Mike, Dave & Sue follow the Lions 2013 (11)

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Saturday morning was a laze around the apartment followed by, you guessed it, Spaghetti Bol! It was Match Day of course😊 at 4.30pm we made our way to a Lions Supporters Village reception where we met up with our leprechaun friend, Graham from Northern Ireland. Andy Nichol, ex Lion, hosted the event where we had several speakers, Jeremy Guscott, Peter Winterbottom, Tyrone Howe and Roger Uttley. The highlight though was an acoustic session by The Manic Street Prechers, very good. Apparently there was enough free beer for 14 bottles each! More fish and chips and pies circulated to feed the masses. At about 7pm we walked across the road to the Etihad Stadium for the match. Another fantastic stadium shaped in an oval for the Aussie Rules Football, the retracting roof was closed. Again great view from the 3rd level behind the posts. By kick off the excitement was at fever pitch, the Lions supporters making so much noise as to make the Aussies feel they were the away team! Hardly a seat unoccupied, a record 56,711 crowd. Another tense game, lost in the last minute when it was our turn to miss the match winning kick. Wallabies 16 - Lions 15. Shame about the result but what a night!. We were swept along by the huge throng leaving the ground until it thinned out about a mile away. Taxi home for three tired and emotional supporters.Late up on Sunday morning and a walk down through Fitzroy Park before boarding the Tram which took us back down to Docklands. We walked the waterfront looking at the huge motor cruisers and people watching as we went. Dave and I had many admiring, even envious glances as we proudly wore our Bristol shirts 😊 Indian curry platter for tea and home via the MCG, we passed up the opportunity to watch an Aussie Rules game.<br style="color:� font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />7am Monday we were waiting outside the apartment for a pre booked Taxi at 7.15am. After 3 frantic phone calls we were collected at 7.40am by which time Sue had had several kittens! A dash through downtown Melbourne in the rush hour and we got to the Southern Cross Station in time for the train to Sydney. First class compartment for 3 with private WC, though no WiFi or screens, not quite up to BR First Class but not bad. A 11.5 hour ride through the mainly flat countryside. Lots and lots of sheep but Sue was desperate to see Kangaroos. Not a sign for hours So Sue and Dave had a pensioners snooze. Strewth Skippy, within 10 minutes we passed a group of 20 or so Roo's hopping across an open field. I didn't wake S & D but when I saw another group I woke Dave just in time. When Sue woke up she was a bit peeved to say the least. However within half an hour she too had spotted Roo's, much happier then as the occupants of other compartments must have known by her shrieks of excitement😊 it was along train ride, the last 2.5 hours in the dark. Taxi driver Mr Gok Wan must have set some sort of speed record getting us back to Ocean St! We crashed in the flat and all had a goods nights sleep.

Refreshed on Tuesday morning we used our My Travel passes to ride up to Bondi Beach in bright sunshine and 20c temp. Nice breakers crashed onto the silver sand of the crescent beach. Lots of surfers were out searching for the big wave. We had drinks in the RSL Club (Returned Servicemens League, like the RBL at home)and then followed the advice from a Swansea ex pat and caught the bus further on to Watsons Bay, a pretty fishing community on the edge of the Gap peninsular. On Pete Bigwood's recommendation we ate Barramundi and chips at Doyles Wharf ( we couldn't get into the main restaurant) very nice fish it was😊 we sat in the sun and let it go down, Dave doing his narcolepsy impression😊 like a nodding dog on steroids😊 caught the bus back home after a very good day out!
<br style="color:� font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" />Sent from my iPad

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