Bronzed (West) Aussies

Sat 10

We play our final game today against Queensland for 3rd and 4th positions. In the equivalent game last year they beat us knocking us back from 3rd after the round robin to 4th.

The game was at 8am, so it was an early start and it was still very cold when we arrived. Although we had most of the play in the first half we weren't as sharp as yesterday and there were no scores in the first half, although we did have 1 corner. My knee was a bit swollen so I was a bit less able to run than yesterday but I played most of the half.

We picked up in the second half and scored off 2 corners in the first 10 minutes. Karen deflected the first on it off the right post and then I did the same off the left.  Susie scored our 3rd later off a long corner, again with a deflection near the post and Qld got a consolation goal right at the end, also off a corner.

WA has a tradition of having the "virgins" were one of a number of similar frocks at least once on their first tour. These were originally made nearly 20 years ago and worn to dinner. We finally got hold of a few for our new girls. The sizes are somewhat restricted and Jacquie, who is under 5ft fairly swam in hers.

We watched some of the following games before heading back to the apartments around 11. By this time it had warmed up and with the sun shining and no wind has turned into a glorious spring day. The river was like a millpond and I was able to get some shots of the river as we drove home.

A truck will be loading our luggage around 1-30 so we have spent the intervening time packing. Of course we still need our clothes for the dinner tonight, PJs and tracksuits for the flight home tomorrow. However, with a 4-30 ETA at the airport we need to load as much as possible this afternoon.

We got together around 4 and were all given bows for our hair. Karen made these for us and then spend hours while we were there adding the pinkl ribbon for breast cancer to them, since this was the theme for the dinner.

There were some more awards and trophies presents as well as gived for the coach and manager.

We then headed to our rooms to get ready for the Windup dinner. I had bought some boots but decided flats were the order of the day.

The dinner was at Wrest Point and in contrast to too many of these affairs there was plenty of food and it was very good. It was served as a buffet and again there were multiple tables so the wait was relatively short. There was a live band who played some 70s and 80s songs for a while and announcements including the Australian teams. This year I was neither surprised not disappointed. Well I was disappointed, but with my injuries rather than the selection. There were 3 girls from our team in the Australian 55s as well as one from the 50s who will be old enough next year.

There was a very funny skit from the Tasmanians who  bared their bums and  painted faces on them. They danced about, while Mabo no 5 played and others put their hands through the curtain and played instruments, "ate' chips and even blew up balloons. It had the whole room laughing.

The band came on for more dancing but I was quite uncomfortable with my knee and other soreness so didn't participate. I was more than happy to head home early, especially since we had to get up around 3am.

Sun 11th

Sure enough, we got up at 3am, after less than 4 hours sleep and dragged ourselves to the car park, after packing our overnight things and cleaning out the rooms. We were at the airport around 4-30 for the 6am flight. It was only 55 minutes to Melbourne and I slept a lot of the flight.

In Melbourne, Lidia and I took our roomies to the lounge where we sat in comfort, read the paper and had juice or coffee.

It was just over and hour and we were boarding again. The plane was a wide bodied with 8 across in economy and was nearly full. We left about 30 minutes late due to loading and then a technical problem. Again I slept a lot despite a film being shown, although I did have breakfast.

I was picked up at the airport by John, who with Pat has been feeding my cat and collecting mail while I've been away. Another couple of hours sleep were the next order of the day, before I visited pat and John with some small gifts I'd bought in the market.

Mon 12th

Woke early today - still on Tassie time which is 3 hours ahead due to daylight saving there. I did some crosswords from yesterday's paper and got up around 7-30 to have a light breakfast. No more food or drink till after my operation which is after 1-30 today. I'm have a knee debridement, which will remove the torn cartilage and trim up the edges. Hopefully this will not only fix my knee but allow the other strains and tears to heal, once my walking is back to normal afterwards. This blog will resume in a week or so and cover my trip to Adelaide and the Blue Mountains near Sydney at the end of the month.