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We've been in Bathurst a couple of days. We arrived on Monday so no bowls and had a day off yesterday (Mal's still not 100%) . Jean went to visit The Greens on William in Bathurst and got the juice. Mal rang this morning to get our names down. We walked the ten minutes to the club. It's a beautiful old-fashioned club. With verandah all around. Very unusually it has four greens. Two out front And two out the back. Green 3 is being renovated. We came inside and met Ray (Shorty) at the table. Neville and Mal chatted and Mal asked about club shirts. Norman and Ian sorted Mal out with yet another shirt with Parramatta colours. They are The Grizzly Bears. We played on Green 4. So did the ducks. They have volunteer greenkeepers. It's three-bowl triples. Jean was lead with Ian and skip Dennis (Dennis, Jean and Ian) Against Allan, Bruce and Paul. Mal played with Neville and skip Alby. (Alby, Mal and Neville) Against Jack, Bob and Ian. Jean was doing her best but Paul kept coming inside her bowls. Mal was doing much better. He worked out the weight. And again. Jean finally got in there with lots of help from Ian's red bowls. They ended up with one in the end. Jean started to work out the weight. She got a toucher. Mal was killing it! Jean wasn't counting but Paul told her she'd had four touchers in the game. Jean lost 12 to 23. Mal won 27 to 20. We came inside for drinks with the boys. Jean asked Neville about badges. He searched and he found one for her. Bathurst City Bowling Club - a friendly bunch of blokes!

We arrived at Katoomba Tourist Park yesterday after our lovely game at Hazelbrook. Last night Mal rang John at Springwood club to find out the game is at 9:30. We. Left at 7:45 to get us there around 8:30. Then we met Maureen who was setting up the rinks. Saturday is run by the ladies. Maureen told us the club doesn't open until 9am and we have to pay our $10 at reception. We hung out in the car. The club has two nice-looking grass greens and a paid greenkeeper. It's a pretty big club. It was just 5° so the bowlers all sat inside in the warm beforehand. We played on the top green. It's the Bob Russell Green. Jean remarked that in our whole trip we've never seen a club name a green after a woman. We met Lyn at the front door. She came and introduced us to Anne at the table. (Mal, Anne and Lyn) It was Nancy, Jean and Heather (Jean, Heather and Nancy) Against Anne, Ken and Barbara. (Anne, Barbara and Ken) Mal is very bad at remembering the names of people he played with and against. Here is his team. Here is his opposition. He thinks the skips name is Michael and maybe Steve. He said the lady's name started with a 'K'. There were six games of two-bowl triples. Twenty ends. Jean started off well. Then, on a long end and, unusually, Jean put two on it. On the other hand, Mal struggled. He called Jean over "I got one!" They won 21 to 14. Mal said "I feel like one of the boys here. It would be a good club to join!" He did ok! Jean's team had a big win.30 to 12. Jean felt she played very well. She came inside and sat and chatted with all the ladies. Jean got $30 for the winning Second. The ladies found Jean a badge for her hat. The Lyrebird is their mascot. Norman Lindsay designed it. Springwood - a nice club to join

So we had information that today is Men's at Hazelbrook Bowling Club. Jean rang to confirm and got Mal's name down. Simon rang us back later in the day yesterday to apologise and say he's trying to get more people on the green. He added Jean's name for nominated pairs. The club is really pretty. There are nice flower beds. It's surrounded by bushland. In front And behind. The boys told Jean "It's a hidden gem!" They were right. We got there at 11 and parked the caravan for a stopover. We met Greenkeeper Nick who's a Canberra boy. He told us the club opens at 12 so we hung out in the caravan and watched Star TrekVoyager. There are two greens but Nick told us the lower one is used for Croquet. We came back at 12 and met Todd, Horatio and Andrew. Lots of other blokes turned up and Jean chatted with them and told them about our trip. They had a sign out today to say today's prize was for highest score. It was Jean and fifteen blokes. Us... Against ian and Terry. There were four pairs games with great Aussie and British Rock music playing in the background. Jean took shot then Terry put in a beauty. Mal was bowling really, really well. So was Jean. At one stage we had them 18 to two. We were in there for the overall highest score. At one point we had five then Terry cut us back to one. Even though it was horrendously windy we all managed a caterpillar with our grass. Todd called the results. Though we won 23 to 13, we were pipped by 1 shot for the winning meat tray - still, Jean won a raffle prize. Hazelbrook Club - all the boys made us feel so welcome!

Penrith Bowling and Recreation Club is the third on our Blue Mountains run. We rang yesterday to put our names down and got up early to miss peak hour traffic. We arrived super early and it was all locked up. We found Craig the Greenkeeper who asked his workmate David to open the gates for us. The club has three nice-looking grass greens. W met Greg and club President Anne in the office. It's the 'Don Davis Memorial Mayhem Room' Barbara, Sandra and Sherylyn set up the morning tea. It's a nice little clubhouse. Mal chatted with Alec about Pennants and shirts! Jean sat with the ladies. They gave us nice bookmarks. They have lots of people turn up. They fill two greens. Dizzy who's the Men’s organiser went looking for some souvenirs for us. He gave us scorecards, pens, cloths and badges. Jean skipped for Tania (though it was 2-4-2). Against skip Sherylyn and partner (Jean forgot her name) Mal played with Mick Against John and he thinks it was Aldo but knew him as Grasshopper. Jean played some cracker bowls but because it was pairs was too distracted to take photos of the best ones. Mal said his opponent Grasshopper had the same bowls as him. Same colour and everything. He said " Every time he put one on the kitty, I had to try to take it off!" Jean and Tania had a great game. Tania's only been bowling a couple of years but when she needed to put one of her Fruit Tingle bowls in she did! Jean and Tania won (Jean forgot the margin) it was like 20 to 14. Mal also won, by five. He said "Talk about a battle and a half!" He really liked the blokes he played with. We came inside for drinks and had a pleasant chat. Penrith - we talked, we joked and we laughed.

We're off to Windsor Bowling and Sports Club today on the second day of our Blue Mountains sojourn. Mal rang yesterday and put our names down for 9am. When we arrived we met 90 year old Kevin at the table and paid our money. Kevin introduced us to the group. Then we met vice-chairman Bill. There are two grass greens. There's a bowls sculpture. And bowlers on the tennis court. It seems the club has been around since 1931. The green was nice. Slowish to start with the dew then got faster. It's the Jack Prince OAM Green. We played pairs together. Against Kay and Max There were six pairs games in all. First end Kay put the kitty in the ditch. We did our best. Second end Jean put three on it. Mal put in a fourth. Mal took the kitty for three. Max said he is the only one who will play with Kay. She was pretty cranky. Max is a good man. Jean loved leading with him. We lost by a lot. We came inside and met David and Arthur who are setting up for 'Dad's Army' the afternoon game. Arthur told us Dad's Army has been around since 1947 when the guys came back from the war. We won the raffle. Mal chose bacon and sausages. Windsor Bowling Club. Beaten by a witch and a Prince.

We came to Richmond Club to park our caravan for four nights to do some of the Blue Mountains clubs. Today it's Richmond Bowling Club. The bowlers have a little area adjacent to the main club entrance where they can congregate or bowls before the club opens. We came in and met Nancy and Anne at the table. The club has one and a half greens. A three-rink green And the main green. The J.A.Smith green. It's an RSL so there's a nice memorial garden under the flagpole. We drew sticks for teams. Jean played lead with, Carmen and Ron. (Carmen, Ron and Jean) Against Etta, George and Anne. Mal played second with Kel and Nancy. (Nancy, Kel and Mal) Against Farren, Mary and Chris. (Mary, Chris and Farren) It was three rinks of three-bowl triples. Sixteen ends. Jean nailed it first end. The green was slow. Carmen, a new bowler, came in and consolidated. We kept one shot. Then on end three so did Mal. Jean had a lot of fun joking around with the ladies. Mal's team was up. He kept putting in good bowls. Mal won and Jean got creamed! Roger the Bowls Organiser went on a hunt for a badge for Jean's hat. He found one. It's very nice. We came in to the coffee shop afterwards for more chatter. Richmond Club - bowls and banter!

We've both been sick as dogs for a couple of weeks with a bad cold so we are itching to get back on our trip. We've restarted at Robertson Bowling Club. We left Shellharbour on Friday and arrived to park our van in the back carpark - free camping. Jean popped in to the club to check it out. She saw historical photos of the club which has been around since 1949. She met the Manager Damian who told her some of the history. The club used to be up the road a bit. They moved here in 1983. The first green was grass but they got a new synthetic in 2010. The green is Jean's favourite synthetic surface but looks a bit worn and faded. Damian said it will be resurfaced soon. We dropped in again on Saturday night. Mal wanted to know if the Hindmarsh brothers who are on the wall are from Robbo. Jean asked the boys (who said yes) and met club President Robert. On Sunday, ready for our game, we met Ian at the table. Jean met Noel and Gary outside. They were having a preparatory beer. Mal played pairs with Phil. Against Frosty and Gary. Jean played with Gunter and Guido (Gunter, Jean and Guido) Against Brian Sue (club Secretary) and Eric Brian told Jean they are the Robertson Robins. There were three games in all - one pairs, one triples and a championship Singles game. End three Jean finally worked the grass out. She got shot then Gunter consolidated with three more. Mal and Phil were down lots. They were worried they'd have to do a nudie run. Then Mal put in two beauties. At one point Guido stood right on the line Jean had to take so she just bowled at him for two. Guido won 21 to 12. Mal lost 17 to 12 after an abysmal start. We all sat together inside afterwards. Brian went looking for bowls cloths for us with the Robin on them. He couldn't find them but did one better - he got two bucket hats and two badges. Jean challenged Mal to a game of pool. Given he was South Pacific Snooker Champion in his 20s, of course he won - then sunk all Jean's balls! Robertson Bowling Club - one up, one down!

We're staying at Robertson Bowling Club for three nights (without power and water). We've taken the 30 minute drive to Bundanoon to watch them play Pennants and hopefully get a rollup. The only times we've been to Bundanoon before is to visit the Brigadoon Scottish festival. Jean loves the sound of bagpipes. Bundanoon Club is a pretty little club with a tartan carpet. It seems there were once two bowling greens but one has been converted for Croquet. The main green looks a little worse for wear but looks ok to roll on. Especially since it's managed by volunteers. Jean met Neville and told him about our trip. He went to ask Scott if we could have a rollup. Neville told Jean this is a small Pennants comp with just four clubs: Bundy, Austral, Taralga and Bowral. Just two teams - eight players. (Neville and Scott) When we arrived the boys were ready to play Pennants. Against Taralga. Neville and Keith decided to roll up with us. (Keith, Jean, Mal and Neville) We didn't score but we started out well with three shots on a very slow green. We took turns to lead. When Jean Got the mat she made it short (of course) then she nailed it. Jean showed Neville the badges on her hat. He said "We've got heaps of those in the shed!" He gave her one. After a while we had to come in. Our illness left us buggered! Bundanoon Club - we went home happy and tired.

We came to Canberra Bowling Club (Forrest, Dunrootin') for a game today. We've played there many times before - though not on our trip. Jean remembers her games there for the ACT Novice Singles a decade ago. When we arrived we met Dave at the table. The Lois tried to convince us to break our one club one visit rule to stay and play in the sports day on Thursday as they are one team short. She succeeded. We'll come back and play triples and blog about that . We've always loved Forrest. It's such a pretty club. Lois told Jean Canberra is the oldest club in The ACT. They will soon turn 100. They have a lot of history. And Pickering drawings of Gough Whitlam And John Gorton. We remember when they ripped out the grass greens and put in two synthetic greens about ten years ago. It's the second time they've been replaced. It's that plastic type that we don'tlike. Since we left they've started to call themselves 'The Cobras'. They have nearby Parliament House on their shirt. We had a practice game on Tuesday against Keith and Brian. Keith just won the club Fours and will play with us on Thursday. We came back for the Sports Day on Thursday. - Jean, Mal and Keith. We played a Spider. Jean won a bottle of wine. Our game was against Margaret, Jenny and Warwick. There were players from lots of local clubs: North's, Tuggeranong, Queanbeyan, Belco and Yowani. First end we were lost. By the second end we got it. We were three down and Mal took kitty for two then consolidated. Keith's yellow bowl came in with a perfect shot just 1cm out. Seventh end Jean finally got two. It was us 22 to 4 then they got 9 shots in two ends. It ended up we won 26 to 20. They had a really good comeback. We came inside for a ploughman's lunch. Canberra Bowling Club - played sports with the ladies (and a few blokes)

Mal went home to Tuggeranong yesterday. We were going to go to Jean's club Weston Creek to play with the ladies on Tuesday but Mal's brother Michael ra ng him and asked if he wanted to play today, Saturday. We decided to go. We'll still play there on Tuesday, just won't blog! We came in and both had to re-join the club. Then we re-connected with Martin who now organises Saturday social bowls. The clubhouse hasn't changed. We've known the three Weston Creek greens for twenty years - including the yucky old synthetic. We played on Green One. It's the 'WN Sam Hill Green'. We had a triples game together. Jean played lead with Barry and Mal skipped. (Mal, Jean and Barry) We played against Gloria who led, Dave (who we saw in Kingscliff on our travels) and skip Wally. (Dave, Gloria and Wally) There were three games. Two pairs and one triples. Jean and Mal both struggled with weight first few ends. Jean got it, as usual on the 6th end. We hadn't scored all game so when Barry scored a second we were over the moon. Then we were four down and Mal came in and took the kitty for shot. Jean and Barry drew three then Mal came in and consolidated for four. It put us level. Jean started getting shots (setting a good base) and we started winning. It was neck and neck all game but they ran ahead in the last few ends to win 21 to 15. We came in for drinks. Wally and Gloria had to leave. Mal was so happy to catch up with his brother Michael who he hadn't seen for ten months (though they do speak every week on 'Tanks'). Weston Creek - we lost but had a good time!

We were supposed to be in Bundanoon today. They don't have a game so we were to roll up. Jean made a suggestion that we could come back later when a game's on and get to Canberra a day early. Mal jumped at the chance and immediately phoned Tuggeranong Bowling Club to get his name down for Friday. We've parked the van at Mal's daughter Laura's in Belconnen. We arrived at 10 and raced around to set everything up so we could leave at 11:30 "I can't be late!" Cried Mal. He was busting to get there to see his mates and check out the new synthetic green. Mal arrived with three minutes to spare. Patrick, Tony and Kevin said "Typical Mal!" The boys were all there like usual. It's Mal's home green so we already knew there are three greens. We weren't familiar with Green 3, The Eddie Weatherall Green - the brand new synthetic - one week old (Mal has kept up with the news). Mal played with new bowler Wayne Against veteran bowler Joe and Alan. They played on the middle green. Jean remembered when Mal played Pennants here for Weston Creek years ago the boys were worried. Mal said "Don't worry boys, his is my favourite green. I know every blade of grass!" It's the Reg Bates Green. We remembered fondly Reg being self-deprecating the day it was dedicated. Jean had to go and do some shopping so left Mal to his own devices. Mal was having a bad day. Wayne is a new bowler who bowled ok but said he has issues he's not sure how to fix. Jean returned at end 20 and Mal pointed to his bowls "That's the closest I've been all game!" On the last end he came into his own. They lost 39 to 5. Jean said to Mal "You'd better bowl better than that when you bowl with Dale on Wednesday!" Clearly the middle green's not lucky any more! Tuggeranong Bowling Club - Mal didn't display his new found skills!

We drove from Camden at 8am this morning to arrive in Bowral for bowls with the ladies at 10am. When we arrived we met Treasurer Alison. Then Sylvia and Marian arrived to take the money.  I told them if they are short Mal will play but they included him anyway. We chatted with the ladies - they were very friendly and entertaining. The clubhouse is nice. It has a homey feel. We had a lovely morning tea. And we ordered lunch. There are three greens. One is plastic synthetic. The far green was gifted to the Croquet Club. We played out the front. It's the Wilson Green. Jean played second for skip Rowena with Ros. (Rowena, Jean and Ros) Mal skipped for Lead Bev and Barry. (Barry, Bev and Mal) Jean started bowling every bowl a Pineapple, then put Grippo on. Mal on the other hand nailed it! Jean finally got shot - but not that close! It was sooo windy nobody could control their bowls. If Rowena's team ever got shot Mal would take it off them. They scored zero until the last end. Jean said "I'm not doing a nudie run in this weather!" We gave up on the weather after ten ends. The others finish after six. Rowena's and Jean got four on the last end after Rowena put the kitty in the ditch to make it 16 to 4. We came inside and Mal won the raffle twice and got a bag of lemons and a bag of limes. Then his team won the money. Lunch came. Mal had fish and chips. Bowral - country hospitality