road. One of the ladies told Jean their President's name was also Jean. She had to get a photo! There are two greens - one grass that they played Pennants on And thin carpet synthetic we rolled up on. Jean doesn't like this black and green carpet. We did a few ends on it. That was enough. It was tough. Very wide one side and extremely narrow the other. Mal was all over it. Jean couldn't get near it until the last end when she evened the score. Rushworth - our new friends!

Mal rang Ken at Mooroopna Golf and Bowls club on Tuesday and found out they don't have social bowls in Pennant season but have training and a barbecue at 4:30 today. Ken met us when we arrived. (Ken and Mal) He introduced us to Vice President Fay. Jean said "I never get in the photo. It's my turn!" (Jean and Fay) Noel, Mal and John sat and chatted for a while. Because it's part of the Golf Club, the clubhouse is just an old shed. The hub seems to be the nice outdoor area where they were getting ready for the barbecue. There's one grass green. The W.J. "Bill" Beattie Green. There's an old green but there's only 30 members so they don't have the resources to manage two. Ken organised a little game for us against Fay and Chris. He stayed with us and walked up and down the green with Mal. Mal said "He explained lots of interesting things!" (Mal, Fay and Chris) We were zip to six then got a three. Fay then came down between them and took shot for 7-3. We did OK but just weren't good enough on the day! We decided not to stay for the barbecue. Mal wanted home-made pizza. Everyone wished us safe travels. Mooroopna Golf Bowls Club - a very friendly bunch.

We rang Mooroopna Bowls Club yesterday to find out about social bowls. We were told it's today, Wednesday and to turn up before 12. We did. According to the sign Mooroopna is "Fruit Salad City"! There seems to be a very active Croquet Club behind the bowls club. We were early and nobody was here. We met Graeme (Possum) at the gate who opened up and gave us useful instructions. We went inside to find a very cosy clubhouse. With a great cartoon of Sir Francis Drake and the infamous quote heard in the movie 'Crackerjack'. An impressive trophy case. A shirt donated by Brett Merry World Champion. And a hall they set up for Indoor Bowls though Graeme said membership of Indoor has dropped off recently. There are two nice grass greens out the front. And a great carpet synthetic out the back. Graeme told us it got damaged in the recent floods. The council insured it so it will be replaced soon. We played on the left hand green. It's the 'Members Green' They are the Cats. Everyone sat before the game in a circle in the comfy chairs. Today it's triples. Two games of 12 ends. We drew blocks to determine teams . There were just two games in all. It was so nice out there. The sun shone in a brilliant blue sky. It was 21°. There was zero wind. The green was 15.5 seconds. We played first game as a pair against a triple - Marie, Possum and Willie. We were five zip down. Mal got three then Poss cut us back to one. Jean got three too then he did the same thing. After all the ones we finally got a three which put us up! We won first game 13 to ten We came back inside and drew again for the second game. Mal played triples with Marie and Willie against Don, Dawn and Terrible Terry Jean and Lndsay played pairs Against Possum and Arthur. Mal did a brilliant bowl first up. Jean and Lindsay followed suit but then on end five they dropped a seven and it was all over. On the other hand, Mal was nailing it. Lindsay and Jean were heaps down. Jean put her last bowl of the game on the kitty then Lindsayconsolidated Arthur said "That's your best bowl of the game!". Jean was too scared to ask their final score. Mal lost by five. Mooroopna - a win and a loss for us each!

Our first day in Shepparton we came to Tatura for training day. Jean's been in touch with Jason from the club about social bowls and they said to come for Pennants practice to get a game Jason came out to meet us when we arrived. He introduced us to Col and Julian who were rolling up. We joined them. Then Stoney came and introduced himself. He was wearing his Pennants shirt. They've amalgamated for Pennants with Hilltop also in Tatura. The club has two nice grass greens. There used to be four but the council's taken back the other two. We rolled up with the boys on the first green. It's the Jack Maskell Green. The fixtures are cool. Fixed yellow scoreboards And the weather vane, named for DC Russell - a member who passed. Mal was killing it! Jean tried her best but couldn't beat him. Noone could! Jean went inside to take a photo of the clubhouse. While she was in there she asked about club badges for her hat. Jason said "No, sorry we don't have those." Jenny (Col's wife) went on a mission. She asked one of the older bowlers who told her where to look. She came racing out with two Tatura badges for us. There's a nice photo array. And photos of the hail storm they had on the green earlier in the year. Mal clearly won (though we didn't score). He said "Yeah, when I did a bad bowl the boys looked after the visitors and hit me up." Col said "We always look after our visitors!" We came inside for drinks and a friendly chat. (Mal, Col, Jenny, Kristen [club Treasurer], Frances and Ken) Tatura - we were well looked after!

There are two bowls clubs in Numurkah - Golf and Town. We understood one was closed down so only planned to visit one. We were wrong so had to visit both in the same day. It was raining so we weren't sure we'd get a rollup. Numurkah has a bigger population - about 4,700. By the time we got there the rain had stopped. We'd met President Ross Henderson of Numurkah Town at Berrigan on Thursday. He told us to come at 10:30 today and he'd get us a game. We found out yesterday he's the older brother of Hendo who we met at Wunghnu. Ross was ready when we got there. Don the Greenkeeper rolled it for us. His doggies waited patiently. The clubhouse is pretty. With a nice trophy case. There are three grass greens. One out the back. And two out the front. We played on the green in front of the clubhouse. . It's the Bill Baldwin Green. His story explains what we'd heard. He was club Secretary. When he took over the club was broke. When he left it was thriving with $25k in the bank so they named the green after him. The front green is named the Hugh Henderson Green. Jean asked Ross if he was any relation. He said "That's Uncle Hugh. He was the greenkeeper here before Don!" We played a game of pairs - 2-4-2. Mal and Jean Against Ross and Paul. The wind was tough. Jean had to bowl her Edge Plus to the next green number one side and straight down the middle the other. Mal managed one. On the last end Jean finally got one. We gave it our all but they were just too good for us. Ross said "We're used to bowling in the wind here!" The shirts are Parramatta colours so of course Mal had to buy one. It has a train on it from the train across the road. We said goodbye to the guys and headed to the other club. It's a golf club but the two grass greens looked good We had a little rollup. On the way home we drove through Katamatite - Mal's old stomping ground. He didn't recognise anything. Numurkah - good to see bowls alive and well in small towns.

Jean got in touch with Wunghnu Club via Messenger and found out they have social bowls on Sunday at 3pm. We stopped in at Strathmerton beforehand for happy hour then turned up for a game. There were some guys rolling up when we arrived. They said there'd be more people here soon. They told us the club has about 35 members - that's 10% of the town's population! The clubhouse is tiny. They are the Magpies. The club's decked out in Collingwood colours but they went to great pains to tell us they aren't Collingwood supporters. There are two very nice grass greens. Ours was the right hand green. It's the Peter Graham Green. The club logo helps visitors to pronounce the town's name. There's a nice dedication. We played with Boots and Ian (Hendo) who is the brother of Ross, the President of Numurkah where we'll play tomorrow. Hendo went to school with some of Mal's cousins in Invergordon - the Pools. We played ok. Got a few shots. Then Jean was killing it. Last end they had two shots. With her last bowl Jean played weight backhand on the wide side. She took out shot bowl for two. We called it a draw and sat down outside for a drink. Wunghnu - the boys entertained us!

We have a little trouble finding a game on a Saturday because Pennants is on. We came to Strathmerton (Strathy) today to watch rather than roll up. We arrived just after one. They started 1:30. We were lucky that today there are two divisions playing. Division Two Strathmerton plays Cobram (three teams) and Division Five plays Numurkah (two teams). There are two good grass greens. They played on the side green. It's the Wayne McGregor Green. It was pretty windy. The Aussie flags were full. One of the Twos players (Matches) came and told us he'd heard about us on Facebook. He was very helpful. He told us about the comp and pointed out water the and toilets for us. The conditions were tough. The wind was in their faces coming back to the clubhouse. A few short bowls there. Greg from Cobram, who knows people from Jean's club Weston Creek, came to say gidday. We met him at Berrigan on Thursday. His 11 year old son Luke is playing lead for him. The boy is a mad keen Parramatta supporter which pleased Mal no end. It was cold in the wind and we weren't wearing sufficient clothing so we only made it half way. When we left Strathy was in front (both divisions). They'd led all game. The boys told us to come back around 12:30 Sunday for drinks and a rollup. Matches came and watched us. He told us his rink lost by one but the other two won and they won overall. The fives drew. Mal rolled first. Then Jean. Strathy - so glad they won!

We drove around to a few clubs in NSW and Vic on Monday and managed to get our names down for Friday arvo at Barooga - just on the NSW side of the Murray river - for a game. At the desk we met Ray and Archie. Ray won at Berrigan yesterday. We met Ray on Monday when we came to put our names down Mal sat and chatted with Geoffrey who was a barrel of laughs. Everyone came up and introduced themselves. They were so friendly and talkative. The clubhouse is cute. There are two synthetic greens. Jean's favourite carpet type. We played on the front green. It's the newer one. The other green will be replaced in two weeks. It's the Keith Mellier Green. It's three-bowl pairs. Jean played with Pete who Mal played against at Berrigan yesterday. Against skip Brad and Maree. Mal played skip for Jenny Against Heather and Ruth. First end Jean has the grass right but it was quicker than she thought. She got it second end. As did Mal. Pete and Jean won 11 to 4. Mal lost 4 to 16 so we didn't get to play each other. Second game Pete and Jean played Mal's opponents Heather and Ruth. Mal played against Peter and Bruce. Jean bowled well in the second game. They won 15 to 7 to make it +15. Mal won 7 to 12 but didn't call Jean over to take any photos of his good bowls. He reckons he didn't do any but he must have! The guys made presentations. Jean and Pete got runners up. $15. Pipped by one shot. They didn't have club badges but Soups gave us badges for Werribee. Barooga - one of the friendliest clubs we've visited!

Berrigan is a small town of around 1,200 We came to the Golf and Bowling Club on Monday for a rollup. It's a golf club so the clubhouse is nice. MONDAY: When we got there we met Graeme one of the greenkeepers. He was quick to suggest that if we come tomorrow we might get a Pennants game as a substitute. We said we'd come and watch anyway. Jean chatted for a while with the ladies who were setting up for a wake. (Katie, Glenys, Elaine, Val, Karen and Sandy.) She was happy to find, if not a green, The Clare Steel Garden named after a lady bowler who had passed and a memorial for Lesley Forrest. The club has one big grass green with a divider up the middle. It's a nice-looking green. About 16 seconds. . It's the M Bush - N Burke Green. We wondered what it would be like under the lights. We rolled a few ends. Mal was (as usual) doing really well until Jean got a three Then another three. As we were leaving Graeme told Mal about their tournament on Thursday (when we're in Cobram). He rang up and got him a game. TUESDAY: We came to watch the Pennants. We saw on the shirts. They are the Berrigan Curlews. Val told Jean about the former mascot 'Curl' The Curlew. Val said Curl used to hang around the club and wait at the front door for the cleaner then come in and sit by the heater. She was killed by neighbour's dogs. Berrigan played Pennants against Numurkah where we'll be next week. It's Ladies' but some men play. THURSDAY: Mal played lead in two-bowl triples for skip Graeme and Laurie. Games are eight ends - four games in all. (Laurie, Mal and Graeme) It was a sight to see. Jean wandered around and chatted with blokes from lots of different clubs. Mal's first game was against Ken, Peter and Soups from Barooga. Mal struggled with weight initially - too heavy. He worked it out on end four. After that he bowled well but they lost 11 to 4. Second game was against Roy, Peaky and Bruce from Picola. They lost again. Third game was against Garry, Peter and Paul. Mal and Laurie both bowled well. They were level going in to the last end and got shot for a win! The last game was against Peter, Wayne and Gordon from Barooga. Mal got shot first bowl. That was about it. They lost nine shots in three ends. They came inside for a lovely lunch prepared by the ladies. Rolls with beef, gravy and coleslaw. Graeme introduced Jean to the sponsor Mick from Willow Cobram Resort. Berrigan - we met lots of new friends.

So our first club back in Victoria is Cobram. We're staying here for six days to do all the Vic and NSW clubs around. We came in on Tuesday while they were playing Pennants to find out about social bowls and try to get our names down. We met Porky who used to bowl at Tomakin with Mal's good mate Smiley. He told us to turn up Wednesday at 10 for a game. We did that but there was nobody there. We met Greg the greenkeeper who laughed and said "Did Porky tell you that?" He told us to come back for 1pm and showed us where to put our names down. There are three lovely grass greens. Jean was over the moon to see a green named after a woman - the Ena Gray Green. Greg told us she was a life member who passed away on the front green. We bowled on the far green. It's the Alan Rowley Green. There were only six names down. Mum and daughter Diane and Melody are new bowlers so Mal and Jean skipped triples. It was Melody, Jean and Carol Against Tracey, Mal and Diane. There were bowls everywhere . Jean didn't have to do too well to get two shots. To Jean's dismay the new girls are still learning weight so kept rolling long ends. She was up to the challenge though - Jean's team were up eight zip on end four. Mal was having a bad day. He had shot but Jean took it off him. On the second last end Mal finally bowled a beauty for shot on a long end and the second end win in ten. He won the last end. It was Jean 15 to 3. Cobram - nice to play with new bowlers.

So we were supposed to stay a week in Tocumwal but decided to stay in Cobram Vic instead. We came to Club Tocumwal to find out about social bowls. The receptionist was keen to get us to pay $20 for Monday night Barefoot Bowls. We weren't keen so she put us on the phone to Bob who was nice but couldn't help us. They only have Wednesday morning and we're already committed. The club isn't really a bowling club, it's a synthetic green in the middle of the golf course. Few facilities evident for bowlers. We didn't like it so just rolled up. There are two synthetic greens the plastic kind. We rolled on number two The Don Baguley Green. The greenkeepers were watering so it was a little slow. The nail in the coffin for us was the sign out the front to ban caravanners. Tocumwal Golf Club - we won't be back!