al Cross on top of Mount Macedon. Mt Macedon is north of Melbourne and 1010 meters above sea level. Thomas Mitchell climbed the mountain in 1836 and seeing Port Phillip from the top he named the mountain after Philip of Macedon. The town was established after the discovery of gold in Bendigo in 1851. Middle Gully(now Macedon Township) was filled with inns, shops and blacksmiths to service diggers travelling to the gold fields. Logging became a big industry in the Macedon Ranges until the government began to manage the forestry in 1870's. Mount Macedon was also a retreat from the summer heat for Melbourne's wealthy. Many mansions wer
e built beginning in the 1860's. In the 1930's William Cameron, who lost his son in World War I, established the Memorial Cross on top of Mt Macedon as a tribute to those Australians who died in the war. Reason for the cross was two fold in that the building of the memorial also gave employment to people during the depression. The original cross, along with many of the mansions from the late 1800's, were destroyed in the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. The ne
w cross was built in 1995 and is a beautiful lookout over the surrounding area. Well, I should say it would be if we weren't completely enclosed in clouds. Cheryl thought it was raining when we first got there but it we were just in the cloud cover. We went to the Top of the Ranges for soup and scones. The wind was blowing so hard it sound like the roof could go flying off at anytime. The drive up the mountain is gorgeous both in architecture and vegetation.Friday night 
was my very first Aussie Rules Football game. Matt's favorite team, Collingwood Magpies, were playing the Richmond Tigers. We had tickets for the box from Precision(Matt's work) so we met some of his work colleagues before the game. Kayo was one of the suppliers from Japan and had no plans on going to the game since she had to be up at 4am to fly home but we talked her into it. Matt even got her a Magpie scarf...just to make sure she was supporting the right team of course!! I was happy I wasn't the only one who was clueless about the game and Kayo seemed to really enjoy herse
lf. Matt said the rules were similar to GridIron (what they call American football). Now everyone knows I am no football expert but the rules are NOTHING alike except they have a ball and run up and down a field. First of all the field is round. There are all kinds of different tackling rules and the ball gets kicked in between th
ree goal posts...no touchdowns. They bounce the ball when they run with it and most importantly they wear little, tiny shirts with little tiny, shorts and no padding. I felt very spoiled watching the game from the fully catered box. When we were going up the elevator to the box we road up with some of the Magpie players including the injured captain. It was great fun and I got to meet some of the guys Matt works with. Unfortunately for Magpie fans they got killed by the Tigers( the worst team in the league this year). Matt needless to say wasn't happy. Sad Sad Magpie fans!!! They don't have cheerleaders like Americans but they do have a cheering section with huge pompoms. 
After the game the cheer section was so disgusted they threw their pompoms on the field. Matt said he had never seen that happen before. The Magpies must have played really badly.
was my very first Aussie Rules Football game. Matt's favorite team, Collingwood Magpies, were playing the Richmond Tigers. We had tickets for the box from Precision(Matt's work) so we met some of his work colleagues before the game. Kayo was one of the suppliers from Japan and had no plans on going to the game since she had to be up at 4am to fly home but we talked her into it. Matt even got her a Magpie scarf...just to make sure she was supporting the right team of course!! I was happy I wasn't the only one who was clueless about the game and Kayo seemed to really enjoy herse
lf. Matt said the rules were similar to GridIron (what they call American football). Now everyone knows I am no football expert but the rules are NOTHING alike except they have a ball and run up and down a field. First of all the field is round. There are all kinds of different tackling rules and the ball gets kicked in between th
ree goal posts...no touchdowns. They bounce the ball when they run with it and most importantly they wear little, tiny shirts with little tiny, shorts and no padding. I felt very spoiled watching the game from the fully catered box. When we were going up the elevator to the box we road up with some of the Magpie players including the injured captain. It was great fun and I got to meet some of the guys Matt works with. Unfortunately for Magpie fans they got killed by the Tigers( the worst team in the league this year). Matt needless to say wasn't happy. Sad Sad Magpie fans!!! They don't have cheerleaders like Americans but they do have a cheering section with huge pompoms. 
After the game the cheer section was so disgusted they threw their pompoms on the field. Matt said he had never seen that happen before. The Magpies must have played really badly. Just as a side note I think the word is out in the duck community that Mick and Bec's pool is the place to be. I get almost daily visits now from no
t only the first couple of Pacific Black Ducks but also another couple of Australian Wood Ducks.
t only the first couple of Pacific Black Ducks but also another couple of Australian Wood Ducks. 