We are in Wales to watch a couple of games of the Rugby World Cup. We have tickets to see the Wallabies play Fiji but we will also watch Wales play Uruguay. The tickets were purchased online last July when they were first released in the ballot. We also booked our accommodation 12 months ago.

You might ask why we are going to watch Wales - do we have Welsh heritage? No. Are they the best team in the tournament? Probably not. Is Cardiff high on our list of favourite places to visit? Not really. We are here to hear the Welsh SING!

In 1997 we visited Cardiff on a bus tour of the UK. The tourists on the bus all got off and walked in to Cardiff Castle for a visit. We had a quick look at the outside of the castle but we had another visit on our mind. We knew that Cardiff Arms Park was just across the road so that is where we headed. We were devastated when we saw that this famous rugby field was a pile of rubble soon to be replaced by Millennium Stadium - I guess you can't stop progress! We peered through the construction fences and vowed that one day we would return to the new stadium to watch a game and hear the Welsh spectators sing - something that they are famous for in the rugby world.

When we arrived at our hotel we discovered that most of the other guests were also rugby supporters - mostly Welsh. Every TV in the hotel bar was tuned to ITV to watch games that are being played in different venues across England as well as here in Wales. We watched South Africa play Japan first. To everyone's delight and surprise the Japanese team beat South Africa in a determined and tactical game. This could well be the most memorable game of the whole tournament. We then watched a bit of France against Italy, France won this one easily.

On Sunday morning we caught a local bus in to town and then walked down the mall to the World Cup precinct. Street stalls were set up everywhere and people were having their faces painted in their team colours. We checked out the merchandise and bought ourselves a rugby jumper each. We were now set to enter the Fan Zone - an area set up beside Millennium Stadium for people to watch games if they didn't have tickets. We were delighted to see that the Fan Zone was actually a couple of grandstands left over from the days when Cardiff Arms Park was the venue for Rugby. After checking out the facilities we walked around the corner for our entry to the new stadium and settled in to watch Wales play Uruguay.

Millennium Stadium holds 74 500 spectators and is the first stadium we have been in where there is a roof - it was closed for the game and apparently would be for all games to ensure that the weather would not impact on the competition. Before match entertainment was a brass band from the Welsh Guards. The teams warmed up on the field as the grandstands filled with fans. A choir appeared and the teams lined up for the National Anthems. Wales was first and true to expectations the Welsh sang! It appears that every Welsh person can sing well. The Anthem was magnificent and the passion of the 71 787 spectators in attendance was obvious. Greg recorded it on his phone for posterity! The anthem for Uruguay sounded like a folk song in comparison.

The game was interesting, but not riveting. Wales had a wobbly start and Uruguay scored 2 penalties before Wales scored. Wales settled well and went on to win the game 54 to 9 but they suffered some injury problems that could impact on their chances for the remainder of the tournament. Apparently both teams had a beer together after the game while they watched the All Blacks defeat Argentina. We also watched that game from the Fan Zone on the screens set up there. It was the first time we have ever heard Sir Richie McCaw booed on the field. All Blacks won 26 - 16, a much smaller margin than most expected.

We spent the next 2 days having a look around Cardiff and the Black Mountains of Wales. We found a laundrette and did some washing before heading in to town. The first stop was Cardiff Castle. Built in the late 11th century, very well preserved except for the giant Rugby ball that has been kicked in to one of the exterior walls! We wandered in and took a couple of photos. Again, we did not go inside because, as Greg says, 'we are a bit castled out'. As it drizzled rain for most of the day we spent a bit of time wandering through St David's Shopping Centre. We were attracted by all the stores displaying rugby gear but resisted the temptation to buy more "stuff". We had a bit of a laugh over some of the t-shirts displaying the Welsh sense of humour and had a leisurely lunch.

On Tuesday we decided to go for a drive through the nearby Black Mountains. We had a late breakfast in Caerphilly, about 30 km from our hotel. The cafe was directly opposite the town's magnificent castle which was built in 1290 - 725 years ago! This castle is 3 concentric circles of well preserved stone walls, the outside one surrounded by a moat complete with water. Again we wandered through the castle gate and took some photos. We chatted to several other Aussies, all decked out in their Wallaby jumpers, who were all in Cardiff for the Rugby. We continued our drive and ended up taking a trip up to Abergavenny - hoping the weather was fine. We checked out the markets and tried some of the delicious Welsh Cakes on offer - a bit like a flat, warm, sweet scone and delicious. We returned to the hotel to prepare for our next game of Rugby in the morning.

As the Wallabies didn't play until 4:45 on Wednesday, we had a sleep in and then caught a bus in to Cardiff. We were surrounded by many Australians all proudly wearing their team colours. We even ran in to a group of students from TSS who were on their Rugby Tour! There also seemed to be an enormous following for Fiji - the underdogs adopted by everyone who wasn't Australian! We were outnumbered and this became even more obvious when we entered the stadium. Before the match we watched the first half of Japan V Scotland in the Fan Zone. Scotland won 45 - 10. We had good seats but seemed to be surrounded by Fiji supporters - very loud ones! Millennium stadium wasn't full but considering Wales wasn't playing, a crowd of 67 253 was pretty amazing. The Wallabies went through their warm up drills just in front of us so Kerrie snapped photos of Will Genia, Israel Folau and Matt Toomua. The National Anthems were sung with gusto firstly by the Fijians and then us. The Fijians performed their version of the Haka and the game was on!

As this was Australia's first game for the tournament, they appeared to be a bit rusty. We were pleased with how their scrum held up and they managed to get the ball out to the backs so we saw some good running rugby. The first try was scored by Pocock who also scored the second. Our third try was scored by Kepu. We were a bit disappointed with the line outs in the second half when Fiji took 3 off us in a row - not good. Again we were disappointed towards the end of the game when a decision was made to take a penalty kick instead of going for the 4th try to give the opportunity of a bonus point - we hope this decision doesn't come back to haunt us later in the tournament. Australia did win 28 -13 in the end so that puts us in 3rd position in Pool A after our first game. The for and against record for the Wallabies is not nearly as good as England and Wales so they are going to need a BIG win in one of their other games and also pick up as many bonus points as they can. Early days yet.

Our stay in Cardiff over, we head for Wakefield next - up north near Leeds. We have tickets for a Super League game - Huddersfield V Leeds and also another Rugby World Cup game - Canada V Italy.