Project 52: Saturday Morning

This Saturday morning I was housesitting in a place that I seriously did not want to leave - with a kitchen that made me want to stay home and cook! Imagine! Everything is where you need to find it, it's laid out perfectly, it has everything. I kept saying this is the kind of house I would like when I grow up. Ha!

Since doing the Below The Line food challenge, I have craved the Eggs In Tomato from the menu plan I used, and have made it several times since. Yum!

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

The 2013 Peter Crimmins Medal

On Saturday night the girls and I, and Shane, dressed up for Hawthorn’s “night of nights” as a wonderful way to cap of a brilliant AFL footy season. The Peter Crimmins Medal is the award for the Best and Fairest for the club across the year, and always a much envied night to not go to. A drunken celebratory discussion on the Sunday after the Grand Final win had us booking a table, and going along.

On the night I met up with Jenny, and Annie and Josie at a bar along Southbank, before we made our way to the Crown complex, and up the escalator to the Palladium Room. I have never been up here before, but it's here that the Brownlow Medal is also held.

We were served champagne as we waited to go in, found Amy and Shane, and when it was time we entered the main room and found our table.

Once seated it wasn't long before things got started. The Premiership win was clearly the toast of the night. The players on the list who were not part of the GF team were each introduced to the room, before the 2013 Premiership team was introduced, one by one.

Captain Hodge, with a voice as shaky as mine still is, spoke to the room, and talked about the process of reviewing the great game, and the win. We then got a screening of many of the amazing highlights across the screens in the room, and we got to cheer and enjoy the highlights again. Then the room erupted into the team song.

The President, and then our coach, Clarkson spoke, as entree was delivered to the table. Clarko was, as always, humble and life-affirming in his speech to the room, reminding us that life and those we love should always come first. The footy is important to the team, but that there are more important things.

Clarko then paid tribute to the great Lance Franklin, who's intention to move to another club had been made clear during the week. A highlights package of his incredible 9 years as a Hawk was played, to Green Day's Time Of Your Lives. Moments like that late kick in the 2007 Elimination Final against Adelaide. His 100 goals in 2008, those goals against Essendon in 2012, his hurdle goal against Collingwood this year....so many special moments we have all enjoyed, and loved having his part of it. A Buddy fitting goodbye.

There was the full year in review as mains were served, and the vote count commenced. Then the three retirees, two who announced on the night, were given tributes and then spoke to the room. An emotional Hodge talked about Brent Guerra's career spanning three clubs and 251 games, and his two Premierships with the Hawks. Mitchell talked about the amazing journey of Bailey, and those three knee reconstructions and rehab processes, before Bailey spoke to the room. Sewell paid tribute to our hard man in Osbourne, before Ozzie also said farewell to the room and the Hawthorn faithful.

The count got interesting as several players were polling well toward the end, before Gibson powered on with such an impressive year. Roughead a worthy second, with Mitchell a consistent performance with third.

Gibbo's speech was worth going along to the dinner alone. Such a much loved Hawk!

Once the formalities were over, the band kicked in and the dance floor filled.

Such a great night, and an amazing way to top off a great footy year. We talked around our table about doing this event annually, and frankly I am surprised we haven't done it sooner!

Alex Gow and The Basics

Grand Final week would be a little lost without a random gig thrown into the mix, and this year was no exception!

I spied a random announcement from Oh Mercy's Alex Gow that he was home for the week, and would do an impromptu and intimate gig at Red Hummingbird. Coming back into the city from the GF Training, I met Nicole and Mary there, to check it out.

Just like sitting in his lounge room, a small gathering sat pretty close in this small space, and listened as Alex played a set of stripped back songs, with a couple of new ones - to justify his four months away thus far.

We got to hear Rebel Beats, Drums and My Man, as well as Keith Street, before he ended with a cover of The Waterboy's Fisherman's Blues and then Deep Heat.

After a huge day in the city the next day, taking in the GF Parade and a lunch and many drinks at the pub, I trekked up to the Northcote Social Club just in time to catch Hoy playing, with Tim Heath on bass, and join Nicole and Mary. Claire joined us towards the front for The Basics.

I spotted Wally on the stairs before the show, and took the opportunity to grab a photo with him then, as I had to make a dash after the gig to get some sleep for the big day the next day! My quest of a photo with all 3 Basics will need to wait for another time - although every other person at these The Basics gigs seemed to have gotten one!

After seeing our favourite Melbourne trio in a couple of warm-up gigs we had had a taster about what to expect, but this gig was meant to be the main event. And I think it's been one of my most loved shows of theirs for a very long time!

Starting with a punchy Hard For You, and then giving us our much loved The No 1 Cause Of Death Amongst Youth Today, we could tell it was going to be a great show! Many favourites were rolled out, with She's Gonna B Late, and Just Hold On. Rattle My Chain, and Have Love, Will Travel was in there. Kris gave us a couple of news songs, which were pretty awesome and exciting to hear tested out to the full house at NSC. Hey Rain was stunning, and the more obscure Feels Like Love was in there too.

A handful of covers filled the encore, including Proud Mary, before the night ended with Call It Rhythm and Blues.

A ridiculously large week, full of footy glory and favourite bands! New songs, and much loved tracks played live. Nothing beats Melbourne during Grand Final week!

The Theatre Of The Closing Of The India-Pakistan Border

Watching the pomp and ceremony of the closing of the border gates between India and Pakistan at Wagah, 30kms west of the town of Amristar, is easily one of the most bizarre and surreal experiences on my travels I have witnessed. So much carry on between two nations who have much troubles between them - and yet this harmony of process happens every day at sunset to lower the flags, and shut the gate between them.

We arrived and rushed through the security posts showing our passports for access, before being shown to the Foreigner section of the crowd, and settled in to enjoy the show. We had just made it in time for the action to begin!

Because show is surely the only adequate description - the stadium-style seating on the Indian side was filled with people by the time we got to our spots, and the noise of cheers and singing, was electric.

As far as I could gather, the run down of the half-hour ceremony started with dancing from the crowd, at least on the India side, all cajoled by a very encouraging and flamboyant MC, miked up and full of energy. Once this had reached fever pitch, the Border Security Force started their marching towards the gate. In pairs, with flair and pomp!

The girls in the top picture were first, all stern and assertive, before the blokes got involved, two by two. The final group of five come out in formation, with stomping, high kicks, and an unbelievable military-style...well, dance off, really!

This final five managed to perform their final maneouvers right in front of us, before matching straight for the gates of the border.

I imagine the same was going on on the Pakistani side, although there was less of a crowd, and therefore less noise punctuating each pair of marchers.

Once all officers were gathered in place around the gates, there were exchanges including a hand shake, before both country's flags are lowered in unison at the formal gates behind the crowds, and then a further pair above the gates themselves.

Next, after more stomping and marching, the gates of the border are ceremoniously closed, thereby officially closing the crossing between these two countries for the evening.

The crowd could then spill onto the road where all this marching had happened, our foreign section first, to have a look through the gates, and get a little closer to the officers in uniform. You can see some more of my photos here, and Luke's snaps here on the Waving The Flag Facebook page.
 

What an incredible, surreal, and frankly unbelievable experience! We were all buzzing once we got back to our bus for the journey back to Chandigarh, almost unsure of what exactly we had just witnessed.

Red, Yellow, Blue, Green and White: Capture The Colour 2013

I'll take just about any excuse to flick through my travel photos from earlier this year, so being nominated by Karin and Keiran on K and K Adventures to submit a post for this year's TravelSupermarket Capture The Colour competition was all the encouragement I needed! For last year's entry, I sifted through my whole collection of photos to pick one for each of the nominated colours - but this year I have featured snaps from India, Burma and Nepal from my trip in February and March.

This little guy in his red apprentice monk robes captured my attention in Old Bagan, in Burma.

The stunning Golden Temple at Amritsar in India is hard to pass up for yellow - I love this photo!

The bluest sky over Kathmandu in Nepal made the prayer flags of the Boudhanath Temple really pop on my morning visit there.

This little one, dressed in green, is almost fully camouflaged by the growth under the U Bein Bridge in Outer Mandalay in Burma.

It's impossible not to include one of the whiter than white shots of the Taj Mahal in India. The marble gives many hues across the day, and at this time, when the sun is high in the late morning, it is at it's more brilliant.

The TravelSupermarket Capture The Colour competition encourages you to nominate 5 more bloggers to put together an entry, so I would like to see a post from Bianca over on Day Jaunts, one from Chrystal on Chrystal Clear, another from Megan from Mapping Megan, one from Karis on Karis Abroad, and Emily on Innocent Nomad.

Project 52: Friday Evening

This was the Friday night of the First Qualifying Final, between Hawthorn and Sydney, at the MCG. The nerves were very high at this point, the moment when both teams line up for the National Anthem. Go Hawks!

We won this game by a whopping 52 points....needn't have been nervous at all! Ha!

(And I cannot believe the matching photo is the TV in Sydney. What AFL Footy Finals!?!?)

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

The 2013 AFL Grand Final Premiership Win

A day to remember forever on Saturday, as Hawthorn became the 2013 AFL Premiers. What a day!

Our day started just as it did the year before, and also in the winning 2008 year, with a breakfast gathering at The Mess Hall in the city. Jenny and I joined Mum, Melissa, Jessica and Heath, and Jordon, before Flash and Cass, Gluv, and Axe filled the table. Those of us with standing room ate fairly quickly, before making the dash across Fitzroy Gardens to the gates of the MCG.

Joining the forming queue, we had learnt from the last couple of times, and had a strategy. The moment they let us in, at 11am, we made a run for our allocated section, and were rewarded with the front row of our standing bay.

The sprint happened on the ground, and then Birds Of Tokyo played as the pre-match band (not that we could really hear them in our bay under the stand), and then Mike Brady let a stadium-sing-a-long for his iconic footy songs of Up There Cazaly and One Day In September.

After both teams come out onto the ground for their final warm up, the Great Southern Stand displayed the names of both teams, Hawthorn and Fremantle, which was pretty impressive!

All too quickly, the teams both ran out properly through their banners, and the roar and colour of each team become apparent. A sea of yellow and purple!

The nerves and excitement heightened as the teams lined up for the National Anthem, and that all mighty roar of the crowd at the end of it - and then it was game on!

I feel like the first half went by in a blur - a complete arm wrestle, very low scoring, and the Hawks managed to stay on top, and maintain serious pressure. We were up by 4 goals at the big break. Hunters + Collectors played at halftime, and whilst we again couldn't really hear them well, there was a huge crowd sing for Holy Grail. Such an unofficial footy anthem!

The third quarter was what all the nerves were for, as the Dockers piled on goals, and behinds, to come within 3 points of the Hawks at one stage. Fierce stuff! Heroic four goals from Gunston for the match and a brilliant defensive game from the eventual Norm Smith medalist Lake, and the Hawks sealed the win and the premiership at the final siren by 15 points.

Midway through the last quarter the attendance figure was flashed onto the screens, at 100,007 people. Wow! There was a collective noise of awe at that. The bay sitting in front of our section were Freo fans who had travelled across from Perth and had told us that this was their first time at the 'G were stunned.

The song was sung, over and over. The four of us together hugged, and soaked it in, before working our way to the boundary fence. We watched as the medal presentation happened, cheering each and every player. And then the cup was raised, in victory!

A great spot for the players' victory lap, we high-5ed and hugged and cheered with them as they came past and shared it with the fans that were there. They were very happy, and excited boys!


After the lap, and the players singing the song together in the rooms broadcast across the stadium, all the Hawks we knew gathered at a spot to enjoy the Premiership Party, with Birds Of Tokyo and then Hunters + Collectors playing. But really, we were waiting the presentation of the Premiership team again.

Once all this was done, many of us wandered up to Richmond for drinks and the replay at the London Tavern. Later on in the evening, you may have seen us dancing up a storm in a little bar on Church Street. Good times.

Made even more special this time with the three of us sisters together for it, after Jessie being on the other side of the world for 2008. It was also one I could fully celebrate too, given the sober experience of 2008! All is right in the world again!

We're a very happy team at Hawthorn!