Bitter Cricket and Kangaroo Curry

Firstly thanks to all the people who have replied to us on the comments section, it is great to hear from lots of different people - keep them coming please. On 12 January Sarah and I drove to Melbourne in the morning to watch the first one day international between England and Australia at the MCG. It was a very impressive stadium with a capacity of just under 100,000. The tickets, which we had purchased on the internet a few days previously, only cost us about 16 pounds each, amazingly cheap considering it costs 12 pounds to watch mediocre football at Cambridge United. But then again we were going to watch mediocre cricket by England. After a little confusion about where we were going to sit we placed ourselves on the top tier of the southern stand. It was a day/night game and England had won the toss and elected to bat, which was hopeful. However they only managed to amass 242 in their 50 overs, despite a Pietersen knock in the eighties, I believe, before he was hit in the ribs by McGrath. Australia easily got to the total with the loss of only 2 wickets. The atmosphere was good in the stand except the Aussies only seem to have one chant and the beer was flowing freely which resulted in some supporters being ejected by the very-heavy handed police. It seems strange that drinking is so heavily advertised here and when people get a little loud or boisterous (but not aggressive) the authorities go over the top in ejecting people! Also members of the crowd (which was nearly 80,000) brought in beach balls and threw them about the crowd whilst desperately trying to avoid the stewards getting hold of them, as they confiscated them and then burst them. An interesting game of cat and mouse, particularly when a rubber doll made an appearance and visited lots of people in the crowd for about 20 minutes and avoided the mean stewards, much to the delight of everyone as they just failed to grasp her on a number of occasions. After the game we got changed in our hotel room and took a tram to town where we found a pub that served proper English beer!

The next day we laid on St.Kilda beach for a couple of hours and paddled in the sea, it was a little too cold and rough with quite high waves, before heading back to Echuca.

On 14 January Jenni and Rob, and two of their friends from Melbourne, took us to the RSL Club in Moama (just across the state border in NSW) for an evening meal. There are about 4 of these places in Echuca and Moama that serve food, drinks, lay on entertainment, have lots of pokie machines (a more basic fruit machine) and give you free lifts there and back home on the courtesy bus. Any profit they make goes to the group of people it represents, in this case retired servicemen. It was also incredibly cheap, with 3 beers and 2 bottles of wine coming to about 11 pounds. The roast meal that we had cost about 4 pounds. Sarah enjoyed the pokies and the wine very much!

On 15 January we drove to the Australian Alps, in our new car, to a small town called Bright in Victoria. After exploring the town for a bit we had a meal in the evening. Sarah went for her usual adventurous meal of chicken (there was no scampi on the menu) whilst I had a Kangaroo Curry which was very nice, it tasted a little like beef. The following day we drove up to the mountains but unfortunately all the really long walks were closed due to the extensive fires that they experienced here before Christmas. So we had to content ourselves to a blowie infested 3 mile walk, although the views were amazing. In the afternoon we hired some bikes and cycled in the heat for about a 15 mile round trip, before Sarah succumbed to the weather. Contrastingly the next day brought rain in the mountains, and, being ill-prepared for this kind of weather, we could not go for a mountain stroll, so had to walk in and around the town of Bright on a nature walk. We headed back to Echuca in the evening, with the intention of coming back to the Australian Alps some time either in the Autumn (where the scenery will be wonderful with all the colourful leaves) and/or in the winter to ski in the snow.

On the 19th January Jenni took me to visit my school for the morning and to meet the other members of my team, who both seemed nice. I had a tour of the school by the principal, Madge before having a short meeting where I learned that I will have a grand total of 20 pupils in my class, a huge difference to the 32 I had in England! There seems to be a big emphasis on sport in the curriculum and it shall be interesting to see this in practice once the term commences. In the evening Jenni and Rob laid on a barbie with some of the other teachers I will be working with. The cricket was on the tv, where England lost again to the Aussies, so I suggested that I will run the cricket club in school so that I can teach all the Aussie children how to play badly and in 15 years or so England can win back the Ashes!

Summer in Sydney

On 5 January we set off to drive to Sydney for a few days. We left at 9.30 am and finally arrived in the city just before 7.00 in the evening. It was a long journey, over 800 km, the equivalent of driving from Cambridge to Edinburgh I suppose but with the added bonus of not having to drive through Yorkshire! We were staying at Sarah's step brothers flat in Bronte, a suburb of Sydney, with views of the Pacific. Will gave up his flat to us for the weekend and stayed with his Aussie girlfriend, Felicity. He welcomed us with a barbie and a beer or two, which was nice after a long, hot drive. Below is an Englishman, Will, doing a barbie in Sydney.
The next day Sarah took me shopping (how interesting!), although I did buy some clothes from the Debenhams of Australia, Myers. Then in the afternoon we went swimming on Bronte beach. It was a hot day although the sea was quite cold and very wavy. There were helicopters flying out at sea to investigate possible shark sightings but I made sure that there was always somebody a little further out to sea than me! In the evening all four of us went for an Italian meal in a restaurant overlooking Bondi beach which was lovely. Afterwards we went to a lively pub, then I paddled in the sea at Bondi beach before heading back to Will's flat.




In the morning Will and Felicity led us (by car) through a maze of streets in the centre of Sydney in order to find our hotel for the next two nights. After making many stops and reverses and u-turns we eventually found the hotel, said our goodbyes and checked in. We then checked out the Botanic gardens, Sydney Opera House and Chinatown. Later, whilst exploring a street market, I was tapped on the shoulder. Who could that be I thought on the other side of the world tapping me on the shoulder? It turned out to be the father of a boy I had taught last year. Steve was here with his father, Bernie, to watch the cricket and they were sightseeing in between defeats. We chatted for about 10 mins and then Sarah and I walked over the famous bridge in the rain! It seemed to be much greener and wetter in Sydney and east of the Blue mountains then it was in Victoria and southern NSW, who were crying out for rain.



In the evening Sarah and I ate a steak meal in a sports bar where they had a poker game going on, two 'soccer' matches (one Aussie and one from England), a recent cricket game and live arm wrestling, all on tv! We then made our way down a couple of bars and ended up in an Irish one on the edge of Chinatown. We amazingly bumped into Steve and Bernie again along with a guy from Lincoln, another from Barnsley and a couple of Irish girls. It was very difficult to understand what the Yorkshire man was saying with all the noise around us and virtually impossible to understand the Irish girls. There are only so many pardons you can say! Anyway we drunk, chatted, danced to a live band and joined in with the Barmy Army chants and generally had a good time. On the way back from the toilet I was accosted by two huge Samoan bouncers and led out of the bar having been accused of being 'intoxicated'. I have been drunk in the past, particularly on my stag nights, as my friend will testify, but I was no way near drunk! A little merry true, but I was in charge of all my faculties. After arguing with the thugs, to no avail, Sarah who had followed me out and then had also been accused of being 'intoxicated', trudged our way back to the hotel. Apparently it is a common thing for big in body but not in brain Samoan bouncers to chuck people out of bars for no apparent reason.


The following day we went to the aquarium and the Sydney tower and did some more shopping (!!!!!!!) and we met up with Steve and Bernie again (as we had arranged to the previous evening) and had a wonderful, and extremely good value, Chinese meal in Chinatown before setting off to have a couple of quieter drinks on the harbour side. We said our goodbyes to Steve and Bernie, as they had been excellent company, and went back early to the hotel as we had another very long drive back to Echuca the next day.



After having breakfast and checking out of our room we got stuck in the hotel lift for 10 minutes and had to jump down from it after being eventually rescued by the hotel manager. I am not so sure if it had jammed because Sarah asked me to do an impression of a kangaroo jumping around the bush or not! We drove home a different route and the distance measured 800 km on the dot, which was strange. On the way we passed a man made lake where the land had been flooded but the large trees left in place. It looked really surreal and something out of the prehistoric era.



The next couple of days we spent chilling a bit. We went to look at Kyabram Nature Reserve where we were the only visitors because of the 40 degree heat. Even the animals were hiding in the shade, except for the Dingos, who were running around their enclosure. Made dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun I suppose. We also picked up our new motor and sorted all the documentation out for that.



Next time Cricket and Bitter (or is it bitter cricket?) in Melbourne.

New Year, New Country

It is scorchio at the moment with the temperature at around 36 degrees today (10 Jan). I am off to have a barbie shortly but before that I'll update.

2nd Jan everything opened again and we blitzed all stuff we had to do. The easiest was to re-connect our phone with Telstra, who were most helpful, and even suggested we take a cheaper package for our needs. This is in total contrast to the tremendous hassles that Leesa has had with the incompetent and useless BT. Sarah had phoned twice and written once before we left UK to tell them the situation and they said it would be no problem for Leesa to reconnect when we left. Needless to say that she could not do this and with my parents help she still had huge problems. I had to ring BT on my mobile to tell them that she could reonnect and that cost a bomb to call. Then still she had to wait a few more days. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why everyone in UK gets tense and everyone on Oz is laid back, if BT is anything to go by. Anyway rant over, we called other utility companies and it was generally ok, except for water, which will have to remain in Leesa's name. In the arvo (!!) we looked at a few cars and then bought one from a friend of Jenni's (a Mazda 626 with a new engine and clutch - which I will need if Sarah is going to drive it!). We will pick motor up tomorrow hopefully. We sorted out insurance for it, which was amazingly cheap in contrast to UK. Incidentally petrol works out at about 50p a litre here. A very productive day!

The next day we went to Bendigo, a town (sorry, city) about an hour drive away. Bendigo is famous for its gold mine, which we went down after a bit of shopping. We then went gold digging and found some. It was ironic beause we know a few gold diggers in the UK! Anyway here we are below the surface. Mine is the incorrect way up as I did not know how to rotate it, although I did it with Sarah's photo afterwards. To be updated in the near future with an interesting time in Sydney to come next.

Oz - first impressions

Sorry about that cobbers, had to get another tinny from the esky to put in my stubby.
Anyway Melbourne 29 Dec. The very first words an Australian citizen spoke to me on his own home soil were so typically stereo-typical! They were from the passport guy and he said 'G'day'! No word of a lie. Then, as we had to declare my Mum's cakes which she had forced into my luggage at Heathrow and Sarah's herbal medicine, we went through the something to declare channel where I asked the customs officer, in my naiviety, how the cricket was going. He corrected my tense to the past and took great delight in telling me that the Pommies had taken a hell of a beating (again!) at the MCG.
We then took a taxi to the hotel we were booked into for the night and were told that we couldn't check in until 10 am (in 2 hours time). So we had a shower and a swim in the hotel pool, then had a coffee and finally checked in and went straight to sleep. We woke about 3 hours later and wandered around the city, which was full of English men looking very bored shopping! (I wonder why that was?).
The next day, my birthday, we took a taxi to pick up our hire car to drive to Echuca (the city we will be staying in for the next 12 months). We got there in around 3 hours despite Sarah's navigating (but I don't blame her, I blame her gender). The Australians call Echuca a city and everyone is thinking oh that's big but I've never heard of it, is it a small city say like Norwich or Coventry? No! It is about the same size as say Histon or Sawston with a population of 10,616 (now 10,617 - Leesa +Leon and Sarah). It was very hot and we got to the house and called Leesa's brother who had the house key. He showed us round all the things that were relevant. It felt a little strange using someone else's house as our own but Leesa is probably feeling the same too.
After sorting things out we called Leesa's work mate, Jenni, who had kindly booked us a restaurant that night for my birthday. We took a taxi in as the house is a bit too far out to walk to the centre (people reckon on 30-40 mins, and I am determined to try this). I had a steak and my first taste of Aussie beer. We then went back home as we were feeling jet lagged.
The next day we looked around Echuca and it is a pretty place with a 19th century feel to it (my clothes fitted in perfectly!) because of the paddle boat steamers. That evening we were invited to a barbie, to celebrate New Year's Eve, by Jenni and Rob (her hubby). We had a good evening and everyone there was really kind to us and very generous. Midnight came and so did the rain (a little bit anyway) and everyone was really happy because it hadn't rained properly for ages. Everyone talks about the weather because of the record drought they are having here. Jenni and friends made us feel really welcome and it wasn't just because they felt sorry for us because of the Ashes! (To be continued)

One Week In!

Well finally made it to OZ. We have just got internet connected so I can write my first blog from the bottom of the world. Where to start? At the beginning I suppose. 12 billion years ago there was a huge explosion in the middle of the universe......and along came Australia, a land full of heat, drought, cold beer, barbies, good sportsmen (and don't they know it!) and, now, Leon and Sarah.
We spent most of Boxing Day in UK cleaning and sorting out the house and we left late the next day to drive to my parents to drop car off and for them to take us to Heathrow. We got there eventually (thanks to the British transport infrastructure) but in quite good time to check in. Sarah's friend, Faith and her hubby, were there to greet us and then wish us au revoir. We said goodbye to my parents who went straight to another terminal to pick up our exchange partner, Leesa, to take her back to Bar Hill to our house.
The flight journey to Singapore was long and we flew over Holland, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakstan, Turkmeinistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Mynamar, Thailand, Malysia and Singapore. We didn't get much sleep! Although that was partly due to me playing chess and whowants to be a millionaire (I got to half a mill.) and Trivial Pursuit on on board computer. We arrived at Singapore and had to wait for about 3 hours in which I tested the Singaporese sewrage system and Sarah tasted a very hot noodle dish and then she tested the Singaporese sewrage system! We took off froma wet Singapore on time and flew over Indonesia and then the Indian Ocean before flying over Oz. Our first view was at Port Headland where there were some oil rigs blazing away in the middle of the night. We got a little more sleep on this flight. We touched down at Melbourne at about 7.15 am on 29 Dec and it was cloudy! (To be continued)