Long time no write - Naughty me

I cannot believe it has been two months since I last wrote in the blog. That is a bit rubbish of me to be honest. Will improve the situation.

So what has been happening in Australia you ask? Well I have very sad news to report, St Kilda (The Saints) did not win the AFL grand final, perhaps this has contributed to my lax efforts on the blog! The Saints finally made it to the final against the other biggest team in Victoria this year, the dreaded Cats (Geelong), the two teams were number one and two in the table and both had been undefeated for 14 games when they first met. Everyone in St Kilda was hoping for the same result in this match as the previous one, St Kilda won in the final few seconds with a single goal. In order to watch the match we had selected a local bar and were firmly ensconced in said bar at 12:00 on the big day, despite the match not starting until 2pm. We had arrived even before the big screen had been set up but we were determined Saints fans and there would be no stopping us, we had the choice of where to sit (as we were the first people in the bar) and picked a select spot, not too far from the bar with good sight of the screen and access to the toilets. The day was rainy and the match turned out to be a slippery mess of football. Both sides had problems controlling the wet ball but St Kilda were winning the quarters and at each break were going into the dressing rooms ahead in points. The fans in the room, and the pub was packed for the match, were going crazy. Food was being served by the bar, freebies abound, beer was flowing and everyone was looking at the score and hoping this year would be the year St Kilda brought home the silverware. The final quarter started as the match had gone on with St Kilda maintaining a slim lead over the cats. Then in the final seconds of the quarter the cats drew even, the match went into overtime and a silence descended on the pub. It’s one of those silences where you can just tell something terrible is going to happen, like in a horror movie when the car runs out of petrol or somebody goes down into the cellar... Sure enough the cats pulled a remarkable fight-back and quickly had a goal over the saints, head bowed and were shaking when they pulled another stunner and another goal was scored. The games was over, even though the final klaxon had not been sounded we all knew that the match had been won. Both teams deserved to be in the final and this was the best final of years but in the end there could be only one winner, this year that winner was Geelong!

The mood in St Kilda that day was a little depressing to say the least but we are all convinced that next years flag will be ours.

Another thing that happened around this time was the Melbourne Royal Show. This is a agricultural show where farmers and producers around Victoria get to show off their wares and promote what they are doing in Victoria. The highlight of the show is the showbags which are stuffed full of sweets and simple toys. Children of all ages spend days selecting which bags they wish to buy on the day and as you walk round all you can see are stalls selling the bags, they apparently represent value for money although I was not sure who had done the valuing. Of course, wishing to get into the mood I opted for a St Kilda AFL bag and s sour sweet bag. The day was surprisingly sunny and we required several beers t maintain a cool demeanour. One spectacle we really wanted to catch was the pig racing and diving, apparently the pigs jump of a platform. Sounds very exciting and must be as we tried to get into two separate shows and they were both packed. We decided to watch some horses doing some tricks and then leave the children to the endless supply of sugar.
Coming soon (promise) Gold in the hills and a trip to the bushfire towns.

P.S. The temperature today reached 36 in the city as a new heatwave takes hold of Melbourne and we have now entered the bushfire season. Thanks goodness for aircon!