Lions tour

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Lions tour

Loving with The Lions

On Wednesday 27th June the Webmaster set forth to Australia for the 3 tests. With his two sons (men really) this diary will describe "The Tour" as it progresses - warts and all.

This diary was compiled as we toured Australia together with the other 20,000 Lions supporters drinking our way through $20,000,000 AUS of beer alone.

While the end result in the series was a not what we wanted there is no doubt that we had the most fantastic time meeting some great people and enjoying some great rugby.

For those who are logging onto this page with no idea what I am talking about read on...... but for those that do, I have to remind everyone of the final series score!

British & Irish Lions 1 vs. Australia 2

Before the adventure begins....

Saturday 23rd June: Lions vs. NSW Waratahs

What a match - our correspondent (Mark G Evans) who is Welsh and now works in Australia sent over these two photos of the infamous match. So, was it 11 punches or 12????

Wednesday 27th June - Off we go

Heathrow Airport - 10:00pm - 2,000 British Lions fans leave bound for Sydney!

The airport was a wash of red and white shirts as "the boys" were preparing for the 24 hour flight to Australia. An opportunity to drink a few beers with old friends and make some new one as well. No-one took any notice of the "No Smoking" signs as everyone attempted to maximize both the alcohol and nicotine content before setting off.

As I "don't do economy" any longer, Matt, Joe and I relaxed in the British Airways Club lounge before we embarked on our journey.

En-route to Brisbane, we stopped off at Bangkok for a walk around (and more beer)! There must have been 1,000 Lions fans on their way to Sydney - many of them had some interesting tales to tell of what they had seen in Bangkok, even stories of razor blades!

Brisbane - the 1st test beckons

Friday 29th June - in Brisbane

Finally arrived in Sydney after a short break in Sydney at 5:30 am. Customs was a nightmare - the glee on the faces of the Agricultural department employees when they saw a plane load of Welshmen arrive. The standard question was "Have you been on a farm in the past 30 days?" Of course, every Taff must have been to see their favourite sheep to say "Goodbye" before they left. So the queues were enormous.

Eventually got to Brisbane by around 10:00 am and checked into the hotel. Brisbane is pouring with sports fans this weekend - on top of the Lions match there are 20,000 Rugby League fans for the final State of Origin match and also thousands of Aussie rules supporters for some strange match that was held at the Gabba on Friday.

After a couple of hours to freshen up, it was off into the town for a look around.

First stop was the pharmacy - no, not for that, but for some hair dye for the boys. The big decision was it going to be red or green - they plumped for red as this picture shows.

What wonderful specimens of male humanity. But don't worry Chris, it will wash out after 20 days (or at least that's what it says on the packet)

Several beers later and dinner in The Britannia pub, I went to bed knackered leaving the lads with a group from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. I wonder what sort of a state they will be in on Saturday morning?

The First Test at The Gabba, Brisbane

Saturday 30th June

Woke at 7:00 and called Chris - so Bubble got evicted from The Big Brother house - amazing!!!!

Matt arrived at my door and rather than describe how he looked see this picture. Evidently, they met up with a bunch from the UK and went drinking until 5:30 am in the morning. Matt can get away with it, but we will see how Joe recovers as he plays for Gulliver's Barbarians this afternoon.

So, its off to The Gabba in Brisbane. For those that don't know anything about cricket, The Gabba is a cricket ground which is also used for Aussie Rules and also the 1st test match.

This was the first test match to be held at The Gabba since 1951. Also its worth remembering that the Lions have not played Australia since 1989. So a historic day was forecasted.

But first, it was off to Easts Rugby club. A warm-up game was held between the Gullivers Barbarians vs. Easts Vth team - well if this was a fifth team then I am an Aussie.

They were enormous - Jonathan ended up against a monster and because Joe had drunk so much last night he played like a Possum.

Substituted after 10 minutes by the Barbarians coach FINLAY CALDER, yes the 1989 Lions Captain, Joe composed himself, threw up and then went on again in the last 20 minutes a very different person. Giving an Aussie what he deserved "If you're on the wrong side, then you deserve a shoeing", he and his prop had a bit of a serious discussion and then shook hands with no noses broken. Sin-binny nearly did it again!

After that match it was off to The Gabba. Here we are in Australia, but you would have thought it was Twickenham or Cardiff Arms Park. There were thousands and thousands of red Lions shirts and the atmosphere was electric to say the least.

As we walked to The Gabba, we came across The Lions Cheerleaders. They were more than willing to pose for photos with anyone brave enough to go close. Even the male cheerleader was having a wonderful time ...... but

The Aussies tried to raise a collective voice, but every time they tried they were drowned by the sound of "Lions, Lions, Lions". We sang songs from Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland or at least hummed the tune when we couldn't remember the words. The Aussies didn't like it at all. They don't like to lose!

The "idiot" with the blue jacket is our tour guide, John, who is a cool dude with stamina beyond description to deal with us lot.

So its 1 - 0 in a three match series. The press in Australia are very complimentary of the Lions and looking for victims from the Aussies.

The only downside is Matt Dawson shooting his mouth off - the general feeling of the boys on tour is send him home - it's tough for everyone on tour even when you're supporting - try drinking for 20 hours a day!!!

Waltzing O'Driscoll

Sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda

Once a jolly Irishman went on a Lions tour
Under the guidance of Graham Henry,
And he danced and he weaved as he ran through the Wallabies
You'll come a waltzing O'Driscoll with me

Chorus

Waltzing O'Driscoll, waltzing O'Driscoll
You'll come a waltzing O'Driscoll with me,
And we sang and we roared as he ran through the Wallabies
You'll come a waltzing O'Driscoll with me

Sunday 1st July - Recovery after an EXCELLENT victory

A chill-out day on the water - we went whale watching on Tagalooma island. The island is the third largest sand island in the world and is the home for migrating Humpback whales. We took a 3 hour whale watching tour to try and find the humpbacks who have started to arrive in the area.

We sailed around for a couple of hours and didn't see any whales - the sea was very rough with many people doing an up-chucks. The boat operator gave them bags that look exactly like the ones we get our Nan bread in from the Indian take-away. So, guess what - lots of jokes about Nan-chuck, etc etc.

The most notable "up-chucker" was Jonathan. Very discretely he disappeared and was finally found sitting below deck looking very sorry for himself. We presume that it was due to the rough seas, but then again it could be due to the beer!

Everyone in the party is really UP FOR IT after last nights performance against the Aussies. What a night, what a victory and what a day in general. 50 years since a test match at The Gabba and we STUFFED THEM. The Australian Sunday Mail Sports page headline simply said "CRUSHED" Brilliant - lots of very sheepish looking Aussies around today.

Watched the State of Origin match on the TV in the bar and drank significant volumes of beer and cider before going to get some shut-eye. Matt and Joe decided that they wanted to get some more nightlife and went off into town.

Cairns - time to chill

Monday 2nd July - off to Cairns and the sun!

Up early for the flight to the Barrier reef and Cairns. Dave was up and round nice and early - problem was that when he called Matt and Joe there was no answer from their room. Panic - did they get home, were they arrested, did they sleep on a park bench.

When I checked the baggage their bags were there, but they hadn't yet risen from the pit. Eventually, Joe surfaced informing everyone that he got home at 5:30 am after drinking with a bunch of Aussies and Brits in a bar. Matt was still not seen. Joe said he was having a shower as he was very very hungover.

Matt finally surfaced and the picture speaks more than a 1,000 words!!!! Needless to say no-one lit a cigarette anywhere near them as the hotel would have exploded due to the fumes.

Off to the airport (accompanied by groaning from the boys and no sympathy from anyone else) for the flight to Cairns and the Barrier Reef. The party is now starting to show its characters and unfortunately, Joe and Matt seem to be the drunken characters.

The 2 scenic pictures below show the Cairns area - we are now here for a couple of days before leaving for Ayres Rock. More data and pictures to come.

Monday night, the first night in Cairns was one of the first opportunities for the Koala A2 tour party to all get together for a well earned drink. There is a ritual on Gulliver's tours (or so we are told) that the Tour Leader (John Slater) has a "shout" on the tour - this is where he buys the beer.... Hooray!!!!

So , Monday night was Koala A2's shout at The Court House in Cairns ..... how appropriate! The old Court House is a listed building; after all it was built 78 years ago! But now it has been changed into a bar/restaurant and provides a great opportunity to have a chat and "get lashed".

Everyone has heard of the "3 Tenors", well we have our own "2 Tonies". Matt points to Tony from Wales who drinks vast quantities of cider and takes every opportunity to play the tables in the casino. Tony 2 also comes from Wales (is there anybody left in Wales) who also drinks like a fish, but has a good sense for great restaurants (Barnacle Bill's in Cairns is well worth a visit). Matt is sober, for once and who knows what Jo is upto?!

Here we see Matt with Tony (the one who comes from Wales and drinks cider) with Dave from London who drinks beer in similar quantities to Tony's cider consumption. Matt is obviously explaining the deeper meaning of life and how to wear a baseball cap.

Joe has decided to try and chat someone up - shame it's the other Tony's wife!!!

The evening passed off fairly quietly as everyone was knackered after a series of heavy sessions and late nights, especially as we have an early one on Tuesday.

Tuesday 3rd July - time for some R&R

Off to the Barrier Reef - we set sail in the early morning for the Great Barrier reef. The Barrier Reef is an amazing world of sea life and we went out to a pontoon on one of the reefs for a day of snorkeling and scuba-diving. It was AWESOME!!!!

Quite why Jo decided to blow his nose into a conch shell is beyond me.

Once back at the hotel, The Lions Barbarians played Cairns in a 3 * 20 minute game. An interesting fixture with PM (Pete Mitchell) who is a tour rep having to be spoken to several times by the referee for playing the game a bit too hard - his opponent was a bit of an asshole though.

At the end of the game, Cairns presented the Barbar's with a trophy - a head of a REAL crocodile with a lion stuck in its mouth. That's as close as the Wallabies are going to get to eating a Lion.

Watched the Lions against ACT Brumbies on the big screens whilst drinking beer and eating good old Aussie tucker. An eventful match which was won on the last kick of the game by Matt Dawson - maybe we will let him stay on tour after all.

Ayres Rock - miles from anywhere

What is Ayres Rock - well its a bloody big rock in the middle of nowhere that people fly thousands of miles to see. The town of Ayres Rock has 1,200 inhabitants and is the largest town in the Northern Territory. This means there is a LOT of space with no people living here.

Although after spending a day here I can see why no-one would want to live here.... because the bars in the hotels close at 10:00pm!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aarggh - we ended up going to bed the same day we got up. But then again maybe this is good as we have to be up and away at 6:30 tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise.

I think a much better idea is to play the video of the sunset backwards and sleep in, but I was shouted down on this one.

Watched the sun go down over "the rock" and drank champagne and ate canopies.

Thursday 5th July - off to an early start

What can be said about sunrise at Ayres Rock? Well, its like sunset but in reverse! I was bloody freezing in the shade, so much so that a cup of warm tea was high on the agenda when we visited the Aboriginal Culture Centre.

The afternoon was spent "at leisure" which meant lying by the pool, sleeping, eating or drinking getting ready for the Aussie Bush BBQ tonight.

The announcement of the Lions squad is of great interest to everyone, but it looks as though we are "playing mind games" with the Aussies by announcing a squad of 27 with the final team being announced. The Aussies have brought back Matt Burke at full-back, Moore and Foley in the front row - nothing surprising there.

Sunset at Ayres and the Aussie BBQ was the same as sunrise, except that the food was better. Word of advice to anyone who wants to go to Ayres Rock - fly in one day and fly out the next. The bar in the Sails in the Desert would not serve people who work shorts or hats and also refused to serve people who they said were drunk! How could we be drunk? We were still standing!!!!

Friday 6th July - travel to Melbourne

After a lazy start to the day, we spent several hours in the air getting to Melbourne. Below show how much fun this journey was.

However at the airport Joe found a new friend and is shown here in a loving pose with his new "blue friend"!

Melbourne and the 2nd test

From Ayres Rock to Melbourne is an interesting (NOT!) journey of nearly 6 hours on Qantas Airways with their crappy customer service and stewardesses who view their fare-paying passengers as being an inconvenience to private discussions between themselves. The whole of this trip has been on Qantas so far and now I know why I travel BA or Virgin on business!!!

Arrived too late on the Friday night to do too much - went into town and drank until 2:00 am Saturday morning - needed to get a good nights sleep before the big match!!!!

Saturday 7th July - The 2nd test - high hope and deep despair

The morning started with high hope for the match to come - the hotel was buzzing with expectations of a 2-0 victory to the Lions. Great news re the team selection and that Neil Back was back in town and ready to face the might of the Wallabies.

The Lions "Barmy Army" have caused significant embarrassment to the Wallabies - the estimated 20,000 supporters for the Lions have out sung, out drunk the Wallabies in all areas. It has even gone so far that the Australian RFU have issued extra tickets that can only be sold to people with an Aussie address. Add to this the $80,000 the Aussies have paid for free yellow scarves and hats for their supporters because the "red Lions" have had a negative effect on the Wallabies World Champions.

We didn't care - we have our shirts and we are off to the Gulliver's Big Pub in the Royal Exhibition Buildings. Majestic colonial architecture in the building that housed the first Australian parliament 100 years ago - the perfect setting for 2,800 Gulliver's Lions supporters.

Colonial Stadium was a fantastic venue for what should have been a match that sealed the tour series - the atmosphere was electric and was added to with the roof of the stadium being closed. We have no idea how loud the Lions supporters sounded back at home, but from where we were stood we beat the Aussies hand down.

The TV coverage was incredible - the shots shown on Aussie TV made it look like the stadium was full of Aussies. The real picture was that the TV cameras were focused on a small group of Wallabies as shown here.

Once the stadium was full, the front and top layers were a sea of red sandwiching a band of yellow.

We all know by now what the result was from the game and on reflection the Lions lost it by not making the game theirs during the 1st half. So now the series is all square and the Lions "Barmy Army" was subdued last night - the atmosphere in the bar in the Sofitel was as low as it has been during the whole tour. Now we need to regain our voices and relax ready for the big one in Sydney next weekend.

The Aussies are basking in their triumph - last night we were the butt of many jokes and quips from the Wallabies supporters. The MAIN thing is that the boys took it all in great humour - we are supporting The British Lions and accept defeat as being part of the game. If this had been the England soccer team who knows what would have happened in Melbourne last night!

Sunday 8th, Monday 9th July - time for some R&R again!

A couple of days from the hectic work of supporting the Lions on tour. So, what did we do? Well, we supported Tim Henman as the only chance of British success this week at Wimbledon until he got beaten by Goran what-ever-his-name-is. Then we switched allegiances really quickly to Goran because he was playing an Aussie!! An interesting night ensued!

Melbourne is a great city with lots of museums, culture and some pretty impressive buildings. The tram system is great (we should have one in Oxford), but the design of the whole place was built around the ability to turn a horse-drawn carriage around in the streets in one movement - its amazing what you can do when you have loads of space!

Spent loads of time on the Yarra River and went to see the "secret" Penguin island in Melbourne harbour and this time we did see some penguins!

So, its off to Sydney for the 3rd and final test!

`The final days' Sydney awaits the 20,000!

Tuesday 10th July - the hordes arrive

Moving on from Melbourne to Sydney was an interesting adventure. Yet another flight with over 300 Lions supporters! Flights between Melbourne and Sydney run every half hour and Lions have the majority of the seats on the flights today.

Arrived in Sydney and checked into The Regent Hotel - down by Circular Quay and The Rocks. Nice spot, great room with a view of the VERITAS office - getting me ready for next week :-( and back to work.

Went out for dinner with the boys, Mark Evans, Bobby Ivanoff and Amy to Cockle Bay - the seafood platter was tremendous, but don't think Matt will do Oysters again!

Sat in the bar at The Regent until 3:00 am drinking with the Koala 2 tour again! Interesting fact - this night was the largest taking over the bar at The Regent in the hotels history. Not bad for a quiet night!

The boys went over the road and met up with a number of British Lions who were out for a night out. Its now obvious that the "boys in the bar" were those who were not selected for the final test. As you can see, Jo didn't look too good after his night out!

Wednesday 11th July - a surprise for all

After a long breakfast at The Cafe on the Rocks, we went off to a lunch hosted by 2 Aussie rugby legends - Phil Kearns and Jason Little. The lunch was hosted by ASK who are a company that VERITAS Australia has some strong links with.

So, after lunch and watching a few videos and taking a great deal of crap from the Aussies about the violent nature of our British Lions team. Single eyed journalism wins again!!! Then there was a knock at the door and in came another couple of people - guess who? It was none other than Ken Vaughan - yes Chinnor President at the same place!!

Ken knows Alan King who formed ASK and they have been friends for years - to be half way round the world and to end up with Ken in the same place was somewhat of a strange end to the day.

After several bottles of wine, many beers and some good crack we all decided that an early night was in order.

Thursday 12th July - a day with an operatic ending

A day at leisure in Sydney - the boys went off and visited the Aquarium and Darling Harbour, Dave went and walked around The Rocks and the Harbour. Wonderful. No point in putting pictures of what we saw up on the web because I am sure you have seen them all before!

The evening was spent sampling the delights of the local Chinese cuisine and then back to the hotel for what we thought would be an early night - how wrong we were.

At around midnight I think every one in the bar was thinking "Another beer then off to bed" That was before one of our members started singing. This guy had been on the tour for 2 weeks and had been one of the quieter members of the party - there are some!

Well, he must have been saving his party piece for this evening because all of a sudden he burst into song and I'm not talking about Spice Girl songs. We got the lot from West End stage shows (give me a show and I will sing a song) through Pavarotti and the 3 Tenors to The Sound of Music. He held the whole of the bar in awe for around 3 hours. And yes, you guessed it - another 4:30 am bedtime beckoned. Fantastic night.

Friday 13th July - a luncheon with the Wallabies

The Wallabies Supporters Club was kind enough to invite us to their Lions lunch at the Westin Hotel, Sydney. With a front row seat we were offered wonderful entertainment and chat with notable names such as Clive Woodward, Phil Kearns, Jason Little, Bob Dwyer and others.

A great time was had by all - especially as Dave was picked by the juggling, fire-eating, trick cyclist to stand and help in front of the 800 people in attendance.

Highlight of the day was the auction and Dave was successful the auction for a framed signed Wallabie and Lions team shirts - one of only 100 that will be in existence.

It was also another great day today as Matt received his degree results - he came out with a 2:2 - great job and great result for him.

Saturday 14th July - the final test and final day

Well, today is the final test - the big one - the one we have waited for since we decided we would come on the next Lions tour.

Today is when Martin Johnson's Lions have to prove to the world that they are the best rugby team by playing the world champion Wallabies in Sydney Stadium Australia. The tension in the Lions supporters this morning can be cut with a knife - if the victor is based on the will to win by its supporters then we know we are destined to win.

But the Wallabies want this so badly also - they have NEVER won a series against the Lions and so they have something to prove to their supporters - I wouldn't call them fans because they don't get behind their team like we do.

Last night down at The Rocks the Lions supporters were in full voice singing every song that could be considered to be patriotic - Flower of Scotland, Men of Harlech, Swing Low, Jerusalem and many others. If the team were listening I am sure they could hear us in Manley across the water.

Its very doubtful whether I can update these pages before I get back home, but for those who have read these pages and enjoyed our tour and seen something of what a Lions tour is about I would make a few recommendations:

Save you money for 4 years time in New Zealand and come with us - its a trip of a lifetime and well worth saving.
Enjoy today's match because we will!
Remember that the 20,000 of us have been here for 6 weeks and have drunk $20,000,000 of beer and there has not been one reported incident of violence or trouble. This is what supporting your team is about have a good time and accept the lows as well as the highs.

We believe in our team, the Lions have proved that the British and Irish rugby nations can put together a team to challenge the worlds best and capture the imagination of a continent. We are ALL PROUD to have been here and the memories will last for ever.