Wednesday 21st July
A wet day as Evie and I headed out to do the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Football Stadium tours. As soon as we bought an umbrella the rain stopped, sod’s law or what? Still we had a nose around the food market nearby, treating ourselves to crepes.

Evie and I were the only ones on the SCG/SFS tour so we got to go to places that the usual tour groups wouldn’t go on, such as the away dressing room, where we saw the “Honours Cupboard”. It was started by Geoff Marsh who got a king pair when playing there for Western Australia but since then it’s been used to document all batting and bowling achievements by visiting sides with the player signing next to his name afterwards.

Part of the Honurs Cupboard. Photo by Me.

The home dressing room was good too, with our guide explaining that the windows were tinted so the players can look out but the members can’t look in. Evie showed off her cricket knowledge by pointing out the “Matthew Hayden Door” after he accidentally smashed the glass in the door with his bat when getting out playing for Australia.

There’s also a brilliant quote from Don Bradman in there which he wrote early on in his career.

“If it’s difficult, I’ll do it now. If it’s impossible, I’ll do it presently”

The SCG pitch is a complete circle and is used for the Sydney Swans AFL matches during the winter and the New South Wales Blues’s games in the summer. They share ground as the cricketers played Aussie Rules Football to keep fit during the winter.

We were able to walk over to the statue of Yabba, who lives in the Victor Trumper Stand. The statues around the ground are really good, in fact the one of Richie Benaud is where he used to park his car, nice memento there!

When we walked over to the Sydney Football Stadium one of the first people we saw was Australia Rugby World Cup winning captain John Eales! I would have loved to have met him and had my photo taken with him but he was working on a corporate day with a company so we couldn’t. I was still extremely excited to have seen him though, I mean he’s a rugby legend!

That afternoon we went to Darling Harbour for lunch, going to the amazing and beautiful Chinese Gardens, where we were accompanied by a mother duck and her numerous ducklings as we ate. The thing about the Chinese Gardens is that even though it’s in the middle of a city it sounds really quiet, a bit like the canals around Brindleyplace in Birmingham.

Afterwards we had a wander around Paddy’s Markets and Market City before doing a loop on the monorail, which cost $4.50. We got off a stop early though as we wanted to have a look at Darling Harbour before getting the ferry back to Circular Quay, going under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

That evening we stuck around Circular Quay as we hunted for somewhere to go and eat in The Rocks, which is one of the oldest parts of Sydney. We settled on The Australian Hotel where we each had a delicious pizza and I made Evie have a beer, she opted for the sweet tasting Beez Neez, while I had a Fat Yak, very nice.

Thursday 22nd July
Powerhouse day! Powerhouse is a museum round by Darling Harbour that specialises in art and design, very cool. They also had a special exhibit on the 1980s going on at the time, so Evie and I being 80s kids, just, we thought we’d have a look around.

One of my favourite parts was the Watt and Boulton Engine, which was originally from London. It was absolutely enormous and they’d got it working on the day we were there for the first time since February. It brought out the geek in me as not only because Watt and Boulton are Birmingham legends (Boulton was the name of one of the houses in my primary school’s house point system along with Chamberlain, Cadbury and Lucas) but also because I’d studied all about the developments in industry at the time of Watt and Boulton for my History GCSE.

We witnessed the chiming of the Strasburg Clock too, and I was amazed that the man who made it did so only from photos of the original clock.

There’s a good amount of experimental science activities such as making your own firework and working out which is the authentic lemon smell. I really enjoyed the transport and musical bits too, there’s a great collection of stuff.

We decided to do the 80s exhibit last, where I managed to beat Evie at Pacman! We both decided that it was nice to learn about the 80s retrospectively whereas a 90s exhibit would be one more of having actually experienced it. The music and TV areas were really good while we found the outfits hilarious. Towards the end there was also a section on how the 80s have influenced musical artists of now.

Friday 23rd July
Rugby day!

We took it easy in the morning, just going for brunch at City Extra on Circular Quay again. I was wearing my Leicester Tigers shirt, which got a few looks from some of the people walking past, a rugby tour from the Wirral noticed it too!

After the obligatory photos of Evie and I at the Sydney Opera House, which is such an amazing building, we walked over to the Harbour Bridge where we just chilled for a bit enjoying the view!

Later on we headed to the ANZ Stadium where we were going to watch the Bulldogs vs the Eels. It was a night of firsts: the first time I’d ever been to a rugby league match, the first time I’d seen some sport live at the ANZ and my first ever Aussie meatpie, which was delicious.

Being a union girl through and through I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the rugby league! I’d go and watch it again, definitely, but I wouldn’t actively seek it out, it’d just be an if I’m in the area where a game is being played sort of thing.

The Parramatta Eels won, which was who we were supporting, their fullback Jarryd Hayne is a brilliant player!

Saturday 24th July
Proper rugby day! Today we were going to see our first ever Shute Shield game: Sydney Uni vs Warringah.

The walk up to the university was really nice, the uni grounds are really pretty and we made our way to the ground in good time before the first grade match started. It was set to be a good match with it being 6th vs 7th and only the top 6 going through to the finals.

There were a few notable names playing for both sides, with Warringah sporting the likes of former Bath and England flanker Michael Lipman, ACT Brumbies fullback Pat McCabe and Evie’s favourite, the scrum half Josh Holmes. The home side had the likes of Julian Huxley – the former Brumbie who has successfully come back to playing at the top level after having a brain tumour, he’s also recently signed a contract with the new Super 15 side the Melbourne Rebels. Also in the line-up was Tim Davidson, who I recognised from his time playing for Leeds in the Guinness Premiership.

So much for a tight game, having got the try bonus point (which you get for scoring 4 or more tries) by half time, Sydney Uni won the game 49-12. It was a good game and fun to watch, sitting on the bank reminded me of being at Billesley Common watching Moseley play!

That evening we went to see the band Kasabian play at Hordern Pavilion, which is just down the road from the SCG. Supporting them was Little Red, a band from Melbourne, who I really enjoyed. Kasabian were amazing, keeping the crowd engrossed throughout. We’d found a good spot at the front but to the side of the pit. They opened with Shoot the Runner and Underdog and closed with LSF – which the crowd kept singing as they headed out when the gig finished. It was one of those gigs that you really didn’t want to end.