Keeping it short and sweet

So to start up where I finished off, the pool is in good nick although now instead of complaints about eyes “paining”, now I just feel bad seeing them lining up outside the pool freezing in the cool wind we’ve been getting in the afternoons so for a lot of them, getting 5 minutes of time out is awesome because it means they can lie on the concrete for 5 minutes and half don’t even bother coming back to the pool.

The first ever Balgo Test cricket match was a great success!!! Before the game, Ale, Steph and I went to Mindy’s place for a pre match meal of his special Mexican burrito breakfast which was actually delicious and a good feed.
When we got to the police station, it was not what I expected. It was a big open space a concrete rectangle about 8x15m big which at one end was the short boundary behind the stumps and at the other end it fanned out to a big gravel yard and the concrete section had buildings either side of it, the members stand on one side and the batting pavilion/score keeping room on the other. Despite a late turn up from many members of the opposition, we eventually got to making the toss but as soon as the coin hit the ground, Officers Matt and Matt got called out because of a fight at the local store so we had to play our 1^st innings one of our better batsmen short but were able to knock up a solid 55 runs after some inspirational words and team tactics between overs from Adrian and Anton.

Now, the last time I played any form of cricket was in the backyard with Isaac (little cousin) and even then I was struggling to put bat to ball so I wasn’t exactly confident going up to the crease. I some how managed to get a solid 6, one of the top scores of the 1^st innings. Now I could talk forever about the game but basically, against an impossible onslaught of crazy fast bowlers and talented batsmen, we held them to 46 before getting up a team century the next innings, inspired by Mindy and my golden ducks as openers as motivation. It was then an easy stroll home, me finally remembering to bowl a ball and the black team taking the victory.

Then because it was all over by 3 30, we decided to play a few ‘Big Bash’ 10 over games where each batsman got 2 overs and lost 2 runs for each wicket. It was here my worries about batting were confirmed with me adding two solid scores of 0 and -1 to my team’s total. But it was ok, we all know test cricket is the real stuff, not this Hollywood shortened version.

Oh and you know those ‘I told you so’ moments you get? Well yeah, the night before the cricket, we had planned to make a quick get away from the Brother’s house to play a game of Australian Monopoly. After dinner talk took us to 8pm and as we were leaving I remember saying “Surely we’re not still going to play? The game will go for like 4 hours and we probably won’t even end up with a winner”… 4 hours later, midnight hits and after Rick and Anthony have given up and gone home and Steph and I have teamed up against Mindy and Ale, a draw is called. I actually hate Monopoly.

For those of you asking when I was going to start running again, I have started early morning runs every second day at the moment as to not peak too soon. Its literally head off down past the brother’s house, past the police station and onward down a dirt open road until it’s time to turn around back for home. I actually just got home from a walk with Steph and KP out to the pound (this big open area which looks like it used to be an inland sea) to suss out where we are going to take a photo of all the kids in a star formation for the 360^th Anniversary of St John Baptist De La Salle’s feast day. I really would like to start running out there because it’s not only better scenery but a bit hilly and not just one straight road. The only problem with that however is that the first five minutes of that way is past a few people’s houses. People with dogs. And KP was saying that I should be fine and that the dogs are only really dangerous when there aren’t a few people around… I told her I run at 6:15am and the only response I got was “oh…” so that was comforting.

And before I go, I have to say that Mima and Granddad, I actually love that National Geographic bag! I take it pretty much everywhere. It is perfect and fits into my afternoon routine nicely, which might I say, I have down pat. The bell goes for after mungari time and everyone goes to assembly while I slip off to the bathroom to get into my togs, open the pool up, do the lifeguarding thing for a while then after school, stay in the pool for my unique blend of being in a pool and exercising which I like to call ‘Poolercise’ and then here is where the bag comes in. In one side pocket, perfectly fitted sit my thongs and in the other, a cordial bottle of water looking as though it was made to come with the bag! And then the pièce de résistance, a handy little loop from where my keys and trusty whistle hang, a perfect length where is isn’t too long to annoy you as you walk and isn’t too short it’s hard to grab when faced with a locked door. So I put my bag on, pop my hat on, wrap a towel around myself and head on home. I don’t know if you picked up on this but I actually love this bag.

Yeah… this was meant to be a short entry and I will try to keep them frequent and short but it’s just too tempting to have all of your interest and me able to say what I please. I admit some details weren’t needed but hey, when was I ever the kind of guy to get to the point without a bit of entertainment first :)


So to keep some of you asking for photos happy, here are some of Steph's photos but mine will be up shortly hopefully. Fingers crossed the mail plane comes tomorrow with the rest of our stuff!!! Oh that reminds me, while at Steph's in Perth, we sent up some excess baggage we wouldn't fit onto the small plane (You try fitting 9 months into 15kg!!!) so Ale and I each sent up one full mail bag of stuff and one which had half of each of our stuff in it and last Friday, we got the joint bag. Unfortunately all I had in that bag was a massive wooly jumper, one of the big bags I took to perth, a singlet and some shorts. So if all goes to plan, phone chord and CD could be here tomorrow!!!

 Out at sport with some of the kids

 Our plane in, taken from about half way down the plane.

 The waterfall in full force (taken my Neus)

 A little lost after taking Rick's 'Adventure Route' with a storm on its way.

Steph and I on the bush trip with Alex and Jayden

'Nuggerai' (or 'Jellybean' to you white fella)

Aboriginal rock paintings

Comnig out of the cave the width of my body.

Just a stock standard afternoon view really.

Bart and Urla at the waterfall

'The Pound'