Not a bad week...

Well I've now returned to normality after living life like a bit of a celebrity! I've had 2 of the best weeks of my life meeting cricketing legends, watching the Sydney New Years fireworks from a boat in the harbour and to top it all off, watched England beat Australia twice in 2 different cities!

It all started when my friend Jack who I played football and cricket with at home, arrived in Melbourne just before Christmas. We met up and we planned to go to the cricket together as he had spare tickets for all of the other days whilst Mum and Dad were away, so that was me sorted for the week! Once Mum and Dad had gone to Sydney I pretty much lived at Jack's hotel with him and on the third night had dinner with Shane Watson and his wife Leigh Furlong who is a TV presenter out here. They were both really nice people and we had a great evening! Jack and his family then asked if I wanted to go to Sydney with them for New Years and the cricket and of course it was a very hard decision to make!

So the day after the cricket finished I was on a plane to Sydney! In the business lounge at Melbourne airport we bumped into Ricky Ponting who was on our flight! He had missed his earlier flight so was sitting in economy and a few of the barmy army sang him a few songs! Ricky seemed like a nice guy, however, I don't know how he played with his finger like it was as he had a metal support on it! When we arrived in Sydney there were lots of press waiting there for us, nothing to do with Ricky being on the plane! They hounded Ricky at the airport even when he was picking up his bags, which I thought was pretty bad. Also, in the airport at the same time, were the Sydney football team who attracted no attention from the press at all, show's how popular football is!

We got to the hotel and it was great, 5 stars and all! Sharing our hotel with us were a few famous names including Nasser Hussain. David Gower and Michael Holding. The latter 2 I would meet later in the week! When I arrived I met up with Mum and Dad and I went for dinner with them which was nice.

The next day was New Year's Eve and during the day we headed over to Manly beach on the ferry. I had a go at surfing and I did surprisingly well and I managed to properly surf after about an hour, pretty proud! Then in the evening we headed down to Darling Harbour to board a boat from which we would enjoy the Sydney fireworks! On the way around the harbour we got some great views of Sydney including the bridge and the opera house. On the boat were a few cricketing legends including Ian Botham, Michael Holding, David Gower and Steve Finn! They were all really nice people and I got to have a good chat with them all. We welcomed in the new year watching the fire works in Sydney Harbour and a rendition of a few barmy army songs!

On New Years Day we just chilled and went out for a meal in the evening. The next day we were at a BBQ all day at Ian Botham's house which was great fun, met a few more cricketers including Michael Atherton! Beefy's house is by the beach so Jack and I went for a swim and there was lot's of sea life including ray's and some brightly coloured fish.

Jack and I then hit the sales the next day and then in the evening we went for dinner round the Watson's which was pretty awesome. Playing backyard cricket with "Watto" isn't something you do every day! The next day the cricket began and the Aussies once again managed to prove how bad they are at cricket! The next few day's were spent at the cricket watching England decimate the convicts. The Barmy army were in full voice the whole time which made it good fun!

On the final evening we went for a brilliant meal at Cafe Sydney which is one of the best restaurants in the city. We went with a group of friends from NZ and Brett Lee. We returned to the hotel about half 12 and Binger had gone home to get his guitar and we were all up singing songs until about 5am!!

My week in heaven had to come to an end and the next day I flew home and instead of a limo waiting for me at the airport I had to get a bus and a train! Brought back to reality with a thud!

Well that is how one of the best week's of my life happened and it is an experience I will never forget and will be able to tell stories about for years to come!