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Mal rang at 8:15 and spoke with Peter the President to put our names down for a 9:45 start. It took 30 minutes to drive there from Maiden Gully. We got there and met Peter and his wife Annette who is Secretary Treasurer. Peter was raking the ditch and Annette was weeding. It is a Synthetic green, quite old but there's no money to upgrade it. Peter and Annette said the club has 40 members who were largely young (ish) and it is privately owned from a land donation 150 years ago. They don't charge green fees to Bowls Australia members. The members were lively, friendly people, excited about bowls and they bring their dogs. Everyone lives nearby and just rocks up then they work out teams. Three games of triples. They play 8 ends then have morning tea then six ends. Jean played lead with Melissa and skip Jim against Lead Roy (93), Angie and skip Annette. (Annette, Melissa, Roy, Jean and Jim) Jean played ok as did her team but they were outclassed. Annette did some great skip shots. Angie kept stealing shot and Roy led like a champion. Lost nine to five. Second game with Jim, lost again by four shots against Dean and Darren. (Jean, Darren, Jim and Dean) Mal played lead with Sean and skip Karen against Serge, Melissa and skip Peter. (Mal, Sean, Peter, Karen and Melissa) Mal found the surface difficult. He had to send his Optimas out very wide. He said in particular the two women drew really well and Serge (a new bowler) also bowled well after a little instruction. Mal wasn't sure if he won his first game but skipped the second game against Annette's team and won. A few people left so we swapped opponents. We played some pairs. On-green banter was friendly. People talked about their lives and interests. It was nice. We were chatting and Jean mentioned she's a coach. Jim said they don't have a coach and desperately need one. Jean offered to come back and give them a session on Sunday. Maldon - we've made new friends. POST SCRIPT We went back for Jean to deliver a coaching session. There was lots of chatter afterwards about the content so we hope they enjoyed it. The gave us a lovely lunch and a Maldon badge for our hats. Best wishes for your bowling futures Maldon!

We forgot that Saturday is the first day of Pennants for the region. We turned up at Eaglehawk and watched the second half of the twos while we waited to roll up on the green. Like always in Pennants there was some great bowls played. Some beautiful drives! Eaglehawk was a good 20 shots up against Bendigo East. The final score was Eaglehawk 83 to BEBC 72. East got a bowl on the last end to draw the rink for a rink win and a draw. Eaglehawk has two grass and one synthetic green. We didn't want to play on the synthetic after Jean's shoe-melting episode at Kangaroo Flat- which is why we waited for Pennants to finish. For our rollup, as usual Mal scored first with a three. Jean was convinced soon she'd nail the weight. Bowling towards the carpark she did, and Mal couldn't work it out. The other way Jean had no idea and Mal nailed it. Weird! At ten all we decided to play to 15. Mal did better but Jean snuck one in to be one up. It was enough for Mal. He pulled shots out of (well you know) to take the win. Jean was annoyed so didn't take note of the final score. After our rollup we went inside and there were a few Pennant guys still there. We chatted with Con about Banjo Patterson (Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk), chooks and, of course, bowls. Con said all their grades won today so they put free beer on. Eaglehawk - a nice Pennant win.

We came to North Bendigo because we were told we could get someone to roll up with after 4pm. Trouble was there was a singles final on and everyone was there to watch that. It was Paul and Justin with President Jason as Marker. (Paul, Jason and Justin) They had one rink set up with a scoreboard for the match so we rolled up on that until the boys were ready. Someone said "You won't find better greens anywhere in the region ". We'd believe it. They were beautiful. A little quick as they'd just been rolled. Lots of grass one way but true line the other. Our rollup was fun because we had an accidental audience. They kind of watched us and made a few comments along the way. (Joy, Val, John, Mick, Neville, Graham and others) It's only a small club and we met three of the five lady members (including Joy and Val). They were friendly and funny. Mal sat and chatted for a while with John who used to work for Bowls Australia. They knew some of the same people. It was a quick rollup on a fast green. Mal scored first as usual but Jean soon worked it out and rolled her short ends. When the boys took over the rink it was Jean 12 to Mal nine. A rare win! The final game was interesting. Some lovely bowls played. North Bendigo - we stayed for happy hour and watched the final for a while. Good game boys!

We went over to Kangaroo Flat on Monday to put our names down for Thursday and rocked up. Apparently they had rung Mal to say it was cancelled as only five names down. Mal's phone is at JB Hifi being fixed so we missed it. The club has three greens. Two grass (one under maintenance and one synthetic- carpet. They have an interesting sponsorship arrangement. Jean couldn't work out the grass so decided to just take out Mal's bowls to get some practice. She had a little success. (Jean puts three of her and one of Mal's bowls in the ditch) On the ends where Mal couldn't make it then she just drew shots. Forehand wasn't working for her going away from the clubhouse so she switched to backhand which put her back in the game. When she got the mat she rolled short ends. That helped. Jean scored a four which made her six to Mal's 5. She said "That'll be the last shot I score!" It wasn't. The carpet was so hot it melted the soles off Jean's bowls shoes. When it was Mal nine to Jean's six, because it was hot she suggested we play to 15 (she thought Mal would get there quickly). Turns out she started to play better and the scores levelled. It was Jean 12 to Mal's 13. Jean said "You only need to score two and we can go home! But Jean scored the next two to make it 14-13 Jean's way. Finally Mal scored his two and it was over. (Jean is always on the left!) Kangaroo Flat - you missed our great company

We arrived in Bendigo about 10:30. We weren't going to play - settling in - but Jean discovered there was a club near Anaconda where we had to buy some new steps for the caravan. We went to Golden Square on spec. Gunter and Brad were rolling up. They welcomed us and asked about our trip. Mal joked around with them. (Brad and Gunter) Mal was very impressed with their heads. The green was nice. Weight was good, line was quite narrow. The wind affected it badly. Jean took first blood and made it short ends. At one point Mal said "These short ends are doing my head in ". He was cranky, swearing and bowling short and narrow. Jean kept winning. Then at 15 to 11, out of the blue Mal scored a three, cheered up and remembered how to play bowls. It was 20 to 16 Mal's way. Jean said "If you are still ahead after this end you win. Jean scored a three. Mal whipped around, shook her hand and said "Thanks for the game. If we'd gone to 25 Jean definitely would have won! We went inside for a drink and met Frank Thomas. Frank has been here 28 years and bowled all that time. We talked about his health issues, the floods, towns around AFL, AFL, AFL and of course bowls. All the bowlers having a drink inside joked around with Mal. The club put out cheese and bickies for the bowlers which was lovely. Mal was very impressed with their sign about bowls dumping. The President Alan Slingo pressured Mal to break our rule and come back next Wednesday so we might do another post. We stayed for the raffles and Alan welcomed us officially. Golden Square - very hospitable! POST SCRIPT: As agreed we went back on Wednesday for a game of triples. It was quite strange. They didn't have enough for three games of triples - only 15 players so we played each game with a triple and a pair. The triples bowled with two bowls and the pairs with three. The triples lead always rolled the mat. The pairs skip always bowled last. It worked fine. Jean played second with Terry and skip Jeff. First game was against a pair Eddie and Wal. Jean really enjoyed chatting with Eddie who was a comrade and former Secretary from the Bendigo ALP branch about all things Labor Mal played second with Alan and skip Harvey against Bill and Don. In the second game we played each other. Mal and Jean competed. Each time Jean got shot, Mal took it off. Jean's team ended up winning though! What was interesting was that of the fifteen players, nine of them played with a bowling arm. Again it was Jean and the blokes but we had a riot!

We went to Bendigo Bowls Club twice. Neither time was the club open. So we left. The website said there is Jackpot Pairs on Monday. We stayed in the carpark for an hour and nobody came. No signs anywhere to say on holidays nor opening hours. Very unhospitable. We liked their bowler wind direction thingy but that's not enough to get us back. There is a nice outdoor area. Apparently they will host the Commonwealth Games. They have four greens and what appears to be a croquet green though no signage. We couldn't tell where to roll up. We'd spent enough time their to count it as a visit. Bendigo - zero points.

We arrived at Campbell's Creek at 10:40 because the website said there was social bowls at 11. Alas, still on holidays. As we arrived we saw a man walking out. He got a quizzical look on his face when he saw us. We rolled down the window and told him about our trip. His face brightened and he said "I'll roll up with you". His name was Chris. He's been bowling about four years. We played the Scrounge game we learnt at Rochester. There was one green - carpet. Chris said it's been down seven years. It was quite nice. Similar pace to Weston Creek (fast-15 seconds) but much nicer. A different surface. One end you had to take 1.5 times usual grass. The other end a bit over. Chris got a jump on us (being familiar with the green) but Jean soon worked it out. We played longer ends but the pace was similar to Jean's short ends so she kept scoring in the top four and jumped ahead. Mal had some trouble pulling up his fives so got quite behind but made a comeback around end seven. Not enough though, the final score was Chris 23, Jean 33, Mal 21 after the obligatory Scrounge ten ends. We were impressed with the amount of advertising the club was able to get. Chris said during the floods the green was 20cm under water from the creek just behind. Volunteers took ages to get rid of the mud dumped. Campbell's Creek - fun on the carpet.

We decided to roll up at Bendigo East. They told us at another club they were a bit toffy-nosed. We didn't believe that but decided a rollup was the best option because it is one of the many clubs that only plays Wednesday and we are committed. The club house was open but not a soul around. We felt like interlopers. We played on the back green which had eight rinks. The club proudly displays its Pennant win from 2011. The green was quite fast. We played on rink 17 of 22. As usual Jean won an end and made it short. She moved ahead but Mal's had enough practice on short ends and he won one and rolled a medium length. We had some tight heads but then Jean said "This is the wrong weight for me" . Mal got ahead. When it was 16-9 Jean said "You win!". Bendigo East- nice green, tough length.

Jean rang the Rochester Bowling Club on Wednesday to find out about social bowls. She spoke with Lady President Jane McCallum who said she'd try to find someone for us to roll up with on Thursday. Rochester is another old Victorian club - over 100 years. Jane met us in the morning and suggested the three of us play what they call 'Scrounge'. (President Jane and Mal) The club has three nice greens. One is extra wide and would fit 9 or 10 rinks. They only play seven. The edge of the green is left fallow. We played Scrounge with Jane. Green was very fast. First bowls in the ditch. (First end our bowls in the ditch) The game goes: roll the jack and leave it where it lands. Shot bowl scores 4, second three, third two and fourth one. One point off for bowl or kitty in the ditch or killed end. (Mal works it out) Mal lost many shots in first couple of ends then worked out the weight. Jean bowled ok but was no match for Jane. (Mal, Jean and Jane) Ended up 21-29-45. We'd heard, and Jane told us that 90% of houses in Rochester flooded. The green had a river running across it when the Camaspe River burst it's banks. The Greens at Moama has a tournament on Friday to raise money for Rochester. Contact the club on Messenger to donate. We're leaving tomorrow for Bendigo but gave a donation. We don't normally eat lunch but decided to spend some money in the town. We bought a Weber cover and stuff for the caravan in Mitre 10 and lunch in the Rochester cafe. We met nice people. (Rochester Cafe) Rochester - best wishes for the recovery!

We came to Kyabram because they told us via Messenger they had social bowls on Wednesday but they were still on holidays. John the President welcomed us for a rollup. It's another club over 100 years old. John told us Kyabram (Pop. 7,000) is the biggest town in Australia not on a major highway or a river. The club has a nice barbecue area there. And unusual drink stands. Rob Sceny the greenkeeper explained about the problems they've had and the plastic on the green. He said a former greenkeeper threw raw fertiliser on it years ago and killed it. Rob rolled the green and we started a singles game. Jean scored the first three then another. We managed to get the line for a while, then the wind came up. Mal's narrow bowls fared ok but Jean's just stayed out. At one point she aimed her bowl at the jack for grass and got close(ish). Jean got bored. She said "I don't mind losing if I can get a bowl down". When it was Mal eight to Jean's four she suggested we play to ten. She just threw her bowls down without care, scored shot and gave up. Score eight to five. We really wanted a game. Two rollups in a morning is a bit much. Kyabram, please, no more wind!

The little town of Tongala (Pop. 2,000) is on the way to Kyabram from Echuca. We decided to stop for a rollup on our way. We met Possum the green keeper who got us a mat and jacks then rolled rink 10 for us. He says he's been bowling 43 years. Possum said it's been tough keeping the greens this last year. He told us the greens have black beetles and the birds can hear them. They come and pull up the grass and ruin it. They have things up on the lights to scare them off but they don't work very well. At Echuca they told us the greens here were terrible. We disagree. They aren't in fantastic shape but are good enough. We struggled a little to get the right weight but did have a few tight heads. Possum sat and watched us and told us stories about the club's success. We got a sense of the rivalry between Tonnie and Moama. Apparently there's a bit between Kye (Kyabram) and Tonnie as well. Mal was in his usual form and won ten to six. Jean needed six on the last end (fat chance with only four bowls). She scored one. Mal decided early in the game the winner would win the dead frog. "What are you going to name it Mal?" Tongala, sad birds still sing!

We managed to sneak Jean in to play triples with the boys. Only cost $5. Jean wanted to play with the women in the morning but there was no way to contact the club to put her name down. When we arrived at 10 they were already on the green. The women also were playing a singles championship. When we arrived it was 23-22 then Lois scored to make it 23 all. Then Lois scored two pearlers to win. A riveting game with beautiful drawing. (Mia draws a shot as Lois watches) The club has a lovely separate facility by the back carpark. It's called 'The Greens' There are one and a half under cover synthetic greens with 12 rinks in all. The half rink is apparently the TV rink. They just had a big tournament here with a grandstand on the green. Lots of people walked past us and smiled or waved. Friendly, even if hard to contact. Then there are two grass greens that look ok. The amenities are fantastic. They include outdoor under cover seating areas and a bar area inside (it was closed when we were there). It was lovely playing in the heat under cover. There were 48 players on eight rinks. A good rollup. We played 15 ends then swapped rinks and opponents. Jean played lead with Tom and Alan against lead David, Laurie and skip Allan. (Skip Alan, Jean, Allan, David and Laurie) [Tom went missing] They were all pretty good players in their own way so it was a fun game. The leads tussled, the seconds tussled and the skips tussled. (The two Alans play) Second game they played against Les, Geoff and Stuart. (Geoff, Stuart, Jean, Alan, Tom and Les) Mal played lead with Brian and Ian in first game against Brian, Tony and Baros. (Brian, Tony, Baros, Brian, Ian Smith and Mal) Second game against Rob Gregga and Kev. (Gregga, Kev, Ian Smith, Rob, Mal and Brian( It was a bit hard to follow as the skips kept the cards and didn't put the score up. After the first game winners played winners and losers played losers. The overall winners had something to do with margins but it was unclear. Nevertheless we had fun. Mal's team won the first and lost the second. Jean's team lost both narrowly. Moama - a lovely place to play.