Brisbane - its going to be tough to win ashes from now on

 So, the second test is in Brisbane somewhere I had visited a couple of times previously but did not really know very well. Both previous trips were quite short, firstly in 2001 for the first Lions test match (a great evening with the ground flooded in Lions red, and Jason Robinson scoring a try in the corner near us early in the match) and then RWC quarter final in 2003. I had come out for the quarter final onwards and losing at half time to Wales (sat with a load of Welsh supporters) did question my choice. Thanks to Mike Catt, that match and the following couple of weeks went the right way.

Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia but seems less interesting than other places. I guess most people that come to Queensland end up on the Gold Coast and so Brisbane itself is less touristy. Think about Manchester/Blackpool and you get the gist.

With this test match being a day night match (starts at 2pm and finished at 9.30pm) the feel is very different to other test match stays. You do have some time in the morning to explore, but not really afterwards. And you never know when to eat - "Lunch" is taken at 4pm, "Tea" at 6.40pm or you eat after the match.

I spent the mornings doing a bit of sightseeing - Brisbane is situated on a river and so there are plenty of places to explore along that (Botanical Gardens, South Bank including art galleries and some museums) - but there does not feel to be too much to do unless you want to go further afield. The city hall (and its free tour) was interesting and provided some context on its Scottish connections which I have noticed on previous trips. There are a few river cruises, and I enjoyed a 90mins morning cruise.

There were less free days here as the cricket went on longer than 2 days! It was another strange match, partly due to the pink ball and lights (which start to come on at around 5.15pm and are in full use at around 7pm) and does appear to have a massive impact in particular when new ball is being used. England did not play well, but in reality, even against an Australian team lacking Cummins/Lyon it was always going to be difficult. Australia have played so much more in these conditions that you are never going to match that experience (even if they had played a day/night match in Canberra as suggested by some commentators). Ok they did not bowl well, dropped catches and played some poor shots, but even if they played as well as they could I am not sure if they would have won here. 

The first two venues are clearly the most difficult for away teams and therefore an obvious tactic for Australians to choose. So, despite the Australian team having its challenges, it was always likely that it could go 2-0. Perhaps naively I still have some hope that in the last three tests we might be competitive. Who knows.

 I am getting a bit bored with media coverage. I knew the Australian press would be partisan (and that’s fine) but there are a number of English commentators (Vaughan and Agnew in particular) who just seem to want to criticise. There is a constant "well there is a lot of unrest in travelling supporters" which feels like something they are trying to create rather than the truth. I don’t think the team are badly prepared, unprofessional or don’t care, they have just not performed. That happens on occasions - a lot in strange environment like Australia - and to constantly whine that England should have done something different is hindsight and naive.  For example to constantly question why England did not practice at the WACA before Perth test, ignores the fact that Australia set the whole schedule including warm up venues - and England are not going to criticise their hosts at this stage.

So now off to Tasmania for a week before going to Adelaide. 

Darwin , Katherine and Kakadu

On my first trip to Australia ( Lions tour 2001), i had spent some time in NT and had always wanted to return.

2001 was on a short organised tour in between the first two tests which were in Brisbane and Melbourne. Before i arrived i did question my choice of mid test packages available when i realised the distances i would be travelling, but i did not regret it at all when i got here. Kakadu is one of those places where you question the significance of your existence! Both in terms of the scale and beauty of the natural wonders you see, but also the brevity of the current "sophisticated" era in which we live and how little we seem to have progressed from our predecessors. There have obviously been some challenging times between the aboriginal inhabitants and those that would later decide they would take control and colonise, but that balance of power/control/respect seems to have improved, even in the time since i was last here.

My plan this time was to fly Perth to Darwin, have two nights there and then pick up a car spending two nights in Katherine and two nights in Kakadu. That would imvolve around a three hour drive between each of the 3 centres, returning to Darwin for a flight to Brisbane. I was therefore happy that the car i was offered was new, with excellent aircon and android auto giving  me ability to use google maps easily. Whilst all the roads have been major routes and in good condition, this is the beginning of the wet season so the roads are fairly quiet and perhaps not surprisingly mobile reception not great for long periods. How things have changed since last visit - now its maps downloaded on my phone before the trip, that alongside downloaded podcasts kept me company the whole time. 

Darwin was quite quiet  - there was a large cruise ship that had docked but even they took things slowly in the heat and humidity. You could see some of the impact of recent cyclone with a number of large trees uprooted. Speaking to a couple of uber drivers, Darwin is a lot more robust fhan in the past in being able to cope with extreme weather and the information about when and where if will hit is a lot more advanced. So it just a question of being prepared to be without electricity for a few days if you are one of the unlucky ones.

The main aspects of the rest of the trip were to be on boats. The previous time i was here was dry season and i wanted to come back in wet season where the views would be completely different. I have come quite early in the wet season, and river levels will increase significantly over next few months but already previous dry creeks and gorges are coming to life. Given how heavy the thunderstorm was on my first night in Katherine - you can imagine how quickly the scenery can change.

In Katherine i booked a trip in the Nitmiluk National park - which takes you down some amazing gorges. In total i think there are 17, which gradually become deeper and  open for more activities as the wet season develops. We went down fhe first two, with the second due to open for canoeing and swimming in a few weeks. There is just the small job of checking that the saltwater crocodiles have decided to go further towards the coast before opening up. Even with the warnings (which are everywhere) there seems to be a small number of fatalities each year- mainly peope who think they will see or hear a croc coming. They soon find out they wont.

There was only three tourists on a boat which can hold 60, so we certainly got a more personal guided tour - from Jamie who was an excellent and knowledgble guide.

Next to Kakadu including a Yellow Water billabong cruise. The area around here is stunning with many sites hosting historic artwork. As its wet season some areas are closed or have restricted hours but the main purpose of coming was seeing the water networks emerging.  Everywhere you drive there are reminders of where water levels will reach at the peak during jan to mar.

The cruise was two hours and took in a whole range of birdlife, vegetation and the prospect of crocs. During the first half, there were potential sightings (combination of actual and imagined i suspect) but then the weather turned with rain and eventually lightning. This reduced the temperature and not sure whether it was this or just slight change of location but suddenly real croc sightings occured. They appeared either bored or unamused with boat but were quite happy for boat to come close making photos easy.  They are stunning animals and even appearing docile on ths riverbank you can see their immense power.

Overall really enjoyable trip - lucky to have the most experienced guide (Mandy) who had been working for 37 years and was able to share insights into her parents/grandparents  life in what were very differents. I enjoyed cruise so much i booked again for the second evening, this time with Adam. Amazing how different it can be as scenery and wildlife adapt to slightly different weather conditions compared to day before. Kakadu seems to be a place that you really need to return to a few times - at different times of the year - as its a constantly changing environment.

Perth - arriving in Australia, a mad test match and more sightseeing time than expected.

I had planned to come to the last ashes series.....

But covid got in the way. i was disappointed but i was in planning mode only, had not booked anything and so it did not cause me any major problems. and of course there was more to worry about at the time. But when this tour schedule was announced i decided that i would finally get to see a full ashes series in Australia.

i have been to australia a few times in the past, and seen test matches in Melbourne/Sydney [generally seeing us lose other than an occasional win in the lat test when they felt sorry for us] but had actually seen us win in Adelaide in 2010. So i came with some hope but understanding that, in cricketing terms this was a very difficult place to come. To be fair australia is quite a difficult place for any sporting team to travel to - i had been here in 2001 to see the Lions lose a series, but had travelled back two years later to see England lift the world cup trophy. So i generally had experienced more highs than many british sporting travellers in the past.

Last year i travelled to Pakistan with Gullivers. They had been excellent and having all the travel organised there was essential. This time i decided to travel independently which gave me more scope to tailor my itinerary. Trailfinders put something together for me - and some early mornings booking tickets when released by australian cricket - means that i arrived with a full schedule of things to do over the next couple of months. Regardless of how the cricket goes it feels like its going to be a great trip.

I arrived in Perth late afternoon on the Tues, ahead of the first test started on Friday, I flew via Dubai and generally jetlag has been ok but taking a while to get over. Waking up in the early hours in Aus, provides opportunity to listen to mid afternoon radio in UK! I had been to Perth once before, in 2010 where i had been travelling in asia [part of a sabbatical from work], spent a couple of days before getting a train to Adelaide for the test. This time i had longer to spend, and based on reports from friends [many who seem to have offspring in Perth at the moment] its a city that is an increasingly good place to live. Ok its remote - you are a couple of thousand miles from another city [and that city is not in Australia] but it does have a vibrant feel to it and according to the guide for my walking tour an increasing cultural edge to it. That certainly came across on the time i spent here, there are a lot of modern museums, street art everywhere you go, and lots of ways that the city is encouraging people to stay around rather than purely work and return home to suburbs.

Getting around is very easy - my preference is generally to walk around a city and that is easy to do here, but the transport system - buses/trains/ferrys are cheap [a few key bus routes are always free] and easy to use. Highlights of the trip include - walking tour of the city [i seem to be really lucky in that every walking tour i go on seems to be taken by a guide that is really knowledgeable, enthusiastic and proud of the city they live in],  a number of museums, a short trip to freemantle, Kings Park [large botanical park] and a morning at Perth zoo. Overall plenty to do and a relaxed start to my trip.

Oh, there was also the cricket. Two days of mad enterainment. Initial despair of what seemed like an average minus batting display,  hope from what appeared to be the dominant england bowling attack that we hoped might come good. Day one finished fairly even and having sat in a mix of English and aussie fans all day, the bragging rights had swung each way a few times.

Day two - a decent start, solid going into lunch, a collapse and then some rearguard attacking batting from the bowlers left us hoping we had enough to defend. There were more aussies in my area, they were less confident than they often appear. If we bowl as well as we did in the first innings then possibly.......

What happened next was an inspired innings from Head. The England attack was bowling for the second time with only a few hours break and did not appear to have the same spark as the first innings but even at their best Head could well have dominated in the same way. Everyone knew it was going to be tough out here, but had not seen that coming.

A lot of rubbish has been said and written since - by fans and some ex player commentators who always seemed to be jealous about how the current team went about their work. To be fair, Atherton/Hussain have provided a balanced view - the team do care, do take it seriously and think about the best way to prepare and sometimes you dont get it quite right or someone does something unique. Clearly a few players need to continue to evaluate how best to deal with the aussie attack/pitches but i still have some hope. It could have  been worse, Cummins/Hazlewood could have been 100% fit!

Xmas in Tunisia

I have spent a few xmas in Morocco so I decided this year to go a bit further to Tunisia. Some general thoughts:

- quiet trip. Partly due to the weather which was a bit overcast but improved as the trip went on. There was probably less to do than in other places but maybe I just stayed in the quieter parts of town

- people are very friendly. It helps if you can speak a bit of French as most people on the street don't speak English, but they do in hotels, restauarants and other tourist areas. Feels quite a male dominated society, although certainly the younger females probably adopted more western dress than I have seen in other similar countries

- taxi drivers are mad, probably a macho thing although generally driving in tunisia appears a random affair

- a lot of the main tourist sites, such as roman ruins seem a bit underplayed - maybe it's down to this being low season

- trains v cheap but  ..... unreliable!

- probably less advanced in some area of technology. To buy tickets everything is paper based and a lot of the transport options you would expect to access online are not available. Bolt is available in Tunis area only but was very useful on occasions 

- would recommend trying but not on list of places to quickly go back to

Final thoughts on Pakistan

- Beautiful country where the people are friendly, interested in tourists and proud of their country

- Politically challenging, with major control from army. Most people we spoke to were generally supportive of Imran Khan who is currently in their eyes (and they appear to be right) unfairly in prison

- Obviously significant levels of poverty with many living on hand to mouth existence. Signs of economic growth but many stalled housing projects. The country has suffered in a lot of ways in the post 9-11 environment. Much less begging than I have experienced in similar economies.

- Security reassuring in some places, over the top in others (Multan). As experienced elsewhere lots of scanners that beep as you go through and you are not stopped

- Some elements of corruption - in particular in Lahore

- One other British legacy is a general like for bureaucracy and being obstinate in sticking to it

- In some areas that are only just re opening up tourism, real fascination and desire to inter-act. For some reason everyone wants a selfie- men with men, women with woman, often the parents pushing their kids to have selfie with westerners. Never pushy, always respectful

- Hunza Valley should be on everyone's bucket list. Amazing beauty, friendly people and good food. How it grows it's tourism without spoiling the area will be a great opportunity/challenge

- Driving is as you expect chaotic. Roads, even some in many cities are in poor condition 

- As a regular solo traveller, it was interesting to go in a group with expected benefits/downsides. Everything arranged - problems sorted - but less flexible. Generally everyone got on - we all had a shared passion in cricket - true there were some that you would not generally mix with at home but new friends made. If I went to Pakistan again I would be happy to travel solo.

- Interesting to see the mix of tour managers from UK and the local tour guides. We were lucky in having a good manager and an really excellent local guide. Other groups seemed to have people less suited to the role.

- Whilst as a tee-totaller it did not effect me, I found it slightly rude that many travellers were so desperate to get a beer in a dry country. It's tolerated provided not seen in open, but organising a room as a bar seemed a bit disrespectful 

Overall a really great place to go

Hunza Valley

Hunza Valley is in the north of the country, next to Chinese border. It is mountainous with stunning scenery. A popular domestic tourist location it is beginning to open up to foreign market.

It's remote and difficult to get to. There are flights to an airport in Gilgit which has a small landing strip and needs good weather. There is also an air force base at Skardu which takes domestic flights as well. There is talk of Emirates flying direct to Skardu which would start to open up area.

From Skardu it is four hours north to Gilgit and then it's two/three hours north to main Hunza Valley. Our plans changed due to weather we were due to fly in to Gilgit and then out of Skardu but in the end it was reversed. 

Roads are mountainous, narrow, suffer from regular rock falls and require careful navigation. The views can be amazing as you drive but equally scary. When you get to some of the more remote locations you are rewarded with amazing views of some of the highest mountains in the world. You are quite high, we got to just below 3,000 metres at one stage and you start to notice impact of altitude. I was generally ok, some small headaches at times but a few suffered a bit more.

With the tour guide who has been with us throughout being from Hunza we had the benefit of real local knowledge and we benefited hugely. We stopped at some really interested locations and were able to hear about and understand local history/traditions. Trees in autumn colours were perfect.

Overall it is stunning. It's has the opportunity to be a major tourist area for international visitors - how it achieves it whilst keeping the beauty and respecting nature will be the challenge.

3rd test and some spare time in Rawalpindi

So the third test finished in 2 and a half days. Fair play to Pakistan they bowled and batted better than England and home advantage is about creating wickets that favour your strengths. In addition England won the toss, so can not complain about having the worse of conditions.

That meant two full free days and Gullivers quickly arranged a couple of trips.

Day one saw a trip to Islamabad Mosque, reasonably modern and once the largest in the world. Impressive from outside but unfortunately we were not able to go inside. Then a trip to a local railway station with small museum (mainly closed). Not much to see but a few old engines and a train happened to stop as we were there. I don't think this was planned as trains in Pakistan are not that reliable (ask the two people on our trip whose train from Multan to Lahore turned up 4 and a half hours late).

Then on to a world heritage site at Taxila. Taxila was an important Buddhist Centre from 5th century BC to 6th Century AD. Ancient Taxila was situated at the pivotal junction of South Asia and Central Asia. Rare in a Muslim country.

Day two saw a trip into the mountains. I did not expect to go on a chair lift and cable car in Pakistan but after a twisting/turning journey up the mountains we ended up at about 5,000 feet with some great views. A further 90 mins drive took us to a popular walking spot based around a pipe laid during British occupation. More interesting than it sounds.

A very early flight will take us to Hunza Valley tomorrow and the last stage of the trip.