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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.

Off to Temora today, Sunday, for a game. Put our names down yesterday. We decided to stop at the Young car wash to remove all the yass mud from our bogging incident. Dexter our Dmax came up very nicely! Lots of potholes on Milvale Rd but as we got closer to Temora they were all repaired which was nice. We popped into the Temora ex-services club which has one green. It was out of action for maintenance, so no rollup. At Temora we had a nice chat with John a retired farmer. We had so much fun there, we forgot to take photos of us and the people there 🙄. First it was cool and cloudy (see photo), then we had to put our rain jackets on, then the sun came out and it was a bit muggy. The game was two games of 12 ends. Play the first then new opponents. Jean played first with Dan (skip) against Alan and Skip Glenn. Jean and Dan won convincingly 16-8 and even got a full count. Second game against old Dan in the South Sydney shirt. lost by 3 shots. Mal played next door with Mike. "The Leyland Bros" against Trevor and 86 year old Cliff. Second game against Ron and Norman. Lost his first game then drew the second - against a Zone player. The Temora crowd wished us well on our travels but told us to watch out for the people at Ariah Park when we go there (we think they were joking!). We'll make up our own minds on that. One of the guys Trevor gave us instructions to go back to Young via Stockinbingal because we were worried about flood waters we passed. Good advice, many fewer potholes but loads of semis - mostly B-Doubles. Fantastic games. Great company. Thanks Temora.

So we came to Young. Mal said (about the gutters) "F...k! If you were pissed and fell down the gutter you'd break everything!" We booked into the caravan park and decided to stay 5 nights. We'll play Young Saturday then Temora Sunday and have a rollup in Harden on Tuesday. Went to the club for a drink then walked to The Commercial Hotel where, apparently Scotty Smith's Dad drinks. Didn't catch him. Food was nice though. We put our names down for Saturday arvo but got a call in the morning to say no women. Mal played. Jean had Tomato Relish to make so walked down a bit later. The blokes Mal played with were all really friendly and talkative. They kept Jean entertained! Mal played lead with Ian against Albert and Mark (Ando). Game was close. Only 2 shots in it the whole game. Mal and Ian were behind. On end 19 Mal and Ian scored a four which put then 2 ahead. They were up 17-16 going into the last end. They drew and had to play an extra end. In the end they lost by one shot! We had a great chat with the guys after the game about politics, indigenous affairs and everything. Lovely people. Yes, we feel YOUNG! 😄

So we left Canberra on the start of our journey around Australia to play bowls in every club. First stop was Yass - just over an hour from Canberra. We left late (Mal's fault) and arrived at 10:30. The plan was Jean would do her sport psychology session with one of her customers and Mal would go to the club to put his name down for the arvo. Huh! Fat chance! We decided (because someone told us it was really good) to go to the Showground. It looked nice but Mal was worried about driving the caravan on the grass. He drove in a bit and tried to drive out - BOGGED! The wheels spun frantically. We tried putting a line of sticks in front of it but couldn't get out of the hole. Finally a young shearer named Keith came along and asked "Do you want a pull?" We gratefully said "YES!!!". He and his wife Mikala helped us out and stayed around to make sure we were OK. What lovely people. Two hours after we arrived we made it out! Anyway we decided to go to the Yass Bowling Club for a rollup. Jean started walking. As she walked past the Yass River she saw how flooded it was. A bit further on she lost Maps directions part way and stopped into the pub to ask. Who should be in there having a drink but Keith and Mikala. Anyway Jean made it to the club and sat down and watched the boys (that Mal was supposed to play with). The guys were very interested in us and we told them about our trip. One guy had just come from Grafton and told us we must stop there. We promised we would. Anyway - the short story - we played a game of singles and Mal won 25 to 4. Jean says the more games she plays on our trip - he won't be able to do that any more! After everything - thanks Yass for a "fun" day.

So three years ago, Malcolm and his brother Michael Gunner along with Dave Croker (both from Weston Creek Bowling Club) entered the Gundagai Triples tournament and they won it! In the intervening two years, due to COVID they haven't been able to run it so Mal and his team have been the winners three years running! This weekend the boys came back to defend their title. For some reason, Mal was put as lead so they team wasn't able to fully utilise his talents. They lost the first game so the defended title was out of their grasp. They also lost their second game but came back and won the third game. On day two they won the first game and drew the second. Alas it was too late to keep the title. Still, lots of fun was had. The Gundagai people were very friendly. They joked around with Jean while she watched. They provided dinner the first night and a good breakfast and lunch on day two. Weston Creek (Jean's club) had a good showing with four teams. Lots of green and gold to be seen. We stayed at the Gundagai caravan park, an odd place with all caravan bays under cover on concrete, still, the people were lovely and it was a pleasant stay. Thanks Gundagai!

We put our names down the might before. We drove from Ulladulla but got stuck in traffic at Milton. We arrived right on 9:30. They were very accommodating. There was only one game so they rewrote the card for a triples game. Mal played skip with Liz (lead) and Helen. Jean played lead with Barb and skip John. We had a really enjoyable game. Played 20 ends and Mal's team won 21-18. John's team was way behind but came back and could have won with a full count on the last end. Nearly did it. Had 7 but Mal upset the apple cart. We had a lovely lunch with our people and the girls who played a triples comp next to us. Fantastic company, interesting conversation. Thanks Lake Conjola!

We drove to Club Jamberoo today for a game of bowls. When we got there, we told them about our trip around Australia to play in every club. They insisted we take a photo of us with all the players. There were only 18 players so we had three games of triples. Mal and I were put with our Skip Barry who is apparently a really good player. He lived up to his reputation. We played against Bob, Warwick and Martin (Irish). Unusually, everyone played really, really well. The whole game the margin was only a couple of points. We led the first half, then they got a four and moved ahead. At end 18 it was 18-18 so we decided to play two extra ends. We got a 5 and a 2 which won us the match. We also won the money (and gave it to our opponents). We had a fantastic game. Great weather, great company and terrific bowls. Thanks Jamberoo!

This was the first club we visited on our journey. It was a Tuesday, so usually Ladies day. I rang up at 9:35 to get my name down for 10 and was told they were already out on the green. What I didn't know was that they were playing Pennants. No social bowls! Still, they said we were welcome to roll up, which we did. Mal and I had a game of singles. The green was very slow and one side quite narrow. He beat me 26 to 13 (darn it!) The best part was that the people who were there to watch Pennants helped us out and told us where to go and where equipment was. When we were done they asked us how we went and were very engaged with us. They were very friendly and listened intently to our stories of our planned travels. What friendly people!