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We drove down south to the ocean to visit Inverloch Bowling Club for mid-week Pennants. It's a nice, cosy clubhouse. With nicely presented achievements. It has an upstairs area. That's being fixed up at present. There's a great deck up there. Graham and Keith were watching the Pennants and had a bit to say :-) . Playing at Inverloch were Divisions two vs Lang Lang and three vs Tarwin Lower. Kat and Elaine from Lang Lang chatted with Jean for a while. Jean asked Chris to show her their shirt with the Seagull. Dennis from Inverloch and Helen and Helen from Tarwin were interested in our story. The club has two carpet synthetic greens One of the ladies suggested a green photo from the deck would be better from up top. She's right! On the wall below are tiles for all the people who helped out with the new greens. We said goodbye and left them to their game. We drove on to Wonthaggi. Inverloch - nice view from the deck!

After our visit to Inverloch for Mid-week Pennants we drove on to see what's happening at Wonthaggi. We came inside the little clubhouse and the barman gave a wave. The club started in 1911. These are the original members. There are lots of Pennants successes displayed proudly on the wall. The "new" clubhouse was opened in 1968. We met a lady who told us her name is Wendy from Wonthaggi! They had played Tarwin Lower and Foster. Most of them were in for refreshments. We met Synden from Tarwin with whom Jean had spoken on Messenger. She told us when we come back next year we can call her and park our van at the club. Today was Wonthaggi Division One against Tarwin and Division Three against Foster . There was just one rink left playing. The Rob Schooner Ken Webb Shelter provides a nice spot outside. There are two carpet synthetic greens. They are Tiger Turf. Jean got onto the mat. The wind made weight difficult. Jean had three in the ditch but one took kitty. Mal wanted to score today. " Typical! You know you'll win! " cried Jean. Our heads were pretty ordinary with the wind. Mal scored three dodgy shots. Jean got a little better but only had one. Grass was getting better for Mal's two shots. Jean had had enough of Mal taking shot off her so we stopped. Mal grinned. Wonthaggi - Mal wins - again!

Our first club while we're staying at Korumburra is Loch. We thought there was bowls on here today. We found Sue's number online. Mal rang her and she said there's no bowls here today but she'd come and open up the club for us to have a rollup. Sue was waiting with a smile when we arrived. Sue let us inside the clubhouse for a look. There's lots of nice Memorabilia on the walls. The land was donated by the Morphets. The club started in 1973 Sue told us in 2018 Club was almost dead. She took over as Secretary and set about to save it. They did all sorts of fund-raising and started Barefoot Bowls. They wanted to get a grant to put in a synthetic green but they only had 38 members. She went around and drummed up 120 members to improve their bid. Most were non-bowling. They saved the club! This is the new synthetic green. It's carpet. Sue and the team made good use of the grant money with new shades, New lights And a new fence all around. We forgot to take photos of us on the Loch green. Here we're pretending. Mal decided we would score this rollup - first to five. Of course he started well with two. Jean was determined to better him. She only managed one. Mal nearly got all five. In the end Jean scored four all up. Mal won :-( . After our rollup we came in and met Alana and Dell. Sue told us Alana runs Tai Chi in the club. The agreement is that she doesn't charge for it but all participants must be members of the club. Come for free Monday Tai Chi at Loch! POST SCRIPT: Sue knocked on our caravan door in Korumburra and presented Jean with a club badge.

After our little visit to Loch we drove 20 minutes on to Lang Lang to check it out. It's a nice little country clubhouse with loads of stuff on the walls. They have a bunch of Pennants flags and other great and moving memorabilia. They've been here over 60 years. There was a nice memorial painting in the ladies toilet of a fund-raising dance. Jean remembers her parents' stories of 'The Younger Set'! We were surprised to see people here on a Monday. We met Jenny and Marianne. They were watching Colin and Don play a competition of 100-Up. David marked. Don won. The memorial seat is a lovely touch. It's an old plastic synthetic green. After his success at Loch Mal was keen. It was a bad head but Mal got shot. Jean wasn't deterred. Mal said " You're lucky you got that one. I had two!. " Jean scoffed. Mal really struggled with his grass. It was very, very gusty. Both hands were wide. The slower green suited Jean a bit better. Dave and Jenny kindly hung around so we could finish our rollup before they locked up. Lang Lang - very friendly and helpful people!

We came to Toora on Saturday for their last Pennant match of the season (before finals). We arrived at 11 so we could have a rollup. TUESDAY We came first on Tuesday on our way to Port Welshpool. The club was closed. We met Joe as he rolled up. There's a nice little memorial garden for Florence Vines. Their story is interesting. Started 1960. SATURDAY We came back on Saturday for their last Pennants game of the season. It's a nice light clubhouse. Bowls memorabilia adorns the walls. President Ian said we were welcome to roll up. He said he read our post on Foster yesterday. Bart and Pam were organising things. Beth and Wil were making sandwiches for the Pennants players. Bart called Ken over. He used to live near our Wanniassa home. He lived in Kambah. Toora will play Phillip Island today in Division One. We met Russ and Lois. She's been following our blog. There's just one flat carpet synthetic green. Mal was resolute. We both did ok. Mal got shot. Jean took her turn. She got shot - just! Mal got a full count! Jean did a couple of heavy bowls then she worked it out. We came inside. Norm said something about barflies so mal had to show him The Ipswich United Barflies shirt. We bought a couple of club pins. They all sat around for drinks ( tea and beer) before the game. The San Remo players arrived for Division Six. San Remo James and his assistance dog Jack were ready for Pennants. There was a light drizzle so we weren't sure they'd play. Russ told us neither of the Ones are in the top Four so it doesn't matter. We left to see if we could make Port Welshpool. Toora - a cup of tea, Pennants players and drizzle.

None of the clubs around here have social bowls while Pennants is on so we have to do a rollup at Foster. We popped in on Tuesday on our way to Port Welshpool hoping they had Pennants on to find out about social bowls. There are none. Pennants was on though. They played two divisions against Meeniyan and Toora. FRIDAY We arrived for our rollup early Friday arvo. There are two carpet synthetic greens. We rolled on the older green. It's Green 1. The permanent shades are two-sided. Jean took her turn. First end she scored two. Mal went out. He knows how to bowl! Good grass Mal. Not a great head for Mal's shot bowl. Jean did it too. Mal finished with style. We had to go shopping so we just made it a quick one. Fostering good bowls in our rollup.

We met Vice-president Nick on Tuesday at Pennants in Foster. He told us they have a tournament here Thursday and he might be able to squeeze us in. It's another little country clubhouse. We caught up with Nick again. He'd told us we can play in the Thursday tournament. Secretary Dawn looked after the money. Dawn introduced us to oldest member Barbie who can only play one game. She'll play with us, do first game then Jean will step up. They were a noisy bunch but very friendly. We loved the clock. Apparently. Meeniyan means " Moon rising over water." There's just one carpet synthetic green. It's been down eight years. With great permanent shades. Named after Keith Pocklington. It was three games of two-bowl triples with lunch in between. Our team was Spocka, Jean and Mal - Barbie played our first game. First game was against Charlie, Dave and Ian. It took Mal nearly the whole first game to get the weight. He just snuck in. They drew first game. Jean played next. Our second opponents were Marg, Bob and Les. Jean couldn't work the grass out. It was like 1 1/4 greens on the forehand and a full green backhand coming back. It was a pretty ordinary head. Mal took an ordinary shot. Jean had had shot before but they got taken out. She ran down to get a photo of her shot bowl before more bowls came down. Last game was against Roger, Robyn and Robert. First end Mal did a spectacular shot. Dawn came around to cool us off. It was 30°. A 90 year old man collapsed so they rang the bell end seven. We won 7 to 4. They gave us some Meeniyan pens. They called the results. We didn't win! Meeniyan - use the pens for a good write-up.

On our way down to Welshpool from Boolara today we visited all four bowling clubs on the way. We wanted to find out about their social bowls and take a peek at mid-week Pennants. After we settled in at the caravan park we took a little drive to Fish Creek. It's funny. As you drive through the town to the bowling club all the shop names have something to do with fish. Despite all the cars in the carpark the clubhouse was shut and nobody was around. We saw a piece of paper on the window that said Pennants was at Lang Lang today. That's 90 minutes away. We thought if we had a rollup someone might turn up. It's a nice little clubhouse upstairs. The Memorial Wall was impressive. There is one plastic green. With great permanent shades. A bird watches over the green. Jean had her go. She did ok. We were both happy with weight. Mal concentrated. Jean said " Good grouping! " It was surprisingly slow. Jean was happy with her bowls though. Mal's was pretty consistent as well. It was 37° so our rollup was short. As we were about to leave the first carload of Pennant players arrived back. 30 seconds beforehand though the bird fell down. Mal said " The Eagle has landed! " Above where we rolled up - we think it was keeping an eye on us. Colin, Bronwyn and Peter came inside. Colin said they started really well in Pennant but ended up losing by five shots. We said goodbye and left them to commiserate with each other. Goodbye and thanks for all the Fish!

We left Traralgon this morning and took the 25 minute drive to stay in Boolara. It's expected to be 40° today so we did two clubs in a day - Boolara and Mirboo North. BOOLARA Boolara is a little town of just under 1,000 people. We're free-camping at the pub. We dropped into the bowing club on our way. It's a small but pleasant clubhouse. With many Pennants flags on the wall. There's a lovely board in memory of members who have passed. The verandah is long, wide and shady. Mick arrived just as we did and opened up. He's the barman and reckons he's the oldest member. He said the club is in transition with mostly younger members now. Mick introduced us to fellow committee member Jack. There's just one grass green. It was being watered when we got there. There's a row of permanent shades. It has a beautiful hillside view from the green. We couldn't roll up as they had a sixteenth birthday party on this arvo. MIRBOO NORTH Because it will be hotter tomorrow we wanted a rest. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit Mirboo North as well. We were sad as it was all locked up with high fences so we couldn't take many photos. The sign did say " Welcome! " In the distance we saw the Gordon Wilkins Memorial Bar. The green looks synthetic - we couldn't get close enough to see but the surrounds made it seem so. Boolara and Mirboo North - to hot to do anything!

We came to Yinnar to watch them play Pennants against Drouin where we played last year. While there we met Terry and Don the guys we played when we visited Droin. It's a tiny Clubhouse. Comfy and nice. It was opened in 1985. There's a display of old wooden bowls. And a long array of Pennants successes. In the Ladies is a funny cartoon. The bar fridge was donated by Traralgon Bowling Club . The verandah is wide, long and shady. Tables are made from old bowls. Out front is a bowlers painting with a Magpie. They are the Magpies - 38 members. The whole town is Magpies. The Maggie surveys. One of the bowlers is a lead lighter and created a magpie mirror. Chris at Churchill told us yesterday that Yinnar plays at home today 10am. We arrived at 11 and the place was deserted. We took some photos and were about to get in the car when Peter turned up. " We start at 1. " He said. Then Secretary Jenny arrived. Jenny introduced us us to Board Chair (and Greenkeeper) Gavin and President Russ. Ray came and chatted with us for ages. There's one synthetic green. The Lindsay Stirling Green. When it was grass there were two but the other was too hard to maintain so got dug up. They have really good, solid permanent shades built by Gavin. Pennants started a few minutes early. It was going to be 32°. They have four teams - 16. We saw great bowls played by both teams. One of the ladies gave Jean a current badge and an old koala badge for her hat. It got to 31° so we thought it time to go. Yinnar was 8 shots up. We wished them well. Lovely people and good bowls at Yinnar!

We've done three clubs today around Traralgon. The second one we visited was the new little club at Churchill. There's not much to it but we had a little rollup. They share the clubhouse with the cricket club and others. We think it might be the youngest bowling club in Australia - just eight years old. We met Chris - husband of Secretary-Treasurer and general job's man. Chris was rolling up. He said most of the 28 members are over eighty years old so he does most things. The green is synthetic - flat carpet. Mal put one down. Jean was envious of his performance. She did her best. Our bowls went everywhere. Jean wasn't happy with her shot bowl. Still everywhere. Chris had to leave and lock up so we finished up after a few ends. Churchill - bowls everywhere!

We've done three clubs again today. We left Morwell Bowling Club to last because we really looked forward to it. We'd met President Brian Kingsley the other day at Newborough. When we got to Morwell on Friday Brian introduced us to Vice President Pauline and committee member John. Brian (and everyone at nearby clubs) told us the club burnt down last year. It's basically a construction site now. Brian said the CEO has done an amazing job getting it done in the interim. The dining and gaming rooms sit on top of the other green. We walked down the Bowlers' Entrance and met Bill who was rolling up. The club is on Green 2 now. Green 1 is great! The Bill Owen Green. This is the temporary dining and bar area built on Green two. They managed to save some memorabilia. Brian offered us a rollup. Mal was determined. A bit of a bowl-repelling-jack but he got three. Jean put hers down. First end she was happy. " I like this green! " John and Colin were rolling up next to us. They are Lead and Second at home tomorrow in Division Five. They use blocks to practise their draw bowls. Jean knocked the kitty off and said to Mal " You like it off-centre! " He does! Jean had the last word. We promised Brian we'd come here for dinner and spend some money in the club. We did that. Greek Lam Shoulder and Rump Steak. We found the staff pleasant and friendly. While we ate dinner Keith, board member, came to ask about Jean's Helensvale shirt. We chatted about the Gold Coast and the fire. A nice time at Morwell Bowling Club.