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We had a very lazy day today! We slept in until after 9.00am and then lazed around the house most of the day. Finally, in the late afternoon, we decided that we had better go out for a walk so that some movement and exercise was recorded on our activity apps. The weather is cool and cloudy today with worse weather forecast for the weekend. So, with rain a possibility, we put on our raincoats and ventured over into Dellside Reserve again. After walking up the hill and back along Jimmy Lee Creek we were still short of our goals so looped through the park below Robin and Sandra’s before heading back to the house. It was Golden Retriever afternoon at the park with four Goldens romping about having a great time. One reminded us very much of our own Miss Gidget who we still miss after saying goodbye to her soon after our visit to NZ in 2016.
Tonight we took Robin and Sandra out to dinner at the
Lemongrass Thai restaurant to thank them for their hospitality this week. The food there is delicious, but the constant stream of takeaway customers making their way back and forth through
the restaurant is a bit distracting. Sandra and I felt certain that we could tweak their floorplan for them to create a more efficient space to cater for those eating in and those taking their meal back home with them!
It was Robin’s birthday earlier in the month and someone gave him a bottle of ‘From The Ashes’ Pinot Noir. This was because of the tie-in with his surname, but we all decided that it would be an appropriate drop to drink before playing the final game(s) in this year’s Bolivia Ashes Challenge. From The Crater Rim Winery it was quite a palatable red wine.
Back at home we played our last game of Jo which saw Sandra finally on the scoreboard with her first win. Then it was time for the main event. As luck would have it Bernie and I did win at Bolivia which meant we were tied on four games each. Obviously a draw was an unsatisfactory outcome from our perspective because we would have to leave the trophy in New Zealand. Fortunately Robin and Sandra wanted to secure The Ashes with a win rather than merely retain the trophy with a draw so
the cards were dealt for the decider.
Robin and Sandra were over 3,000 points ahead after the first hand so things were not looking good for the Aussies. In the second hand Tracey was able to go out before Robin and Sandra got to 15,000 points forcing the game into a rare third hand. The Aussies were now more than 4,500 points behind. Talk about tension in the air!!
The final hand concluded with both teams on more than 15,000 points which meant the victors would be the team with the highest count. The final scores were: Us - 18,090, Them - 18,040. Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with a very, very small 50 point winning margin. And so, The Bolivia Ashes are returning to Australian soil when we fly home with them tomorrow.
We’ve had a fabulous week with Robin and Sandra - just like old times! We do miss our regular card games, but Robin and Sandra are such great friends that when we do get together we are able to pick up right where we left off and it is like no time at all has passed since we last
saw them. Hopefully the Trans Tasman Bolivia Challenge will continue for many years to come!
Only 14 weeks and we are off to the UK to catch up with our other card playing buddies, Kath and Albert. That's really serious though - we have to play for money with Kath and Albert!
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