Brisbane (Australia).

Tuesday 21 November.

Up at a decent time really after a pretty good sleep, and down to our first breakfast at the hotel. We enjoyed a great selection of hot and cold options in the big airy breakfast room adjacent to the bar and overlooking the outside eating area and on to the city (the hotel is situated in what they call the ‘CBD’ area, which is their Central Business District). Once we had unpacked our cases after breakfast we headed out for a walk to check out the area and get our bearings as to where we were located in the city (map of course in hand!). We found some great sights and shops and plentiful bars and restaurants, and after a long walk with the obligatory coffee stops, we landed gratefully in the Pig and Whistle bar, branded locally as the Barmy Army HQ for the Ashes Brisbane test. Inevitably the majority of the people in and outside the bar were British and enjoying sampling the local ales!

Several beers and large glasses of wine later, jet lag was closing in on us and although comparatively early, it was time to sleep and try and reset our body clocks. In the meantime, we

had clearly found the root base of English cricket fans in the area and looked forward at that time to heading back there again, especially as the bar was only two blocks away from our hotel. You will shortly find out how wrong we were in that assumption.

Wednesday 22 November

More minor jet lag issues this morning after a fitful sleep, so a gentle walk after breakfast was in order to check out the nearby Storey Bridge and the fabulous water walkway beneath it. We then headed back to the hotel for another short rest before we got ourselves ready for the Official Ashes Function being held at the Stamford Plaza Hotel in the city, where we had been invited by our events company to listen to some speeches by one time cricket greats and mix with fellow cricket lovers with complimentary food and drinks. The evening was presented by Damian Fleming and amongst the speakers were Graeme Hick, Geoffrey Boycott, Jonathan Agnew and Mike Hussey. Great evening, funny, satiric and an exciting and competitive start to the Ashes test at the Gabba tomorrow! *The Gabba is the name of the test cricket ground in Brisbane.

From there we headed to the renowned Embassy Craft Beer Bar on Elizabeth Street in the CBD for delicious Cajun chicken tacos and a glass or two of gorgeous local red wine. Fabulous. It’s the end of the day again, and as we stroll back to the hotel, the city is fizzing at the thought of the start of the Ashes series tomorrow! We fleetingly thought about having ‘one for the road’ in the Pig and

Whistle but it was absolutely packed with singing cricket fans spilling out of all the exits, and the police and security teams were definitely not allowing anymore in. We quickly passed by and gratefully headed ‘home’! As it turns out, contrary to our predictions on day one in Brisbane, it was virtually impossible to get into this bar due to the huge amount of Barmy Army and cricket fans in general so we actually never managed to get through the doors again after that first day!

Thursday 23 November

And so it begins, the 2017/2018 Ashes series in Australia. The day has dawned damp and cloudy and we are uncertain how much play there will be at the Gabba today. The weather forecasters are not confident either. Also as day one of the five day test has never been one that we regularly intend to go to, we decide to stay at the hotel whilst the weather works out what it is going to do, especially as we have live coverage of the game, ball by ball, throughout the hotel and even on the large flat screen in our room. Sounds a far more sensible option, for now at least.

We watched the game in our room for a while, in between reading, blogging and social media updating, then moved down to the hotel bar for the last hour of play on day one. There was a quite a crowd in the bar who had also elected to watch from afar so there was some good competitive banter going on. We had a couple of drinks there then headed out to a funky little wine bar nearby called Grape Therapy (less than 100m from the hotel!). We had seen it on TripAdvisor as a highly recommended venue so decided to give it a try as it was so close. What a great find - gorgeous Sicilian red wine and local cheese platters to compliment. Lovely evening then back to hotel for an earlyish night to prepare for our three day back to back bonanza over at the Gabba, starting tomorrow! Come on England!

Friday 24 November

Up early, down for a big breakfast to sustain us for the day, then off to the Gabba. Pleased to report warm sunshine and blue skies this morning. On advice from the hotel, we headed down the waterway footpath to the ferries and hopped on a ferry to cross to the other side of the river before setting out to walk on to the Gabba, quote ‘about 15 mins’ unquote. We checked in with a local guy on the boat as to which way we should head, and he led us up to a main road and gave us directions (of a sort) from there. We can only assume that he continued on his way with a wry grin on his face having ‘stitched up a couple of pommie fans’ as it was a good forty five minutes and several kilometres before we arrived at the Gabba – hot, bothered and ready to sit down! He definitely saw us coming!!! Never mind, we'll get it right tomorrow.

Anyway on with the game, great seats, great view and overall an even day's play of cricket. Loved it! We got a bus back to the hotel (far better) and plonked into the hotel’s comfortable bar once more

for some drinks and snacks to finish off the day. Lots of walking, warm sun, fresh air and cricket today ensured we had the best night’s sleep since arriving!

Saturday 25 November

This morning after breakfast, we head for the local City bus stop, only minutes from the hotel, and board a bus quickly and easily directly to the Gabba, arriving ten minutes later. Perfect. And even better because it is free if you have a ticket for the test match, very impressive! Well done Brisbane on that initiative. We had a great day at the Gabba again though the Aussies definitely won the day on the field, and we left feeling a bit battered as English fans! We really need to step up if we are going to make an impression at all on this test match.

We left at the afternoon tea break and caught a bus back to the hotel from just outside the ground. We had a couple of drinks in the hotel bar then went round the corner to a local pizza/pasta place where we ordered Italian pizza and salad, which frankly was pretty dire, just oiled undercooked dough with a few pieces of Italian sausage on and half a shredded tomato. Very disappointing. We ate what we could,

paid the bill and went back to the hotel, making a mental note to cross that particular eatery straight off the recommended restaurant list!! Hopefully we will choose a better one tomorrow. The thing about being away from home for three months is that you have to eat out all the time and as we both love to cook, it’s not something that we are used to doing!

Sunday 26 November

Back to the Gabba for day four of play in this test. Great seats and view again - our seats have changed every day but we are always in the same upper stand. The Aussies took control totally of this test match today and when we left we knew that we would not be coming back tomorrow as it was all over bar the shouting for an Aussie victory. England were certainly not helped by a couple of dodgy decisions by the third umpire (surely not!!) but nevertheless were surely heading to Adelaide with a loss under their belt, regardless of the few overs left tomorrow. Aussie victory all the way.

We headed back on the bus again to the hotel to commiserate with some beers and wines, and have the craic with the locals. We didn’t have the energy to venture out again so we had a very pleasant supper in the hotel bar. We are thoroughly enjoying staying at the Brisbane Marriott, and despite being pretty expensive in terms of food and drinks, we would highly recommend it. It is a very comfortable hotel and popular with locals and tourists alike which makes for an interesting choice of venue.

Monday 27 November

We wake today to a damp and cloudy morning but the England cricket team are not going to be saved by the weather as heavy

consistent rainfall (which is what they need) certainly doesn’t look imminent, despite being forecast. Another cruel trick by the Aussie weather teams maybe! After breakfast we watch the live action at the hotel as the Aussies play it out to a pretty easy win. Time then for a swim and a walk and some admin housekeeping on our finances, bills, flights etc.

Tonight we decide to go to Jamie’s diner (aka Jamie Oliver) for drinks and eats and we were pleased with our choice. It was only a fifteen minute walk from the hotel and we sat at the bar in the foyer for a couple of drinks first before taking a table downstairs to eat. Good fun with the team of staff, in a cocktail bar type of way. Pretty busy so obviously a popular choice all round but we enjoyed some good wine and great food and would definitely go back.

Tuesday 28 November

Cricket now over (first test anyway) we decide to play at being tourists today so after breakfast we put our holiday heads on and head down the waterway path to the City Cat (Catamaran) terminal and board the boat for a three hour tour round the Brisbane waters. Amazing experience and a great way to see all of the city and its attractions from the water. It was really cost effective too as we paid less than five dollars each for three hours on the boat, and it was jump on, jump off on the same ticket. Excellent value and really enjoyable.

We disembarked then went to the Bavarian bier café (at the back of the hotel on the water’s edge) for some beers, passing Alistair Cook on the way outside a bar who looked as miserable as sin and quite deliberately avoided eye contact with us (in case we wanted a picture or to give him some stick I guess). Ate a Bavarian sausage tasting platter between us with the drinks, and headed back to the hotel for a few more beers. What a fab day!

Wednesday 29 November

Pouring with rain this morning but it is our last day at the Brisbane Marriott and we have lots of packing to do! Dan admirably headed out to the launderette with our week’s washing despite the downpour and I headed to the Business centre in the hotel to check in online and sort out our seating and boarding passes for tomorrow’s flights to Adelaide. Cases packed and jobs complete, we headed to the hotel bar and enjoyed some drinks and laughs with Michael and his staff before polishing off a last supper of fish and chips. Our last night in Brisbane, we shall really miss this city and this hotel, hats off to all the staff and their hard work to make it such an enjoyable stay for all their customers, it is evident that many people return regularly to this hotel and we totally understand why.