July 2017

Another great day in Paradise.

As the Cats played the GWS Giants in Sydney last week and are due to play the Brisbane Lions in Brisbane this week they spent the week on the Gold Coast. As well as swimming at Broadbeach and checking out the attractions of the Gold Coast, they had training runs on Tuesday and Thursday at the Broadbeach footy ground - the home of the Broadbeach Cats. The ground is a very attractive suburban footy ground surrounded by plenty of greenery.

We decided to go and watch the the Thursday morning training run with Colin and Merle Sewell who are also Cats supporters. There were several hundred Cats supporters along to see the team train. Most of the kids had Geelong footy jumpers and the most popular numbers were 14 - Joel Selwood, and 26 - Tom Hawkins.

Goal kicking practice did not instill great confidence - only a few seemed able to kick goals - I hope they play better than they trained. Tommy Hawkins managed to hit the point post and the goal post, and he did not kick too many goals.

Proceedings were being monitored by a drone - probably spies from Brisbane!

After the training run the coach and the players spent a lot of time talking to the fans and signing autographs - these days a very important part of the modern footballers role in the community. One glaring omission from the training session was Patrick Dangerfield, who was in Geelong attending the birth of his son George Patrick Dangerfield. Those cheeky buggers over in Adelaide have claimed George under the father/son rule but I'm sure that will only mean that Danger will keep playing for Geelong for a few more years yet!

Once the training run was over we drove up to the Spit to get some prawns from one of the prawn trawlers for tonight's dinner.

The home of the Broadbeach Cats.

A nice suburban ground at Broadbeach.

Di with Merle and Colin on the balcony of the Broadbeach Cats footy clubrooms.

Coach Chris Scott on his way to the TV cameras with the Geelong media manager.

Goal shooting practice - Andrew Mackie being a backman is looking the wrong way.

Does any-one know where the goals are?

A huddle with the coach prior to training proper.

Getting ready for a Red against Blue practice game.

Looks like Matty Scarlett to me.

A drone keeping an eye on things - Brisbane spies perhaps?

Motlop outnumbered again.

Motlop again.

Mitch Duncan signing autographs.

Chris Scott signing autographs.

Looks like kissing babies is part of the action.

Di with Colin and Merle.

A good crowd turned up to watch the Cats train.

Tom Lonergan due to play his 200th game on Saturday.

Andrew Mackie signing autographs.

Steve Motlop signing autographs.

Prawns for tea.

Another great week weather-wise, sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 20's.

We are still keeping up with the walking - its not hard when the weather is so good. Highlights of the week included a meal at the Burleigh Surf Club with Merle and Colin Sewell, our neighbors in the caravan park, a walk to the farmers market in the grounds of the Burleigh Primary School, a drive up to the Hinze Dam for a coffee and a cake, and a meal at Frosty's Club at CSi Southport. Frosty and Marg were back in Melbourne for the funeral of Frosty's mother who died last week.

David replaced the led lights in the bathroom as the old leds had turned yellow for some unexplained reason - Di is pleased now that she has good white light again.

During the week we had a fellow on the next site who was born and grew up in Tassie - going to school in the Glenorchy area. He and Di were comparing notes about going to school in the Glenorchy area, when it emerged that one of his Headmasters had been Gary Fitzgibbon, well known in Hash and Minihash circles.

Palm beach from the Burleigh Head Lookout.

Surfers Paradise from Burleigh Head.

I think that the Burleigh track might be closed.

Beautiful Burleigh Heads.

Di outside the Burleigh Surf Club.

Our new club Frosty - the Burleigh Beach Surf Club.

Pipes being installed to pump sand from Tallebudgera Creek to Burleigh Beach.

David in front of the Hinze Dam Spillway.

A Kookaburra looking for lunch at the Hinze Dam.

View towards the Hinze Dam from the Restaurant Balcony.