Our Poor Tigers

Unfortunately they just can't seem to get their act together this season! Nonetheless, last weekend we took Ed and Myra to the MCG to see the Round 10 game against the Essendon Bombers. This game was also chosen to be 'Dreamtimeat the G', which is the AFL's annual Indigenous Round that celebrates the contribution of Aboriginal players and communities in Australian football. There was a pre-game show that included a performance by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, a very popular indigenous Australian musician, and appearances by other notable indigenous people in the sporting world.

It was an absolutely lovely autumn evening and when the game started the Tigers came out roaring! They quickly took the lead and dominated the first half of the match, scoring goals left and right. It was great fun to watch and our seats were right up front to take in the action. Half-time was all smiles for Richmond fans, but unfortunately as the second half began it was apparent the Tigers were struggling. They hung on through the third quarter, but by the fourth quarter they were going down in a blaze. Even though they led most of the game, in the end they lost by 7 goals (that's 42 points - ugh!) With that result our Tigers are now 1 win, 9 losses for the season. Do we think it's possible that they might actually go the whole season with only 1 win???

The good news for the night - we got some great shots of the action!

Horses in the High Country

Myra is a horse lover and one of her favourite movies is The Man From Snowy River, which was filmed in and around Mansfield, Victoria. Myra recently celebrated her 60th birthday and, as part of her present, Ed gave Myra a 'Man from Snowy River experience' via the Melbourne branch of ACME, Inc (us). This special birthday experience was organised with Watson's Trail Rides and included a 3-hour ride followed by lunch at Kinloch Wines.

Ed arrived in Melbourne on Friday morning and Saturday afternoon we were on the road to Mansfield for our horse riding adventure in the High Country. Appropriately we stayed at Banjo's Accommodation in Mansfield, named after A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson, and Sunday morning Myra was up with the birds and ready to ride!

Sunday greeted us with fog a chill in the air, but as the day progressed it turned into a perfect day to be in the bush. We headed to Watson's early to get our bearings, met the other riders, were paired with our horses for the day, and then we set off for the trail! Ed, Josh and Kristi were matched with 'gentlemanly' and 'well behaved' Jo, Copper and Max, respectively. Myra paired with 4-year-old Lawrence who has a bit more spunk, but turned out to be a beautiful horse for her to ride.

The ride and scenery were splendid as we traversed the back country, trotting and cantering through the hills. With the exception of Myra, it took us a bit to get the hang of riding a horse again, but it was great fun! We also had the opportunity to see where they shot the famous downhill scene from The Man From Snowy River (fortunately we didn't attempt it!) When the ride came to an end we were presented with a yummy lunch, complete with wine and coffee, at Kinloch before we made our way back to Melbourne. It was an overall fantastic experience!

It was then back to the work/school week for Josh and Kristi, so Monday Ed and Myra headed off for a road trip to explore the Grampians, Coonawarra, and Warnambool. It will be fun to hear about their adventures when they return for a weekend in Melbourne.

Mum's Day

We had a special treat this year as Josh's mum was in town for Mother's Day! The weather cooperated with a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed a morning walk and breakfast at Picnic, a local restaurant on Toorak Road. Then we checked out the Russian festival at Fed Square and Myra had the opportunity of seeing Josh in action at work.

In the following week we explored more of Melbourne with Myra - including a visit to the Queen Vic market, walks around Albert Park/South Melbourne, and exploration of the Melbourne laneways. We also introduced Myra to her first Australian World Heritage Site - the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens. The site was given World Heritage status in 2004 because it is the only exhibition building of its era still being actively used for its original purpose.

Graduation

Kristi finished up assignments and work for her sports massage Certificate IV back in January, but it wasn't until April 30th that MIMT held the graduation celebration. It wasn't too flash - there were about 40 graduates that attended the event, held in a local suburbian function room with catered party pies and sausage rolls and the pokies nearby. It was fun to catch up with some of the old classmates, but by the end of the evening it seemed that the current classmates naturally migrated towards each other (below photo with Kizz, Alys, and Lauren). Now it's only 6 months until our Remedial Diploma graduation!