Gav’s Blog - Gavin Hudson’s Blog

Hey hey there blog reader!

Well, a bit of an update from me - nothing awfully exciting I don’t think in the last few weeks, erm, that sounds a lot worse than it is, but all good!  I did two weeks of the (f)Atkins diet - I quite enjoyed bits of it, it was a bit frustrating at times, but it kick-started a bit of a health kick and made me lose a good few kg’s.  I’m not sure how much as I never weighed myself though, d’oh!  I’d probably do it again, and I will at somepoint.  I have fallen off the wagon a bit, but not too much.  Been watching quite a lot of Entourage (what a good programme, I only discovered it a couple of weeks ago!) on the nice projector that I need to give back to work - I promise I will!  I’ve passed my probation period at work, so I’m here for good now, eeek.  Obviously they loved me.  It was nice to see Sarah back in the country again, we went for a few drinks on Tuesday, and my mate Colin’s birthday.  It was a really good day actually, a few drinks in pubs in town and watched a bit of the cricket.  Then we bought a few bottles of wine from a bottle shop in Darlinghurst, and on to the really rather good Bill and Toni’s restaurant in East Sydney.  It’s a proper old school Italian restaurant, you have to sneak up some hidden stairs through a cafe with a clientele list that somewhat resembles the bar out of Star Wars.  I thought I heard the theme music from The Godfather playing when we got upstairs, and everyone was Italian.

For veal schnitzel (they love schnitzel here - everything is schnitzellized!) and spaghetti bolognese, with salad, coffee and quite a bit of wine that we bought ourselves, the bill came to about £14 each.  Bargain!

Then just yesterday we decided to go to Cronulla for the day.  It’s all too easy to spend all your time in Sydney - there’s so much to see, but you forget that for just £3 ($6) you can get a train to a nice place like Cronulla (it’s a riot!) and get away from teh big smoke.  So the five of us trekked down there, (Me, Annika, Gertrud, Nik and Alison) and we took the girls to their first ever game of rugby league.  Cronulla was a nice enough sea-side surf town, a decent size, a great beach with a train station right next by, and an admirable selection of sruf shops.  It reminded me of Manly but with a bit more going on, and I really liked it - I could live there I think.  After visiting the RSL club (Where the bar was full of men gambling - the Aussies love betting on the horses like you wouldn’t believe!) and the three girls being the only females in a packed bar we went up to the Toyota Stadium, where the Cronulla Sharks play.

It cost us $20 to get in on the door with free transport to and from the stadium.  We managed to blag a spot right against the advertising hoarding and luckily we were at the end that my team, The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles were attacking.  The game had really been hyped up and the small stadium was jammed to the rafters with just under 20,000 people in there, including a healthy Manly contingent.  The hype was because the two teams were top of the NRL ladder at the start of the game.  Well, the Sea Eagles answered any questions - the Sharks lived up to their big-game bottler tag, and Manly absolutely monstered them with a flawless first half performance to leave the Sharks trailing 22-6 at half time - rather pleasingly all the action seemed to take place within about 10 meters of where we were stood, so that was a real bonus.  The second half wasn’t much different, although I didn’t see too much of it as it was a) up the other end b) we were having too much of a good time to worry about the game and c) I was a bit pissed by this stage.

The atmosphere at Shark Park was really good, we met some great people (Nik thinks I always do!) and we had a really good day out.  The girls even went from never having been to a game of Rugby before (I know, I know this was Rugby League) to really enjoying it and wanting to go again, so I’m happy with that.  The night was polished off by a few drinks in a tacky bar, some kebabs (not for me! A bottle of Coke Zero!) and the late train back.  Rather nicely I got to see a really good fight outside a bar near me, so that topped the night off a treat.

Today, I’ve purchased both a bike and a multigym.  Well, I bought a bike off a dude on Gumtree and I’ve also bought the heaviest chain known to man to tie it up with.  Conservative estimates suggest the chain weighs about 15 kilos.  I’m going to be using it build the guns up, and maybe to shorten my 3 and a half minute commute to work!

OK, that’s all for now - I promise to be back with more random stuff and e few more opinion things rather than just my diary.  TTFN!

Oh, and the Pope arrives in Sydney this week - any ideas of how to piss off the estimated 250,000 god-botherers is much appreciated.  One idea was to try and shag a nice Catholic girl - for starters she’s clearly pre-selected herself as the gullible and easily influenced type, and she’s used to hanging round pervy priests, so all good.  We were hypothisising about this (beer’s great eh?) and we came up with the potential morning after scenario…

[BEDROOM - EARLY HOURS OF MORNING. COUPLE LYING IN BED]

GIRL: OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE, I’VE SHAGGED A RANDOM!

GUY: EY UP LOVE!

GIRL: OH GOD, WE DIDN’T DID WE?

GUY: ER…

GIRL: THIS IS TERRIBLE, PLEASE TELL ME ONE THING?

GUY: SURE

GIRL: WELL, I CAN GO TO HELL IF I GOT THIS WRONG - PLEASE TELL ME WE DIDN’T USE A CONDOM!

OK bye kids!:)

Hello again,

God I keep meaning to write stuff, but never seem to get round to it.  Lame, I know.

So, what’s been happening?  Not an awful lot, truth be known - work seems to be going pretty well, the new iPhone 3g is launching soon, so that’s kept me busy with the Apple.com account (even though now it seems they’re not selling it through the site.).

For some reason I don’t seem to have had a single night to myself lately, which isn’t a bad thing really.  I always seem to have someone round, or are going round to someone else’s house.  I’ve even been leaving work on time at 5.30pm so I can go and watch the Euro2008 highlights.  The live games are on at the rather awkward times of 2am and 4.45am here - so not conducive to watching and living a normal life…  One game I’m glad I did watch was the France Vs Netherlands game the other day.  I tipped the Dutch to win the tournament, and with the 3-0 win over the Italians and then the 4-1 crushing of the French yesterday, who’d bet against them?  They seem to be playing the sort of total voetbal that everyone has always imagined the Dutch play - even if the reality hasn’t always been that close to the myth since 1988!

I’ve always been a big fan of all things Dutch really!  The Dutch and the English always seem to get on with each other (some cynic suggested that it’s because we all don’t like the Germans - a bit harsh!), and I seem to get on with them when I meet them, as you do tend to quite a lot when travelling!  At the Euro’s I think there were 125,000 Dutch fans in Bern for the latest game (the only other team I can think of that would take such numbers aren’t in this tournament, despite being ranked 9th in the world, as opposed to Austria who are 90th!) and they always look resplendent in their swathes of Orange, and look like they’re having great fun.  They certainly give their team the confidence to play like this.  In spite of the impression I get that he’s a bit of a cock, I’ve always been impressed by Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben is indisputedly talented and Cruyff, Van Basten, Davids, Bergkamp (so long as it’s not an away game) and Ruud Gullit are some of my favourite ever players.

Anyway, enough proselytising about the Dutch - I’ve got Portugal in the sweepstake at work - but I still hope the bastards lose!

OK - that will do for now, I hope everyone got their Dads a nice fathers’ day present - mine got a Turtley Amazing t-shirt.  Oh yeah.

Oh, and I missed Gorton’s wedding of the year - congratulations to Mr and Mrs Burrell!

Well, it’s time for my first State of Origin series.

For the uninitiated, this is the annual three match series between the best of NSW’s rugby league players, against those from Queensland.  It’s where you were born, or where you first played, rather than where you currently play that decides who you represent, and it’s a great contest by all accounts most years.

I’ve really got into the Rugby League (or the NRL as they call it) out here - it’s the international sport where the Aussies really go to watch in droves, and where their domestic league is just streets ahead of any others (the English Super League).  It’s a real Sydney sport, out of the 16 teams in the league, there are 10 in the Sydney area, 11 in New South Wales (if you count Canberra in this, which for State of Origin, they do, then 12 teams in NSW) but only 3 in Queensland.  So you’d think that NSW would walk the series?  Think again, to quote Andy from my work (always a good source of info)…

Nah mate, they just raise their game - you know how it is when your team play another.  Didn’t City beat Manchester this year?  [Arrrggghhhh! - Gav] It’s like that.  These boys are well up for it, and they’re always close mate.  You can be playing against your team mate, your buddy who you’ve played with for 5 years - but that all goes out of the window.  You’ve got something to prove, and they’re always good games.  You just wait and watch these props go up against each other - it’s like BOOM! You gotta love it

Well, he sold it to me - I’m watching this one in the pub, but I’m off to the game for the final round.  Personally I think that the Queenslanders will win it quite easily, they’re stacked full of pace and talent, with three of the best fullbacks in the game all in the starting line-up!  Ironically, I think that this might be one weakness that NSW can exploit, they need to take the amusingly named, but prodigiously talented Karmichael Hunt on in his unfamiliar role of 5/8th (Stand-off).  He’s not used to the workrate, and if they can up that, and get him tired, he’s a young lad who might make mistakes, so they need to keep the pressure on.

Right, well I’m off down t’pub now - the game starts in 25 mins, so I’ll catch you later - I suppose I’d better support the Blues (NSW) but I’m really just hoping for plenty of blood, thunder and some points!

See ya baked!

Cheers to Vicki for pointing out that that last line made a good title! Oh and apparently there’s some other sporting event on tonight - Reds Vs Blues or something - who cares!?

Noel Gallagher has once again proved his credentials as the voice of the people of Manchester (well the blue half) with a well placed burst of common sense aimed at deposed former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra who looks set to sack Manchester City manager Sven Goran Ericsson in spite of what has been one of the best seasons for the blues in a long while.

In an interview with Radio Five Live Noel (who shares a birthday with the writer of this blog) said:

“To get rid of Sven after the best season I can remember is ridiculous. It can’t be for any footballing reasons.

“For a club that’s been going nowhere fast for the last 25 years, with a manager who’s the best out there bar Jose Mourinho - he turned it around and gave us a bit of style and dignity and grace. He bought some great players. The fans have got pride back in the club - I just think it’s beyond a joke.

“We’ve got a manager who’s got style. If the owner thought they could come in and qualify for the Champions League straight away then he’s tripping. It’d be like sacking David Moyes at Everton or Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa because they didn’t qualify. It takes more than one season.

“Eriksson is a graceful and dignified man. This guy Shinawatra has come in and he seems like a bit of a nutcase. The only thing that will get him off the hook is if he’s got Mourinho lined up. Apart from Mourinho Eriksson’s the best thing out there.

“I’d be amazed and appalled if I met a City fan who thought getting rid of Eriksson was a good thing. They all love him up there. I’d give him a big kiss and say, ‘You know what, you take them to the cleaners.’”

I think Noel is spot on - as usual, and you can’t disagree with what Henry Winter says -

Manchester City’s overbearing overlord, Thaksin Shinawatra, cannot be deemed a fit and proper person to oversee a club as important as City when he has just shredded supporters’ dreams.

The Thai politician clearly has no understanding of what it means to be a City fan, of the pain they endured for so long in their neighbours’ shadow. Eriksson masterminded home and away victories over Manchester United, a feat that should bring a double-your-money contract, as well as fans’ eternal gratitude. Thaksin simply cannot appreciate the joys felt by fans at the sight of their beloved team being respected, even feared, under Eriksson’s thoughtful stewardship. Full of calm and perspective in adversity, gracious in victory, Eriksson brought dignity and credibility.

While Thaksin might pay the bills, he’s entitled to his say, but he’s so far wide of the mark on this one - there must be people around him (not to mention the fans who sing Sven’s name every game) who are telling him that he’s a bloody mentalist.

I’m genuinely gutted about this - just when things looked like they might be on the up for City, they take a turn for the worse again.  Anyway, I should’ve got to expect it!

Join the “Save Sven” campaign at the Manchester Evening News

Hi all!

Thanks to popular demand screaming out for a new blog post* here I am again! I’ve been slowly travelling my way down from Hamilton with the Kiwi Experience bus. It’s a real blast on that bus, you can’t fail to enjoy it if you’re that sort of person - even when you get a bit of a grumpy driver!

I stopped at Rotorua (Hot thermal spa pools), Waitomo (Black water rafting - really nice, a float through a river in a cave where the only light is the gloworms in the ceiling!), Lake Taupo (Good for skydiving, but I’d done that already, so went playing golf instead, got really rather very drunk, but all mended now, and off the alcohol. Not), and finally to the rather picturesque river valley where we went whitewater rafting and generally lazed around in hammocks and swam in the river. All good! Have a look at the photos on the right hand side here, as always!

Now I’m in the capital of NZ - Wellington. (You thought it was Auckland, didn’t you?) And it’s 41 degrees** The cricket today was a proper test cricket - I really enjoyed it. There’s a nice little article here (www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2008/03/skulking_into_wellington.shtml) on the last match at Hamilton, and the move over to Wellington. It’s fair to say a few people got burnt at the first match! We won the first session, the Kiwis won the second after lunch (in no small part to us batting like a cunch of bunts, and a great performance from Jacob Oram) but the final session belonged to England with a fantastic partnership between Tim Ambrose (We’ve got Tim Ambrose, Sounds like Ambrosia, they make good custard, it comes in tins, they make nice rice too, that’s not important, just so long as England win!) and everyone’s favourite Ginger Mackem - Paul Collingwood. It’s all really nicely balanced going into tomorrow with a theoretical two scoring strokes we could have England on 300, Tim Ambrose on his maiden test century and Collingwood bringing up his 50.

The crowd today was really busy, watching cricket from the banks here is great fun - I can highly recommend it.

Right, I’d best dash - this beer won’t drink itself and it’s student night tonight!

*One person
**Latitude

Well, I’ve got to say I was pretty gutted to leave Queenstown behind. The South Island of New Zealand has to be one of the most stunning things I’ve ever seen. You almost don’t bother taking photos of breathtaking views, because you just know that around the next corner awaits something even better. You can see how Peter Jackson had no problem filming Lord Of the Rings here; everything just screams drama at you. I’ve been to a couple of places where LOTR was filmed around Queenstown, but they could have easily been anywhere in the country.

My words and photos can’t really do it justice, but I think this video might give you an idea - it’s not often that I’m lost for words! I can only say that you HAVE to come out here and see this for yourself.

So to catch up, what I’ve done so far is to land in Christchurch, on the East of the South Island, cross over to Greymouth, and travel down the spectacular West coast. Then onto Wanaka (tee hee!) and Queenstown, which is a great little city with views to die for and plenty to do in both summer and winter. Activities done so far include; Drinking, swimming, stone skipping (record = 9) cavorting, glacier climbing, cricket watching, skydiving (my favourite, definitely - even the plane journey was great with the views over Mount Cook and the Fox Glacier, as well as out over the sea - see my vids of these, they’re on Facebook, and should be on YouTube at some point), lots of sightseeing, Fergburger eating, walking, Frisbee golfing, golfing, motorbike driving (don’t tell Mum!), and the biggest bungee jump in New Zealand. Not bad for two weeks, eh?

Now I’m up on the North Island where 75% of the 4 million population lives. I flew into Auckland on Tuesday 4th March where Andy picked me up from the Airport and showed me the sights. I’ll be back in Auckland at some point so will leave my thoughts on that until then. Then it was the 2 hours down to Hamilton and the cricket! I managed to blag the last room in town at the YWCA! It might not be that fun to stay at the YWCA (e.g. $10 if you want to bring a visitor back to your room, *apparently*) but it was cheap at £10 per night for your own room. Hamilton is a nice little student city of and was certainly rocking on a Thursday night. They say the Kiwi bird is an endangered species and difficult to spot in the wild. Well, there were a fair few out in Hamilton last night, and they didn’t seem as shy and retiring as the ornithologists would tell you! After seeing Brendon McCullam out with his Doris, I see why his confidence at the crease is so high when she’s watching from the pavilion.

The cricket was great fun - it’s not been the most thrilling of test matches, but the atmosphere on the grassy banks is superb, with people from all over the UK coming to watch. Everyone seems to have their cricket club and football shirts everywhere, which lead to plenty of talking points. Quite a few people had a few facts to tell me about Hyde United as it happened! I had my Hyde flag out, and it was certainly seen on telly, as was I a few times. Thanks for the person who texted me today to tell me to put some sun cream on my belly as I was looking a bit burnt! You’ll be glad to know it’s now going nicely brown. He says.

Anyway, the cricket has varied from intriguing to skilful, and down to tepid. The first day finished about honours even, with NZ on 265-7, after a great knock from McCullam and decent contributions from Fleming and How. Day 2 belonged to the Blackcaps as they piled on the runs from the start, and Ross Taylor (who the day before had been introduced to the crowd as “With a top test match score of 17, please welcome Ross Taylor”!) getting his maiden test ton. With a couple of wickets off England at the end of the day it wasn’t a good day for us. Today’s days play was just turgid, with only about 180 runs being added for the loss of 4 wickets - Strauss and Vaughan seemed to be going well (albeit at a slow run rate) but after that even the irrepressible KP seemed to just dig in. This has draw written all over it! At one point the run rate dipped to 1.99 runs per over, something even Sir Geoffrey of Boycott would’ve raised an eyebrow at. I even caught David “Bumble” Lloyd having a nap out the back of the Sky box. I had a chat with him later, and he agreed it was down to the really placid pitch. *OBVIOUS COMMENT ALERT* Bumble is a really nice bloke in real life, as well as when he’s on the telly. I think we all reluctantly agreed that England took the right approach to the game, as they were never going to win it, but it’s not great to watch. At one point I nipped off to get my hair cut, get some cash out and buy some ice creams for the troops, and missed a grand total of 4 runs. Regardless of this, due to the great sunshine (all cricket should be watched with a beer in hand, in the sun from grassy banks!) I had a pretty good day really and can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing. The fans are a real good bunch - it’s not all about the actual Barmy Army, though. There’s plenty more of us, and pleasantly, most of them seem to be good gravy-loving Northern lads who all play cricket. Not too much Landaaaaan, which is nice! I’ve met a good bunch, and we’re all meeting up again in Wellington.

If you’ve made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back, you’re nearly there!

I’m now in Rotorua, and have just been for a soak in the geothermal pools at my hostel, as you do! It’s a geothermal spa town, which is all very nice, but the whole town smells a bit of rotten eggs and sulphur! Tomorrow I’m back on the Kiwi Experience bus heading over to Waitamo (possible black water rafting) then onto Taupo for lots more outdoorsy stuff and making my way down to the capital, Wellington, for the 12th March in time for the second test which starts on the 13th - I can’t wait!

I’m sat in the bar at the moment on my laptop watching a really good game of Super-14’s rugby, I’m hoping to get to a game while I’m over here. OK, well thanks for reading, and as always, let me know what you’re up to or if you’re interested in anything in particular about my travels. Loads of photos on the right there!

Hello keen readers!

Well, it’s not without a tinge of regret that I’ve now left Australia, but with some optimism for New Zealand!

I’m here in Christchurch, and very quaint it is too.  Lots to see and do here, I’m especially keen to go to the Dyslexia Museum here, to see if it does indeed “celebrate the gift of dyslexia” as it claims to!

Today was fun, and went to the cricket - to see England lose, obviously.  Great day out though, we were all dressed as babies, as you do.  Photos edited out for reasons of decency, but you should get the idea in the Flickr photos!

OK, hope you are all well! Take care.

Well, it’s finally happened - India have finally put beyond doubt any questions that they are the powerhouse in international cricket.

Yesterday at a packed auction room in Bombay, the cream of the world’s cricketers were auctioned off to play in the inaugural IPL (Indian Premier League) Twenty20 competition.  With a TV deal worth $1bn to play with, the owners of the franchises weren’t afraid of splashing the cash around.  In a brash and bold move, the players put themselves forward for auction and are sold to the highest bidder with a 3 year contract to play in the competition.

There was a great article in The Age today about the bidding process.  Shane Warne was snapped up for not a penny over his reserve price of $450k, and there were mumblings of an anti-Australian conspiricy after the spat between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds, where Harbhajan definately did *not* call Symo a “Monkey”.  As the auction progressed, even Mr Cricket himself, Michael Hussey failed to get bought (unlike his brother, David who has been scoring runs for fun for Victoria, including a brutal 60 ball ton yesterday) as well as Glenn McGrath and tounges started to wag.  Ponting - “only” $400k.  They needen’t have worried - Andrew Symonds attracted the second highest bid of the day - a massive $1.35m, surpassed only by poster boy Mahindra Singh Dhoni at $1.5m.  Unsuprisingly, Indian favourite and all round nice guy Brett Lee went for a cool $900k - if you haven’t seen his Indian Pop Video - you really should! Click here to check it out.

I can’t help but think it’s a blessing in disgiuse that English players aren’t eligible, I can’t seem many of them attracting this sort of excitement (although they might have gone nuts over KP!) but that’s no bad thing really.

Whilst traditionalists might complain that this just “isn’t cricket”, if you’re mouth doesn’t water at the thought of a packed Indian stadium in Hyderbad playing host to a batting line up that could read something like…

Gibbs, Gilchrist, Laxman, Symonds, Afridi, Styris, Silva, Vaas, Zoyza, RP Singh, Sharma then there’s something wrong with you.

Whilst on the subject of cricket, after England’s thrilling tie yesterday with NZ I’m off to Christchurch on Saturday to see if we can tie the series - should be a good one!  If you’re watching keep an eye out for my Hyde United flag, and I’ll do a whistle as the first spin bowler of each innings walks back to his mark - so you might even hear me!

Hey everyone, thanks for all the emails and the St. Valentine’s Day greetings, very nice (Yes Jon, I still love you pet, don’t worry!) and always nice to hear about what you’re up to back home. I’m still having a great time in Sydney; I’ve moved hostels from the very clean and nice YHA (but a bit dull) to the Wake Up! Which comes highly recommended - both near central station in Sydney. Aaanyway.

Sydney’s a really good city, lots and lots of English around, but still plenty of places to go and meet locals, and the natives seem pretty friendly towards us residents of the mother country and not at all fed up with the amount of us over here. I suppose it’s a bit of a swap from them coming over to London - and yes, you do see plenty of Pommies behind bars here! Seriously though, people just seem dead friendly and happy - it’s like all the nice people from England with few of the idiots and a lot less of the aggression. People chat to you in bars, and introduce themselves rather than that awkward English thing of never asking anyone’s name. Everyone here seems to be on a working holiday visa, and few people seem to have any problem finding all sorts of work, as well as getting apartments, it just seems that sort of place where you take someone’s word that they’re clean or good at working, rather than spending 3 weeks checking out references when you could all have been doing something more useful!

On Thursday we went to Manly (We being me and a couple of Norwegian guys, Jørgen and Henrik) by taking the 45 minute ferry ride across from Sydney harbour. The ferry journey itself was great and value for money at £6 return. Manly is a really nice little town with a surfy vibe, and feels a bit like how I’d imagine 1960’s California to feel, with its wide central street, old looking art-deco houses and shops and a fantastic beach. It’s a popular place for ex-pats to stay, and I can see why.

Thursday night there was a big party – it was all good fun, but not really for public consumption! Highlights included bumping into my sister Vicky’s best friend from 8 years ago, who I probably hadn’t seen for about the same time, and another of the girls, Christina wearing a matching shirt to mine, which made me feel a bit special at the time. It was a 60’s free love party, if you’re wondering, and whilst the love wasn’t free as such, there seemed to be plenty going around and there was also a free barbeque, so everyone was happy!

Yesterday (Friday 15th Feb) I went to one of the worlds’ great cricket grounds, the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) to watch New South Wales against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup competition. This is the premier domestic competition in the world in the long form of the game, between the two best teams, and I’d say there were less than 300 people there, all told at the SCG! It’s the same everywhere where people just seem to want to watch the crash bang wallop* of one day cricket, but it seems a real shame, especially as it was only £3 to get in, and the cricket was some real top quality stuff on a nice sunny day for working on that tan! It was a great days play and I saw Brad Hodge get a fantastic 118 for Victoria, only ended by what can best be described as a shocker of an umpiring decision when he looked well set for a double ton, ably supported by David Hussey at the other end who got 87 in a 190 run partnership for the 3rd wicket. All in all a great day, helped by a few beers and also by watching England beat the Kiwi’s and Australia beat Sri Lanka, including a very emotional ton by Adam Gilchrist at his last ever game at his home ground. He’s got to be just about the greatest wicket keeper to play the game, and a true gent too – always walking when he was out rather than waiting for an umpire to make a decision. He’ll be missed and even this bloody Pom was glad to see him get his hundred.

Tonight I’ve got a rather intriguing party to go to – we’ll see how that works out! – And then tomorrow (Sunday) I’m off to Melbourne for a few days before I head over to New Zealand. I booked my flights only yesterday, and to save the 12 hour bus journey the flight only cost about £55, which is less than a late booking on a train down to London from Manchester would cost! I don’t know an awful lot about Melbourne, except that it’s where Neighbours is filmed and that it’s supposed to be a nice City – I’ll tell you in a few days I suppose!

Right, take care – as always it’s good to hear from you, so keep the emails coming, and have a look at the photos on the side there. TTFN!

Hi Ya’ll.

Well, in 9 hours I’ll be on a plane to Sydney (I fly with Quantas) and I can’t wait.

Hong Kong has been fun, if a little cold. The highlights have to be the horse racing (where I really did rather well for myself)

and generally hanging around at New Year

I’d probably say that 5 days here was plenty, but I’ve had fun, eaten lots of Noodles and taken some HILLARIOUS (honest) photos too. As I said before, I’m genuinely impressed by the friendliness of the people here, not at all what I expected and the city just feels so safe and a nice place to live. The standard of English speaking is generally much lower than you would’ve expected, but it didn’t stop me blowing most of my winnings on some ridiculously overpriced trainers from A Bathing Ape, mainly because they were displayed on a Sushi style conveyor belt, and it looked cool!Right, I’d better get off and pack - the plan for the day is to get a massage before I leave - hopefully not one with “extras” but you never know - whatever I can get for the £12 it costs basically!I also went to see Hadjuk Split get beaten by Hong Kong in the final of their annual football tournament (photos in to the right), so that’s another country to tick off my football watching list!

Oh, and you thought you were going to get away with it? COME ON CITY! I was delighted to see that we put one over on Manyoo last night, obviously I watched it in a real reds pub in Hong Kong, whilst wearing my shirt. I was maybe a bit harsh with the amount of shit I gave the Manyoo supporting locals, but fück ‘em, they might not be able to place Manchester on a map, but they made a choice in life, and I stand by my decision to rip it out of them. Went to a bar later where I saw a Thai prostitute cry as she had to go with a big fat Western man (no, not me), which was quite sad really! I met the air hostesses from a KLM 747, which was nice.

See you in Sydney!