On 22 January Jenni and Rob drove us to Melbourne as they were going to do a few things down there too. We were due to attend a conference for international teachers who were going to teach in Victoria for the year. That afternoon Jenni and Rob took us to their friends for a barbecue. One of them, who is a teacher, had recently started to look after orphaned Aussie wildlife and she had an owl, a possum and two kangaroos in her care. One of the kangaroos had her mother killed by a car and she was found still alive in her mother's pouch. The other joey's mother had been killed when she ran into a fence when being chased by dogs. The carer had to feed both about five times a day and had designed her own pouch for them to snuggle into. The eldest of the two hopped around with us when we were being shown around the house and garden and she seemed ok about this, although a little nervous. The carer did a marvellous job and was very dedicated to looking after them all. Later on in the evening we were invited to stay at another of Jenni and Rob's friends chalets that they had almost finished refurbishing in readiness to be used as holiday homes for the following weekend. They were in the Yarra valley just outside Melbourne and the setting was spectacular. Herds of kangaroos patrolled at night and when we awoke the next morning we saw them just outside our chalet bounding around!
The following day Sarah and I went into Melbourne and got Sarah's tax file number so that she could begin to look for employment. In the afternoon we spent around 4 hours in the Melbourne Museum, which contained, amongst other things, an interesting collection of dinosaur fossils and information and a part on the Aboriginal tribe that live close to Echuca. In the evening we enjoyed a Turkish meal and stayed with more of Jenni and Rob's friends in the centre of Melbourne.
We took the tram to the conference the next day which was based in the heart of the city. Sarah and I formed a small group of just three English people. We were joined by a Scottish woman (who is married to a Dutchman), a Yank and the vast majority of people there were Canadians. We had lectures, question and answer sessions and discussions about both personal and professional issues for the exchange in the forthcoming year. Sarah managed to skive some of the stuff that was irrelevant to her and went shopping with one of the Canadian women. The most interesting lecture concerned driving which was a worrying issue for the Canadians and indeed all the women in attendance. They were mostly concerned about driving on the right and driving a manual car. Also round-a-bouts are apparently a rare sighting in Canada so they wanted to know about how to approach them. The Victorian policeman who was giving this talk gave a very confusing account of how to approach these which even had me thinking what? The only difference to driving in the UK is that in Melbourne you can do a 'hook turn' which means when you are turning right you have to go over to the extreme left of the road and wait for the lights you have just passed through to turn red before turning across the road.
In the afternoon we went for a picnic in the park where we mingled and chatted and ate and drank. I then taught some of the Canadian teenagers and children how to play cricket the English way and not this nonsense winning stuff that our hosts play! Sarah and I enjoyed a Chinese meal in the evening and we found our James Squire pub which serves English bitter afterwards before retiring to our hotel for the night. The next day we attended the conference in the morning and wondered around the market in the afternoon before heading back to Echuca with Jenni and Rob.
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RAW MEAT UPDATE
JCFC 18 - Raw Meat 7
Last weeks game against Blues was called off due to the weather (ice and snow here). Apparantly snowmen were spotted on the pitch that night and rumours persist that it was actually Rob and Bough who had turned up!
A right pasting this week. 8-3 down at half time, we had been poor, apart from yours truely who ran most of the pitch, spun round the last defender and sidefooted a cool left foot finish past the keeper. We did have chances but blazed many over the bar although their keeper made some good saves.
2nd half was very poor. JCFC kept posession well and ended up winning 18-7. Simon P was fouled in the 1st half and despite scoring 4 goals in the second half, went to Addenbrookes as he did seem concussed - although he wasnt as bad as to say that he wishes Leon was in the side.
Johnny turned up late (suprise) and down the club Steve asked (when I told him I was up at 8 o clock), "morning or afternoon". We then had to explain to him how the big and little hands work on a watch, and there is no 8 oclock in the afternoon. But then again he is a Mackem from the North East!
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