Footy - Australian Rules Football

Today, Walter and I went to see a footy game - Australian Rules Football. Port Adelaide was playing North Melbourne. If you're thinking of football in Canada or the US - don't. It's not the same.

There are four goal posts. If a player gets the ball between the centre two, the team gets six points. If the ball goes through the first and second, or third and fourth, the team gets one point. There are other rules around scoring points, but I can' remember what they are. A player can't run with the ball, like in Canada or the US, and a player can't tackle another player's head. No one wears any protection, and being hit and falling is quite common. It's a fast-paced game played in four quarters of 30 minutes. The referee doesn't blow the whisle to stop play very often, so the game moves quickly. There are no offisides, and no downs. It's pretty much constant movement on the field. More kicking the ball than I've seen in a long time.

Port Adelaide was leading by a huge margin (40 points or so) for most of the game. In the fourth quarter, North Melbourne started to make a comeback, and Port Adelaide lost some good scoring opportunities, but Melbourne couldn't sustain the charge, and in the end Port Adelaide wont 95 to 83.

I'm not a big sports fan generally, but I enjoyed this. Before the game, Margy (so supports Port Adelaide) and Walter and I met up with her father and three of her sisters for a tailgate party at the stadium before the game started. We had wine, been, coffee, tea, chicken, bread and cheese. Not bad, considering that this the only day where it's rained all day since we've been in Australia, and we ate food and watched footy in the rain!

Tomorrow we start our journey back to Melbourne. We'll be going along the Great Ocean Road, and stopping overnight in Portland. I can't believe this trip is almost over. It's gone by so quickly.

I've included a few pictures from the wineries in the Barossa Valley - Wolf Blass, Chateau Yaldara and Jacob's Creek. These wineries do nothing by halves! They are grand buildings with cellars door tasting rooms, restaurants, private function rooms, conference facilities, and oh yes, wine making facilities. If you've been the Niagara on the Lake wineries, think of those only bigger.