Having gone back to the UK for just over a week, I flew back into Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport 9 days after I flew out. What I have learnt from one of those plane journeys is that when the pilot says "4 hours into the flight, there is a strong possibility we may be experiencing turbulence", what he really means is that in 4 hours into the flight it will feel like that we're on the Pepsi Max at Blackpool. On the plane from Abu Dhabi to Sydney, I fell asleep for 12 hours straight through and then with half an hour to go I had realised that I missed all my complimentary meals. My long sleep on the plane played absolute havoc with my sleeping pattern as 5 days later I was still going to sleep at 5am and waking up at mid day. During my days in Sydney, I was meeting up with people who I had met on the plane journey. Two of the people had won a 2 week trip here, so they were staying in all the posh hotels, whilst I was slumming it in the hostels ha.

I went to watch Sydney Roosters versus South Sydney Rabbitohs which the Roosters despite making hard work of it came out on top. I had converted a southerner in liking rugby league as well which was satisfying. Canterbury Bulldogs and West Tigers was the game I saw on the Monday evening (they call it Monday night footy here in Aus). I always wanted to go in the Olympic stadium, and obviously I always want to watch rugby league, so this game was a no brainer. I ended up meeting up with a Hull FC fan on the train there so sat with him throughout the game. I thinkhe was glad he met someone else as he didn't really know where he was going but I've been to the olympic park before so was easy (plus you just follow the crowds, to an extent). It was an extremely good game for the start of the season and the Englishman Gareth Ellis was superb just like he always was/is.

For me, its strange both fans congregating in the same sections of the ground, and someone on the microphone in the ground always telling them to cheer and get behind their team. You don't get that in super league, you just get songs and chants, but in the NRL, songs and chants are somewhat non existent. The announcement of a total of around 120,000 people (I think I have got that right but I will look it up another day) watched a live NRL game that weekend and it was the most ever in any Rugby league competition in the world. I'm glad my 2 games that weekend played a part in creating history ha.

This has become more about a blog of rugby league, instead of a travel blog about Sydney....HAPPY DAYS. It's only fitting then that the picture on the left is from one of the rugby league games I attended.

I then flew up to Brisbane for one last night in Brisbane Backpackers before travelling over the Tasman Sea and arriving in Auckland. So the next blog will be obviously about.....hmm...Auckland.

Speak soon