Grand Final Day............

........dawned rather nicely.......

We were not planning on doing much......a couple of walks to check out the the sand and the birds, like we did yesterday

 

We decide to do the swamp walk.....OK,OK , the boardwalk over the mangroves and samphire and salt creek......except by the time we started the clouds had rolled in

and the birds were leaving........

and the trees were dead........

kind of like our enthusiasm for touring. We hunkered down for some reading whilst enjoying a view of the ocean.....a book for Marjan and a paper, the first one in a month, for me. I am not sure what Marjan learned from her book, I learnt that nothing much is different in the world. I did enjoy reading that Cory Bernardi was responsible for lifting the fundraising efforts of a school where everyone, including ....Oh horror.....boys, wore dresses to school to raise funds for educating African girls. Corey's outrage meant that an effort that hoped to raise $900 ended up raising $275,000

I did eventually rouse myself enough to go out and have a look at Redbanks....another little beach with very flaky looking reddish sandy cliffs.....

Soon it was time for the footy and Marjan and I headed in to the local pub to share the space in front of the telly with a mostly male audience with names like Thursday, T-Bone and Baldy. I entered the sweep and did badly, though the young guy next to me won the half time sweep, $110, much to the enjoyment of his girlfriend who proceeded to text Mum, Nanna, Auntie Joan and the lady from the servo and perhaps some others and then felt the need to tell her boyfriend what they each thought of him winning the sweep........the mood got a little more lively as we watched Adelaide get trounced.....it was either that or cry.......a young woman barracking for Richmond decided at game end to give the only other Richmond supporter, a bloke about my vintage, a huge hug and kiss which caused great hilarity.

As I walked home with more beer in me than I normally have, a number of people came out of their beach shacks, realised there was more to the world than the TV, made a regretful comment about the game to me and moved on.

Grand Final Day in Arno Bay.......

We are not pubbing this evening....a quiet steak at home, a pack and early to bed for a day of driving tomorrow. We hope to make Border Town and then a quick run into Melbourne on Monday, ready for normality, or what passes for it, on Tuesday.