Five games of rep basketball in two days against some tough competition. Read more
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  • Day 1

    On the road to Gundagai

    June 8, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    With local competition games cancelled for tonight we took the opportunity to break the journey up with a 4 hour drive to Gundagai for an overnight stop.
    Looking to stop at Yass (100km north of Gundagai) we saw a truck suddenly stop up ahead and headlights.
    Instantly breaking, we slowed down and was waved down by the truck driver and stopped on the verge, otherwise we may have ploughed straight into the car sitting in the middle of the road.
    This car had sped past other drivers and the truck, narrowly missing a car and collided with the earth embankment on the left before flipping and coming to a rest.
    When we got there the driver was trying to get out of the car. The truck driver and Daniel kept him seated and assessed for injuries. He didn’t have a scratch.
    Others were on the phone (including a local off duty paramedic) to get police and ambulance there. We used ‘my three words’ to give a precise location - something from Daniel’s first aid course.
    The driver wanted to do a runner. He hadn’t seen how his car looked. There was the smell of alcohol and his phone was on the passenger seat with a map.
    Trucks were lined up and getting disgruntled that there night had been delayed.
    The police and ambulance arrived. He didn’t want to be assessed by ambulance. Police breath tested him and put him in the back of the paddy wagon. He won’t think he is lucky to be in the back of the paddy wagon right now, but it could have so easily have been a body bag.
    As we didn’t see the incident we didn’t have to give a statement.
    The police allowed us to get going before all the trucks could start clogging up the road.
    Having stopped, we skipped Yass - unknowingly that was the last Ampol service station before Gundagai.
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  • Day 2

    Gundagai to Melbourne

    June 9, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The scenery is very different compared to our last trip at the diagonally opposite end of the continent.
    The green grass and rolling hills of the Great Dividing Range and many more vehicles.
    We arrived in Melbourne at around 3pm after a late lunch in Wandong for some very overpriced salt and pepper calamari and hamburger.
    Our accommodation this weekend is a townhouse. Very spacious with each kid having a double bed to themselves… Claire even had an ensuite (decided from paper scissors rock).
    We had dinner at Matthew Flinders Hotel with Michael’s team, along with about 4 or 5 other Hills teams.
    Games start at 8am tomorrow, with Claire and Daniel reffing at around 10am.
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  • Day 3

    Long day

    June 10, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Today started with Michael’s team playing in the Nunawading basketball tournament at 8:00am. They won in golden point! And finished at 6:50pm with a 59-34 win over Camberwell Dragons. They also had a .3 point loss to Waverley.
    Meanwhile Claire and I refereed - Claire did 6.5 games and I did 3. Both of us wore sore afterwards.
    Claire has more tomorrow and Monday, but I’ll stick to my camera for now.
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  • Day 4

    Nunawading tournament - Day 2

    June 11, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Our second day of the Nunawading tournament and the boys go in having won 2 of there 3 games and in second place behind the undefeated Sturt team.
    The boys’ first game wasn’t until mid afternoon so we had a morning of free time and went into the Queen Vic Markets for some coffee and a wonder around.
    There were lots of produce stores and a lolly shop the kids liked, and many cheese shops with olives. Claire was happy… Michael not so impressed.
    The first game today for the boys was against Frankston. I thought it would have been a tough game but in the end they had a very convincing win.
    Claire didn’t ref until 6:50 - having 4 more games, including under 16s in boys and girls. Her last game finished at 10pm. The Knox coached thanked her and complimented her saying that it was the best reffing they had all tournament.
    Meanwhile Michael’s team played the undefeated Sturt team. A win and they would match Sturt on points and go to the finals on the head to head results.
    Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. The boys were simply outmuscled and couldn’t compete with the physicality and aggression for the ball.
    Afterwards we were able to watch one of Claire’s school friends play for Sydney Comets.
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  • Day 5

    Lunch with family

    June 12, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    A lazy morning after a busy past couple of days.
    We played some games with the kids, including Jewel Heist which isn't very good when there are just 4 people sitting around a glass table - it was too easy to know who was moving! We played multiple rounds, but Claire was never the robber... on the last round Helen switched the robber card with Claire as she went to the kitchen for some water.... Helen carefully left jewels around Claire and when the vote was in, Claire was dumbfounded to be found to be the thief!
    We headed out to Berwick to have lunch with Helen's father, John and her brother John, sister Gwen as well as nieces Bridie and Georgia (who had her 18th birthday party this weekend).
    We had a lovely lunch at Shanikas, an Italian restaurant on High Street in Berwick and it was great to spend time with family that we don't get to see often.
    After lunch we went for a drive up to Upper Beaconsfield so that the kids could see the places that Helen grew up in - the house on Salisbury Street, where Indra was aggisted, the Pine Grove Hotel where Helen once worked 30 years ago (we stopped for a quick toilet break and Helen said nothing had changed!) and the journey from Upper Beaconsfield to Emerald and onto Belgrave that Helen did to get to school. It was a nice drive through some of the Dandenong Ranges.
    Tomorrow morning we start the long drive home.
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  • Day 6

    888km to home

    June 13, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    We left Ringwood just after 9am and started heading north.
    A quick stop in Benalla for fuel after the light went on, we stopped at Glenrowan for some pies for lunch, and at Yass Junction to stretch the legs before the final 276km drive home.Read more