Over 70s National Championships - Albury Wodonga - Rest days

Between Game 2 and Game 3 there were two rest days allowing players to rest or explore the local area.

As Friday was a rest day we slept in and missed breakfast. Instead we headed to the Chocolate Labrador for a coffee and hot chocolate plus cinnamon chocolate toast and sourdough bread with marmalade.

The rest of the morning was then spent exploring the shopping area of Albury and also the gardens. We then had lunch at the Beechworth Bakery trying a bushman's pasty and a sausage roll. 

We also tried the date scones. Back at the hotel, Robin watched cricket on TV. Dinner was once again at the SS&A where we had fish and chips. We discovered that children eat free at the SS&A on a Friday night so it was very noisy.

On Saturday we drove to the Hume Weir after breakfast and met droves of flies. Albury has lots of flies - at least when we were there- but at the Hume Weir there are multitudes of flies everywhere. However the Hume Weir is well worth visiting.

We went there early in the morning on what was going to be another hot day.

Work on the Hume Dam project began immediately after the end of World War I and was officially opened in 1936. It was a joint New South Wales and Victoria project. Work to extend the dam occurred in the 1950s.

Walking around the site it is possible to view some of the machinery through windows .

Birdlife in the nearby trees observe the visitors to the area.

We then drove to the Bonegilla Migrant Experience Museum.

Conducted tours of the site are available or visitors can explore the area on their own.

After World War II an influx of migrants arrived to settle in Australia from European countries. Many of the migrants initially lived at Bonegilla before moving on to work in other communities. A small section of the original complex remains as a museum.

Information boards and other exhibits throughout the buildings record the migrant story.

Names of people living at the centre are recorded on walls such a this. Looking around the area you can only imagine the shock for migrants arriving in this alien environment so very different from home. Records, however, show that some of the children enjoyed the freedom they encountered after spending their early life in war torn Europe.

Back in Albury we returned to the Beechworth Bakery for a lunch of savoury scones plus a shared chicken and avocado wholemeal sandwich. It was then back to the Chocolate Labrador for hot chocolate and coffee. Back at the hotel Robin continued to watch the test match on television.

In the evening we attended the Victoria I team dinner at Brady's Railway Hotel in Smollet Street.