Baracking for the Wallabies - It's Winter now

Start of December. We joined Shane Van Druten, girlfriend Kathryn and his friend Shane Lee, and motored across to Wales early saturday morning, checked into our hostel, then join the masses decending on Cardiff Arms Park / Millenium Stadium. (74,600 seats - retractable roof)

On arrival we got stuck into some roast meat rolls, and some beers while we waited for Richard - who was taking up the spare ticket we had. (He's our mate from the Cotswolds you may recall from previous posts such as Stonehenge) It was great to get some heat from the hot food - we were well rugged up but it was probably ony 1 degree and with a steady breeze exploiting gaps in your clothing which weren't really there!

The pre game build up was very good. They captured the atmosphere of the dragon (welsh symbol) with the huge gas jets you can see in Richards shot above. The stadium is very compact with each level almost directly over the one below (ie very little set-back) this meant for a concentrated atmosphere prior to an during the game.

Here's some video of the crowd singing their Welsh National Anthem. - A definate highlight.


Here we are soaking up the atmosphere, and sampling the local Brains (Cardiff brewed Beer and Welsh team sponsor) prior to kick off.

Post match we were joined by Richards wife Kristina for some more beers while we waited over an hour for the restaurants to clear so we sould have dinner.

The following morning we had a little wander around the centre of Cardiff, saw a few wallabies doing some gift shopping.

The tabloids were having a field day following the defeat of the Aussies. Shane obliged them.

Before we set off we popped by the harbour, for a stroll, had a peek at some civic architecture, and had planned to eat lunch at the "best fish and chips in the UK" until we realised it was a chain restaurant [I thought i recognised the name Harry Ramsdens, but could not place it until we were there], sit down, not cheap, and full of retirees. After a quick discussion at the table all five of us agreed that this was not really what any of us had had in mind, excused ourselves and hit the road. Unfortunately Richard and Kristina, 10 mins ahead of us, had already ordered before they had come to this realisation, and were then obliged to stay. This is how Richard put it in his email summary;

Kristina had read that it was regarded as the best fish and chips in the UK, so we thought we should check it out. What we didn’t realise was that the “best fish and chips in the UK” was simply a slogan for their chain and it amounted to little more than a seafood version of Sizzler. The fact that pretty much every table was a children’s party should have been an indication, but we weren’t as quick as Kelly and Josh who realised this before they ordered and could leave at will.

The National Assembly for Wales by Richard Rogers Partnership
- fantastic timber detailing to the sofit of the canopy, but otherwise i wasn't really impressed.

The following wednesday (it was freezing!!) we made our way out to Wembley to barack for the Wallabies vs the Barbarians, the first Rugby game to be held in the new stadium.

The Game was somewhat dissapointing as the Barbarians were well kept by the Aussie defence, the South African first five unable to make use of the best outside backs in the world,with Joe Rockothoko, Brian Habana, and Shane Williams in his backline. They rarely showed the flair and enterprising rugby the Barbarians concept was concieved to demonstrate. Still great to see all these players all playing on the same side though, and it must be admitted there were one or two great moments.

Kelly and our Kiwi mate Marianne - attempting to demonstrate how cold it was.

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The following Sunday morning we headed out to the tennis courts at Hyde Park as it was a clear sunny morning (we've been getting a lot of these). We hire the court and rackets.

This is is Lancaster Walk which leads from the gate nearest our place, across kensington gardens to the Royal Albert Hall. It's lined with large plane trees, which have been very enjoyable through Autumn, and now winter.

We've really enjoyed living so close to the park. It's been so easy to pop over for a walk, or even for me to continue with Brittish Militarty Fitness classes through to the end of November.

There had been a frost overnight, and it was a slow start, with the court being a little skaty until the sun had been on it for a little longer. Yes it was still cold, and one end of the court never really got grippy. This ended up working in our favour, with the attendant giving us a voucher for free court and racquet hire for another time!