Travel journal 2015
Rugby World Cup Final
Well, from the Australian perspective it was an almost perfect RWC in all respects bar one with the Wallabies coming from the back of the pack a year ago.
Of course the little imperfection was that they chose to contest the RWC final against one of the very best rugby teams on the planet, the All Blacks. That they got to within four points of the champions within the last ten minutes clearly marked them out as the best of the rest. The inevitable happened though, because to beat the All Blacks most times you have to be at least two converted tries in the lead with ten minutes to go, and the ultimate result was never much in doubt.
So our little family band of Wallaby supporters in the UK still had much to be proud of and some great rugby memories to cherish.
At a gig at Our Black Heart, off a lane in Camden Town, we helped celebrate the 50th birthday of Rosemarie's cousin Sue's twin boys, Stewart and Paul alongside their number one fan, their dad John. A remarkable duo, the "boys" have been heavily involved in band management in the live music industry for their whole working lives, but tonight it was their turn to take the stage with their new band, Daemönik/Force.
Apologies for the poor photograph quality; trying to push a humble iPhone beyond its limits. (John Snelson, my good friend and Sydney-based gig photographer and reporter extraordinaire, where are you? Check out his site here.)
We continue to meet overland travellers with inspirational stories, in this case Carol and Brian Jones from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. The little sticker on the van advertising Carol's book about their trip through Africa was an immediate giveaway as they arrived at the Walton on Thames site. We enjoyed sharing in the excitement of the Rugby World Cup with them and a pleasant cycle ride around Hampton Court. (See below).
You can see their web site and through it buy Carol's interesting and very readable book of their trip.
A little story about the overland travel community; it transpired that Carol and Brian had bumped into Clive and Ann (the owners of the light blue Mercedes Benz truck in the foreground of the centre picture for the September 6, 2015 entry) in Kazakhstan some years earlier as Clive and Ann were in the early stages of their 41-country drive from London to Singapore thence South Africa back to Europe. Carol and Brian were just making the leisurely drive from Europe back to the Sunshine Coast after having finished their African jaunt!
The RWC report; pool stages
Well, as everyone should know, it's Rugby World Cup time again and the last few weeks have been a blur. It's time to draw breath and check where we are. Four southern hemisphere sides, Australia, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand will,
respectively, be matched up with four northern hemisphere nations, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France next weekend. Quite some symmetry about that but of course the one missing name is England which in retrospect has made some poor choices
in the timing of the fixtures draw and team selection.
The weekend before last we bravely ventured into the local rugby club bar to watch Australia soundly defeat England and thus help us lift ourselves out of our post-Ashes doldrums. We managed to make a safe getaway after Matt Giteau's match-clinching try, with me (John) sensibly avoiding the temptation to brandish my Wallaby scarf.
Thanks to daughter Louisa's forward planning, I've also been at the game for Australia's other three pool matches, against Fiji at Millenium Stadium Cardiff, Uruguay at Villa Park Birmingham and the big one, against Wales at Twickenham. With tickets for the last one at £250 each I've hit (Rosemarie says exceeded) my rugby budget for the year and will now be watching the finals on the big screen.
As any follower of the game now knows, that Wales game last Saturday was, as they say, "one for the ages". Widely regarded as the best tryless game in RWC history, the Wallabies - down to 13 men - defended for an eternity and deprived Wales of what seemed like a certain game-turning try.
It was a tough game for both teams, but it certainly wasn't easy for the 80,000 of us watching in the magnificent Twickenham Stadium. The red-shirted Welsh supporters in front of and behind us (see photo below at right) were distraught while we were riveted to our seats with tension. The supporter atmosphere in the stands was great.
Time to farewell Rick and Kathy Howe as they return home to the USA after their last six summers traversing the length and breadth of Europe. Fortunately we chose an excellent place to meet for a farewell dinner - the highly rated (and motorhome-friendly) Three Horseshoes pub near Alton in Hampshire.
A great couple, Rick and Kathy are a mine of information about overland travel and Rick also about motor museums. Their web site, http://www.travelin-tortuga.com/Travelin-Tortuga/index.html is an excellent read.
See below for photos of their trusty Chevrolet-based Tiger, soon to be loaded on board for shipping back to the USA for a well-deserved overhaul after a quarter of a million kilometres of travel around the planet.
Another fascinating history lesson; a day out at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home of 40 years. Included a special exhibition of items related to his State Funeral, 50 years ago. We need to have another visit to explore the extensive grounds in more depth.
