The Kronikles of Tony and Ruth
Day 17 - Sunday 16 July 2006
For the first time in Townville birdsongs wake us up. I wonder what the birdies are. It has been raining all night.
Brad is the coach for a couple of junior Australian Rules football teams and is gone by 8.30 AM. Nick goes with him as he is playing in one of the games. After breakfast Ruth and I drive off in Darlene’s car to watch the main contest. We get lost on the way to the oval, but are put on the right track with the help from a dispersing crowd in front of a Catholic Church. Back on the Bruce Highway I pull into a McCaffe to get a takeaway, double shot machiatto.
“Bloody good idea! The coffee here is shithouse” greets us as we walk into the oval coffee in hand. It’s the dad of a participating player that we had met yesterday. It’s quarter time and the score is 10 goals 5 behinds to Nil. Brad’s team the “Hermit Park Tigers” is giving the “Thuringowa Bulldogs” a bath (see Appendix10). It is virtually a bath as the ground is a lake after last night’s rain. The players find it hard to keep their feet and there are plenty of spectacular splashy slides. It’s a tribute to the Tigers (and to Brad) that so many goals are kicked. Final score is 15-7 to 0-2. Brad is very happy.
Ruth and I are amazed: all the shopping centres are closed on Sundays. Well it is Queensland. Things are done just a bit differently here. In the afternoon the four of us are disgusted to watch the Cats scape home from Port Adelaide. This was going to be Geelong’s year but the way the team is performing that is a faint hope.
Again we down red and BBQ meat and generally have a wonderful evening. The wine is flowing and the wit is thick. What more can one ask? Geelong to be playing better?
APPENDIX
A “bath” – thrashing the tripe out of them, giving them a shellacking, dropping turds from a great height,
Note to our overseas consumers: It is a tradition to name country teams after the Melbourne based Australian Football League teams. So the Tigers wear Richmond colours and the Bulldogs wear Footscray colours. Then there are the beloved Cats (our lovely Geelong pussies), the rotten Magpies, Lions (now Brisbane), Bombers, Blues, Hawks, Kangaroos, Swans (now Sydney) and Saints.
