Australia 2023. Day 6. The Carlton Blues vs. The Fremantle Dockers

We won!

 We are the Navy Blues

We are the old dark Navy Blues

We're the team that never lets you down 

We're the only team old Carlton knows

 With all the champions they like to send us

We'll keep our end up

And they will know that they've been playing

Against the famous old dark Blues  

But I am getting ahead of my story.

Mellissa had plans for the morning, so Barry and I went for a morning visit to Fremantle, which used to be the main port of southwest Australia, and one of the less reputable portions of Perth. Twenty years ago, however, Perth won the bid for hosting the American Yacht Race Cup, and a lot of money was invested to beautify the port. The old jail was turned overnight into a historical relic, the old market was whitewashed and turned into an arts and crafts venue, the old fish shops were turned into quaint cafes and bakeries, and the old warehouses and counting houses were turned into office buildings and modern shops. The result is amazing, and has made Fremantle a tourist destination and a very desirable place to live. Reminds me a bit of Santa Cruz, where even small cottages are sold for good money and improved to look like you have moved to paradise.

In the market we visited with a professional photographer, who wowed us with his terrific aerial views of Western Australia. Some are tripod-held land views, and a few are helicopter views, but a large number of them are drone shots, who take advantage of the low noise of the drones (plus a keen eye for finding the right place and flying the drone at the right time of the day) to capture incredible views of salmon schools swirling close to the shore, or deep canyons eerily illuminated by the reflection of the sunset. I am now newly interested in learning to fly the drone that has been moping in my adventure room for two years.

At noon we got back to the house, and 5 minutes later Ashlee turned up to pick us up to go to lunch and the Carlton vs. Fremantle Aussie Football game. She was decked in her dark blue jersey, had her dark blue scarf, and eventually produced a beany to proudly proclaim her undying devotion to the Carlton Blues (she also threatened everyone with immediate death if we dared to support the Fremantle Dockers). Mind you, Fremantle is the local team, whereas Carlton is a team based in Melbourne, so we were sure to face an angry majority at The Optus Oval. But before that we met Brianne, Scott, and Mellissa at a pub in Victoria Park, had a beer and bangers-and-mash for lunch, and with half an hour to spare took the free bus to the oval (that is what the playing field is called in Aussieland). Once we got there we were immersed in a sea of purple, the colors of Fremantle, and heard many laughs of complacency as we sought our seat on the third level of the 80,000 person stadium (later we learnt that the attendance had been 50,000).

I am not going to try to explain Aussie Football, but I will mention that there are 18 players on each side, without any protective equipment, and they all bomb-dive in to try to capture an elliptical ball that is as slippery as a greased pig. If you catch the ball you better get rid of it within 3 seconds, or you will find yourself at the bottom of the train wreck, in a game of "hot potato" like I have never seen before. If you catch the ball you may run 5 meters, but after that either you "pump" the ball to one of your mates, or you kick it wildly away to move the action a few meters to the left or to the right. The objective is to kick the ball through the center of three spans marked by four poles. If you kick it through the middle span you score a goal (6 points), but if you kick it through the left or right side spans you only get a miserly point.

The Carlton Blues were amazing, quickly obtaining a 20 point advantage over the Dockers, during the first 25-minute quarter. The Dockers fought like lions, but the Blues kept increasing their advantage every quarter. The crowds would go crazy, hollering "booo" whenever they didn't like a player or a referee call, but if they saw something they liked they became very urbane and very gently clapped in approval, as quietly and dignified as if they were clapping at a concert. The final score 98 for the Blues and 45 for the Dockers, was welcomed by a stony silence from the purple majority, but the blue supporters promptly broke into song 

We are the Navy Blues ... and the stadium emptied the happy crowd unto the buses and, eventually, delivered them to the pub where they had parked their cars. There we said goodbye (and Brianne and Ashlee sent their love to cousin Luke), and Mellissa, Barry, and I went for a drive to see the lights of the city, ending in a very subdued Fremantle for a dinner of fish-and-chips at Cicerello's.

A perfect Aussie Sunday.