Colac

Colac is a country town in Victoria, about 50km west of Geelong, with a population of about 9,000 It's quite a nice little town and I was surprised how big it's CBD is compared to Busselton considering the relative populations (Busselton has 25,000) until I learnt that Colac has a regional population of 40,000. I went to Colac today with my mate Russell for the commissioning service of a new chaplain at Colac High School, Bec. The service was good, a typical commissioning. I've had two and been to a few others, there was the usual collection of school staff, church volunteers, local ministers, students, and colleagues, and in this case, one blow-in interloper from interstate. Bec was a bit confused when I told her I was there to represent WA chaplains.
We met with a couple of other chaplains at a cafe first, for coffee and a chat, a regional meeting of chaplains in fact, something I've done plenty of times back in WA. It was interesting comparing the similarities and differences between chaplaincy in the different states. There was an initiative a number of years ago to allow Victorian and Western Australian chaplains to do a 12 month exchange which I was very interested in. Nothing eventuated but when I mentioned it today Bec was very keen on the idea. Perhaps in a couple of years time it may be a possibility.
Another of Russell's colleagues, Robert, came with us to Colac. We talked football all the way there. Sadly, both Rob and Russ are avowed Collingwood fans so there was a lot of stirring and ribbing flowing both ways on the journey. After I'd had a drink I went for a walk around Colac, browsing in the shops When I returned Rob proudly showed me the autograph he'd just got from AFL Legend Ron Barassi who had come into the cafe after I left. I was impressed!