Sydney FC

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We are now back in Sydney after 10 days down in Melbourne. Melbourne is a very cool city with lots going on in the city centre but Sydney is just a bit too pretty for Melbourne to compete. We travelled back overnight on Firefly coaches which was a good service apart from our fellow travellers, many of which looked like a case study to disprove Darwins theory of natural selection.

We spent our last week in Sydney on Manley and Bondi beaches trying not spend too much money in the surf shops. (YHA backpackers in Bondi is really impressive, free surf/body board hire). I love Manley, the beach is great and the atmosphere is relaxed. We had a few drinks in a local bar which was full of younger backpackers who succeeded in making us feel quite old. They didnt even seem to know the Culture Beat song ´Mr Vain´ so it was quite lucky they didnt hear me recite the whole rap to poor Nina, I may have lost any credibility with them.

As we have missed out on the AFL season and the test cricket has been up in Brisbane we decided to watch Sydney FC take on the Queensland Roar on Friday night. We found the ground in the same way most Liverpool fans find Anfield on a matchday, with a map. Sydney have been on a bad run of form so the stadium was relatively empty when we arrived, however the fans were suprisingly loud. They have a real hardcore who have lots of chants inspired by the terraces of England.

After a couple of minutes in the ground I spotted a lad with an Everton shirt on so at half time (embarrassingly for Nina) we bailed over to get a photo with him. While we were taking the photos Nina started getting a bit of attention from a gang of about ten young ozzies stood behind us who all wanted a photo with her (see the photos below). Towards the end of the match one of the young lads built up the courage to come over and talk to her, he asked if she was going to be at the next match and was quite disappointed when she told him she was off travelling, the cheeky scamp gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran away wishing her good luck ... pretty brave with me being such an intimidating character.

Anyway, the match finished 1-1 with the overall standard near that of the bottom half of the championship. (Alan Hansen will be sweating on his job with such a detailed and succinct match report).

We are now in Quito after a one night stopover in Santiago to break up the journey. As we were waiting for our luggage to arrive at Santiago airport the tracker dog at picked out Nina´s bag. I began to wonder just how Nina was funding her travels when the customs official said she was suspected of carrying.....fruit! He spoke to her for about 10 mins threatening her with potential fines and asked the dog to recheck all our luggage. In the end they put the bag through the scanner and searched it, finding nothing. If you ever want to smuggle something dodgy into Santiago send a mate through with a fruit basket first

Ecuador next.....

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Photos

Bluenose
How small is the lad on the lefts head