Day 67 - Sunday 5 March - Warrnambool - Wildcats Champions

DAY 67

SUNDAY

5 March 2017 – Grand Final - Game 3 – Wildcats 95  v Illawarra 86

PERTH WILDCATS _ 2017 NBL CHAMPIONS! WOOP WOOP!

Warrnambool

We woke to another coolish day that lead to a slower start. We enjoyed the croissants we had bought in Port Fairy yesterday before organising our things and taking a drive.

We dropped in to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village opting to check out the village for $16 each. It started with a video presentation based on a diary written by an Englishman who had travelled from the UK via ship, lucky to make it to his destination, unlike so many whom succumbed to the rugged coast line.

We then passed into the museum section, where many artefacts from the ships that had come aground were now housed. One such ship was the Loch Ard and from its watery depths a ceramic peacock was rescued and now sits proudly on a revolving wheel in a glass cabinet. The bird stands 1.42m tall and is brightly coloured and is really quite stunning for something created in France in the 1850’s.

Once through the museum we entered into a streetscape or buildings, donned to make you feel like you had stepped into an 1850’s fishing village. There was the doctor, dressmaker, school, inn, blacksmith, church and the list goes on. We wandered the streets filing into to each building to check out what was on display. It was interesting coming across the schoolroom with its rules for children and teachers.

We passed the lake and headed up the hill to the first lighthouse and then onto the famed Maremma Dog’s. They had two in the paddocks guarding the chickens. The story of these dogs was portrayed in the Aussie movie “Oddball” and today, two more dogs were out on Middle Island guarding over the penguin colony.

After talking to the dogs we walked up to the second lighthouse that you could climb up inside of and check out the view.  The lighthouse wasn’t particularly tall, so it was a relatively easy climb.

We then returned to the ground to check out the homestead and the small shipwreck museum housed inside before making it back to the information centre a couple of hours later.

With our tour over we drove down to the beach front checking out the breakwater holding the Southern Ocean at bay from Lady Bay. There were lots of teens jumping into the bay in their wet suits and jumping aboard unsuspecting tender boats, some being brave enough to climb aboard the larger boats, Paul was not impressed with their antics.

We moved to the other side of the cape checking out Stingray Bay and Middle and Merri Islands that can be reached by a sand bar, though Middle Island was closed, probable due to the penguins.

We returned to the car and drove back to Lake Pertobe, where we had spied a market in progress on our way in. We wandered past the stalls, many we had seen yesterday at Port Fairy. We bought some marinated olives and then collected our lunch bag and found a bench seat to sit on and enjoy our lunch.

With the sun pushing through the clouds finally we decided to do a walk of the lake area. It is much like Carine Open Space with walking trails amongst the lake area and plenty of play spaces for the kids. There was even boats to take out on the water.

I called Mum while we wandered the perimeter with the many birds flitting around us. We worked up a sweat as we continued in the warming sun. By the time we returned to the car it was 2 and we figured we better head back to the car, but first a quick pit stop in town for supplies.

Once back at the van we had a quick 30min rest and then gathered our things and then it was off to the TV room ready to watch Game 3 of the NBL Finals. We were lucky we had the room to ourselves and could be as loud as we liked and we were.

With a great start, the cats looked ready to play and had Illawarra on the back foot. While Illawarra didn’t throw in the towel, the game shifted momentum through out the four quartes, but the Wildcats never relinquished the lead they had taken from the first whistle and it was us jumping for joy when they finally blew the final whistle. Woop Woop! 95 to 86

When all of the formalities and rings were handed out and the trophy was lofted high but Shawn Redhage the retiring star we dropped in to reception and booked in for a couple of extra days then returned to the van.

The spa was calling out name so we changed into our bathers and made our way in to the pool area. Unfortunately it had only just been turned on so it was still quite cool, but we braved it for 10 minutes and when the pump switched off we opted to return to the van and start dinner. I was happy to surf the net for Wildcats paraphernalia, still over the moon that we won and went back to back. We now have 8 titles, double our nearest rival.

Following dinner I sat going through the photos and adding things to the blog, happy to have a quiet evening.