My First Footy Game!

The last two weekends were full of Australian culture. I attended the annual Naracoorte Swap Meet, which is basically a giant yard sale in which members of the community bring their unwanted junk to sell off to others. I dragged Chris along despite his assertions that buying other people’s used crap is gross. How often do I get a chance to go to a yard sale that takes up the area of a high school football field? Not often, so we went. There were lots of car parts and farm machinery for sale, but I was more interested in the jewelry and trinkets. I ended up buying a Celtic knot ring (which I’ve always wanted and which I subsequently lost during harp trapping with the high school students) for $8 and a little knitted bat that I plan on giving to my new niece/nephew. 

 

Naracoorte Swap Meet. Lots of people’s junk! 

 

Haha, I should have bought this.

 

The next weekend our friend Tom, one of the park guides, took us to my first footy (Australian Rules Football) game! I had never actually watched an entire game and had only seen clips on TV. We drove out to Kybybolite, a tiny tiny town about 30 minutes from Naracoorte (so tiny that none of us had phone reception). Tom is one of those types of people who knows everyone everywhere, so he gave us the low-down on some of the players who are also his friends. He and Chris explained the rules of the game to me, most of which I kind of understood at the time and now don’t remember. All I really recall is a bunch of sweaty, buff men running around chasing and tackling each other. Not a bad sport in my opinion. It was really neat because instead of sitting in bleachers to watch, everyone sat in their cars around the field to watch (there actually were no bleachers, which is common). When our team scored a goal, we, and all the other supporters of that team, honked our horn. Haha, it was great! That day there were three games on: Juniors (up to age 18 I believe); B (the second-grade players over 18); and A (the top players over 18). We stayed for the whole B game and half the A game. It was quite an experience and I’d love to go again. Tom said we should all go to the finals coming up. I’m game! I’d also love to go to a big AFL (Australian Football League) match to get a taste of the “big leagues”.

 

Watching the footy game from the car.

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve made a few pumpkin pies in the last few weeks. Our friend Cath was staying in the bunkhouse for a few weeks while working in the area, so we made a pie using her recipe and one using my grandma’s recipe. They don’t have canned pumpkin here, which is what my grandma’s recipe called for, so we used fresh, boiled pumpkin. And it turned out great (and no strings, Mom)!

 

Here’s the proof.