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We drove again from Wagga, this time to Lockhart for a game. When we got there we met President Barry who opened the club then set about sweeping the floor and wiping down the tables. Every person who arrived Barry introduced us. Three players we met were farmers. Wheat, barley canola and livestock. Then the greenkeeper arrived to give the go ahead for a game and finish marking. There were four games of pairs. It was an artificial surface. They told us it's only been in a month and needs to settle. The members are over the moon about that green. A small club can't afford to maintain grass. Jean played against Stuart and Jason with skip Steve (shockers, who is apparently not politically correct). It was really cold (for almost Summer), so windy and super quick. Going one way Jean said "I've never had to bowl this narrow in my life." When it was 10 - zip Jean said to Steve "Whatever happens I'm not doing a nudie run!". They got a few shots to save that but lost by 13. Mal played with Jesse Shilo against Dave Castles and Graham Johnstone. Mal said it took him a while to get the weight right but "Once I worked it out it was fine." "Their skip was on fire. So many times we had 4 or 5 and he came in and took shot." In the end Mal's team won 14-13 on the last bowl. The club has a tradition with their jackpot. It goes forward if not drawn but if it gets to $1,000 they keep drawing until there's a winner. We were happy to be here for the draw and Jean had that privilege. We had a 50/50 chance but alas another rink won. As we left they called out "Come back!" Lockhart. A little bowling club with a big heart.

We drove on Saturday from Wagga Wagga, past The Rock, to Yerong Creek for a Rollup. The road out there was pretty good. Many fewer potholes. It's a tiny but pretty little town. At the club every seat had a welcome sign which was lovely. We met a bloke Alf on a mower who came to mow outside. Mal said "He looks just like that bloke we met at RSL yesterday. Could be his brother." Turns out it was the same bloke. Jean found mats in the Ladies. Alf offered to find us a jack but we said we'd use our own. He told us they have a greenkeeper and the members mark the green, and landscape. He said the town has 500 people at most. To have such a good green and club is fabulous. Alf wished us a good rollup and said we'd love their green. We did. It was nice to play on. A little fast. We played singles. First half it was like a movie 'When Jean Got Her Groove Back'. Jean couldn't bowl a wrong bowl. Mal gets cross when his shots don't work which is why he played badly to start. At 9 to 5 it started to sprinkle and got a bit muggy. Jean suggested "Let's play to 15. That will give you a chance to catch up.". That's all Mal needed. He did a fluke. Bowled super narrow, wicked off his own bowl and took shot. He cheered up then and won the next 4 ends and the game. Jean just says "That's bowls.". Yes we felt very welcome at Yerong Creek!

We went to Wagga Wagga RSL on Friday. It was men only so just Mal played. Jean offered to play if they were short. They looked at her like she'd insulted them. Mal played second with Bob and skip Wal against David, Rob and skip Graeme. He said the greens were lovely- about 15 seconds. He said "They are a great bunch of blokes - good company". Mal doesn't think to take photos so alas, nothing to show. Mal said "The guy said 'they are killing us on short ends' so they rolled a long end. I put my bowl 10cm from the jack". Mal likes to talk about his good shots - over and over! Then he told the story of how they won the game "On the last end the kitty was about 12 cm from the ditch. I did two on-shots to put it in the ditch. They just missed and went in the ditch. I decided to draw it. It landed 3cm from the ditch and 20cm from the kitty. We won by one shot About 15 seconds." Wagga Wagga RSL Bowling Club - one for the boys!

We took a 40 minute drive from Wagga Wagga to The Rock for a Rollup. (The Rock) We were surprised that for a tiny town the bowling club was very nice - and open! A nice old bloke Kevin was having RYO smoke on the green when we arrived. We said we were after a rollup so he said he'd go and get us a mat and jacks from the shed. He said "Just leave them there when you're done. I'll put them away." Bowlers like it when you roll up on their green. He gave us a wave as we left. (Kevin and his mate) There were 2 greens, one overgrown and a beautiful synthetic. Nice carpet to bowl on, except for the sand on our bowls. Not much of a problem though. We played a game of singles. We got there at 12:50 and agreed to stop at 1:30 because Malcolm promised his Mum Lorna's best friend (Aunty Nerida) we'd visit after 2pm. Jean took first blood with a single then got a couple of 3's. Mal kept just pegging back. Jean's second 3 was pretty impressive with a nice tight head. She said "I can bowl you know". Mal stepped up to the mat and said "So can I!" as he took out Jean's shot bowl. It was all over after that. Mal does it again! We took over a scoreboard. Mal was Baz, Jean was Fernando. Thanks for the hospitality The Rock!

It's mid November now and we're at Wagga Wagga Rules Club. From the moment we arrived we were engaged in interesting conversation with just about everyone we met. Such friendly people! Wednesday is supposed to be men only but Mal told Brett Peeper that his missus really wanted to play. Jean arrived and Brett said "I'm the boss. If I say you can play - you can play." Thanks Brett. As seems to be the usual case it was Jean and about 29 guys. Brett decided Jean's name was Jean Gunner - she was fine with that. The club has two greens. One is out as it's being cored. Compared with where we've played recently, the green was just lovely - but extremely fast. Both Jean and Mal struggled to get their weight right - so many bowls in the ditch! That said, our teammates had the same problem. Jean played lead with Marcus and skip Brett Peeper against Neil, Pete and Foxy. (Pete, Brett, Foxy, Jean, Neil and Marcus) Jean had such fun. They were lovely blokes with really interesting stories to tell. The skips played really well though they struggled as well. Neil told Jean he's only been bowling 5 months. That was not obvious. He bowled really well. Sadly Brett's team lost badly. Jean said "We got shellacked!" The Rules guys have a tradition that they read out the scorecards in ascending order (in terms of margin). We think it goes that if a team scores less than 10 the boys call out in unison "Oooh, shit! Brett's team got it. It was pretty funny though embarrassing. Mal played second with Snakey and skip Chris against young Jackson, Nic and skip Jeff. Mal said Jeff was on fire. Mal drew three shots on the last end that would have given them the game. Jeff came in and moved the kitty for two. Mal's team lost 17-20. He was devastated (not really). Mal had a fun game too. He said "They are like a big happy family". (Young Jackson bowls) (Jayco with skips Chris and Jeff) After the game we had drinks, and a lovely and interesting chat. We were the last to leave we had such a nice time. We're in such a tizz, we have so many bowling clubs to visit but we really want to come back! Thanks rules bowling club!

We came to Junee to re-live Jean's experiences when she came here at age 18 to learn to pull a beer at the pub of 1st cousin-once-removed Marie - the Loftus Hotel. We stopped in at the Junee Bowling Club for a roll-up. At first glance we weren't very hopeful, the bottom green looked like it hadn't been mowed for a while. A bloke who lived across the road called out and asked if we'd come for a bowl. We said yes and asked if he was a bowler. He was and he wished us well for our roll. We tried the second green and it was quite slow and looked like it also needed a mow. The third green was great. We couldn't find mats and jacks so used the yellow jack from Jean's bag. We used Mal's plastic chalk container to mark our mat line. So we started to play a game of singles. Jean got the jump with a 2 and a 3. After a couple of ends, Mal worked the green out, stopped bowling narrow and caught up. 5 all. Jean got another three then Mal got three 8-8. Mal scored a two then Jean got two threes. We stopped then because we had to visit another club. But we enjoyed the lovely roses. Finally Jean wins against Mal 14-10! Very thankful to Junee's nice green!

After our lovely roll at Junee Bowling Club we decided to go to the Ex-Services club to check out its green. Chalk and cheese! It had two greens, one was like a horse paddock. The second wasn't much better. The bar staff charged us $5 to roll up on an unmown green full of weeds. A bowler came out - we think to apologise for the state of the green. He said they'd played on it that morning. He explained that the clubs cleaner is their greenkeeper. He spends a couple of hours on it a week to mow, roll and mark it. We suppose given that it's not too bad! At least there were mats and jacks. We only played a few ends because it started to rain. After we left we went to the liquorice factory where it absolutely bucketed down. There was a river of water running down the Junee streets. Mal won 5 shots to 3. We mentioned to the bowler who came out that they had a hide to charge us $5 for a rollup on that green. When we went back inside the guy behind the bar gave us our money back. Nice club - Junee Exies. Shame about the green!

We drove 20 minutes from Cootamundra to Stockinbingal for a rollup. We didn't have it on our list initially because it wasn't on the Bowls NSW or Zone websites but we saw it o our way back from Temora and said we needed to play there. Again the club was closed - opens 4pm but we found mats and jacks. A bloke arrived in a ute to pick up some tables and he told us we were welcome. Jean took the opportunity to pop in to the loo - only the mens' was available. That was an experience! Anyway, he told us the green hadn't been mown for a while. Grass was long (in bowling terms) and very, very slow. We rolled up and Jean cheered when she got a bowl within 2 metres of the jack. Mal of course was all over it (showoff). We played singles for a while. We tried to record our scores but found it hard to find a scoreboard in one piece! We gave up playing when it got really muggy - lots of water still around in the air. Not much shade to be had. Mal finished with a 3 which put him on 15 to 3. Jean said "One day I'll get you!" Catch ya later Stockinbingal Off to Junee tomorrow

We had a game today at Cootamundra Country Club Bowling Club. They told us the sad story of the club. Apparently they used to have three great greens. One has been left to go fallow. The other is now a croquet green. They now have only one (very ordinary) green to play on. They said the club only has twenty members now and they aren't affiliated. They are only available for social bowls. Many players who want to play comp also join Cootamundra Ex-Services. The Country Club house itself is pretty run-down. They've spent all their money on the golf course (and to build a top of the line new golf shed) - though it does have a very nice rose garden. The bowlers don't get much of a look in. They said the bowls club is in its last years. :-( Anyway, there were eight players today - Jean and seven blokes. We had two games of pairs. Mal skipped Geoff against another Geoff and skip Scott. (Mal and Scott skipping) (The two Geoffs) Jean played lead with her Dad's namesake Roy against Kerry (lead) and Frank (Scotty). (Jean and Kerry - leads) (Roy bowls and Scotty looks on.) Jean's game was neck and neck until Scotty's team scored two 5's in a row. Jean stopped looking at the score after that. Jean and Roy lost the plot a little but came back well in the end. Final score was Scotty 28 to Roy 14. Mal's side fared much better. Mal's teammate Geoff said "Whatever shot he wants to play he nails it!" Mal played brilliantly and they won 30 to 12. He said Geoff his partner used up all Mal's chalk. Mal said "We visited the club and taught them a lesson!" Jean said "Well maybe you did - I got flogged!" Mal said "Yes but it's all about me!" (all tongue in cheek of course). In fact Jean got a blow by blow description of all Mal's great shots and how he "Played like a man 'reposessed'!" We wish Cootamundra Country Club Bowling Club a bright future. Thanks for a fun game! POST SCRIPT: So we copped a bit of flak from a random person at the Country Club for what we wrote in this blog post. What they don't seem to understand is that IT'S A BLOG! It's for entertainment. It's neither the truth nor a lie - it's just our reflections on what we've been told (which may or may not be truthful or an exaggeration) and what we observe for ourselves. Readers of the blog can make up their own minds about how true it is. For us, as we travel around we see way too many "parent" clubs that just let their bowling greens go. They spend all their money and effort on activities for younger people - which bring in a lot of dough. The older people (the bowlers) with their rich life experiences and interesting stories are left out in the cold. Not the community spirit we expect from a community club. That, we think, is just shameful! (but that's just our opinion).

Visited Harden from Cootamundra for a rollup. We didn't have much time. We left at 1 and Jean had to be back by 3pm for a sports psychology session with Jodie. Snap visit. We were told by Jason that the road was really bad. It was in parts but they were working on it and much of it was repaired. Still lots of water on the road though. The thing was, we turned up at 2pm. Club was open (unlocked) but nobody was home. Sign said it opened at 4pm. Looks like they've played Pennants recently. Green looked ok. About 38m. Couldn't find any mats or jacks for our rollup. Didn't want to look too hard though, felt like trespassers! Perhaps well come back one day (after 4pm)! Seeya later Harden!

Played at Cootamundra Ex-Services. 3 bowl triples. Mal and Jean played against each other - opposing leads. It was Jean, Mick and Don vs Mal, Todd and Ron. (Todd) (Mick) The green was synthetic, fast as Weston Creek but a much truer line. It really helped to roll the jack to get your weight right. Was just Jean and 17 blokes. There were three games all up. Mal and Jean had a great competition outdoing each other. Didn't matter much, our opposing seconds and skips kept taking out our shot bowls. Great to play with and against good players. The game was close, Don's team was behind most of the game but had a surge at the end. They ended up winning 26 to 17 in the end. Even after a six against them. They were a pretty quiet bunch, not too much chatter on the green but we had a nice natter after the game. One of the blokes there, Ed, said we wouldn't find nicer people in the whole of country NSW than in Cootamundra. We think he could be right. Mal met Jason who he'd met previously at tournaments. He wore a Weston Creek shirt! They had a friendly hug and planned a rollup 9am next day. We had an awesome and fun game with great company. Onya Coota!

So Mal remembered Boorowa as a one-horse town. So we decided to just visit from Yass. Jean's job was to survey the road ahead and cry out "Pothole!" Road was full of them, and roadkill. Bowling club was disappointing. Mal said "Looks like it hasn't been played on for a decade." Grass was mown (kinda) but had big furrows. No lines, and no mats and jacks to be found. We went inside and they were playing bingo. Nobody was interested in helping us get a rollup. We took a picture and went to the pub for a drink. Pub, Boorowa Hotel, had an Irish theme. Seemed to have Asian owners which we thought was unusual. Quite nice atmosphere and polite bar service but nobody talked to us. Seeya Boorowa! Post Script: When we went to Temora they told us there's another better bowling club at Boorowa. We'll check that out on our way back through.