Perth (Australia)

Friday 08 December

Up earlyish today and down to the restaurant for a cooked breakfast. Settled the account at Reception who – yes you’ve guessed it – tried to advise us that we were checking out one day too soon even though they had had us leaving for most other days of the trip! They so need to train, or retrain, their staff on their booking systems.

We then headed out in a taxi to Adelaide Airport. We were booked on to a lunchtime flight to Perth with Qantas, so we boarded around 12.30pm. Fully sold out flight and we had been pre-allocated a window and middle seat (no change to prebook seats this time). We have never experienced less legroom in all the flights we have ever taken. Shame on you Qantas, you make Ryanair seating seem luxurious in comparison! Three hours later we gratefully unravelled ourselves from the plane and walked out into the sunny humid heat of Perth. Summer at last, where have you been?!

We took a taxi to the Crown Metropol hotel which is to be our home for the next 11 days, and boy what a home! This hotel is spectacular, we have been given a large corner room akin to a suite in most hotels, and there is a huge lively Atrium and endless bars, restaurants, casinos, pools, spas and entertainment in this massive hotel village complex! Awesome. Never been to Las Vegas but think we just found a mini one on the west coast of Australia! This is going to be good. Once we had unpacked we settled for beers and spicy nachos in the sports bar as were pretty tired by then, more exploring tomorrow!

Saturday 09 December

We had a really good sleep and went down to breakfast which was fabulous, lots of everything you could possibly want for breakfast and fresh, hot and well prepared. Yum. Went to look at the main area of pools and decided to swim later after reading the papers. But then the rain came so looks like the swimming will have to start tomorrow. Chilled in our room for a while before heading down to the main hotel village are for drinks. We decided to try the Noodle bar tonight, looking forward to that!

After drinks we made our way across the casino to the restaurants, joined the queue to get in, and then enjoyed a really good meal of tangy prawn noodles and rosé wine. Great place and good fun! We are both already totally taken with this hotel and its facilities.

Sunday 10 December

We chilled out most of the day today which was very welcome, down time is a must on a long trip like this with so much going on. We have learned pretty quickly that we are not able to zoom around every day like you might on a 10 or 14 day holiday and that some days you just have to (and want to) do very little. We went for a lazy swim and a brief sunbathe after breakfast then we started reading the Sunday papers and finished about 3pm! Eventually we got ready and went down to the Sports bar for a beer and watched some Aussie football then went to eat at the Junction Grill in the casino. Again this had come highly recommended so we went a little earlier than last night to avoid the queues. I had a Greek lamb pizza with feta, olives and loads of other veggies, and it was to die for! Dan’s fresh salmon was excellent too. Great choice.

Monday 11 December

After breakfast this morning we set off to walk to Perth city via the Waca (Perth’s current national cricket venue) and get our bearings around the area. Once we had set out and were on the way we realised it was actually a lot hotter than we originally thought (we later found out around 37 degrees!) and the walk was about 6km. By the time we got into Perth we were really hot and quite dehydrated although it had been a lovely walk through the park and over the river. Needless to say after a look round and a bit of shopping (including demolishing a large bottle of water) we got a bus back to the hotel village, walking back again at this point was not a viable option.

I went for a swim in the large hotel pools when we got back and Dan came down and sat at the pool bar, much in need of some cold beer! I joined him after the swim then we showered and then we went to the Merrywell bar in the casino complex, fantastic! We realised then that the Australian cricket team were actually staying at this hotel whilst playing the Ashes test and some of them were eating in the Merrywell. We order some beer for Dan, and wine for me, and then shared a couple of tapas dishes. What a fabulous place, lively and really good fun, we will definitely be back!

Tuesday 12 December

After another great breakfast, we joined the open top tour bus outside the hotel for a two hour tour of Perth city and the surrounding areas. It was really interesting and we saw some great places like Kings Park, pre-war buildings, and the new all sports centre (replacing the Waca for cricket) etc. It will be memorable for us having attended the very last Ashes test at the Waca as the next Ashes test in Perth will take place at this new stadium. The tour was very enjoyable and an easy and fun way to see the city.

We came back to the hotel afterwards and after a short rest, we

headed back to the Merrywell bar for a drink, bumping into Darren Lehman (Aussie cricket manager) and Dan had a good chat with him. Really friendly guy, even to us ‘Pommies’!

Went back to the Junction Grill to eat and both had local fish and chips which was very disappointing especially after the excellent first dinner we had here. Still this is the first poor meal since we got here so let’s hope it is a one off!

Wednesday 13 December

So we have a busy day ahead today. We left the hotel at 10.30am after breakfast and headed to Barrack Street jetty in a taxi from the hotel. We then bought tickets for the Captain Cook river cruise and sailed away from the jetty about 11.15am. Lovely and relaxing river cruise down to Fremantle and back, taking about three hours in total. Loads to see, great commentary from the captain, highly recommended. We disembarked about 2pm and went for a welcome beer in the bar next door, called the Lucky Shag! Say no more.

We walked on then into the city and had a drink in a local bar before going to the Pan Pacific Hotel for the pre-test drinks, nibble and speeches evening, part of our Ashes tour in every location (Official Ashes Series as referred to previously). This time we were entertained by Ian Healey, Geoffrey Boycott, Mike Hussey, Darren Lehman and plenty of prosecco! Good fun. Back to the hotel later on the bus, quite a long day but we really enjoyed it. What an amazing trip we are having!

Thursday 14 December

So today is the long awaited first day of the Perth test and the last of England’s hopes of salvaging anything from this series. We decided to watch today’s action live from the TV today as it is too much to go to all five days of every test match, or it is for us anyway! And the first day is traditionally the least exciting. So after breakfast we head back up to the room in time to see England win the toss and elect to bat. We adjourned to the sports bar for a while to let the cleaners into the room and watched on the big screen. Dan then continued to watch back in our room and I went for a swim, trying both the indoor and outdoor pools which were surprisingly quiet today. Much better! Not so many squealers this time jumping on my head.

Came back up and watched some more cricket, cracking open a bottle of rosé wine (and it was Rose D’Anjou, yay, haven’t forgotten you Malta!). We are booked into the rather grand Chinese Restaurant called Silks at 7pm tonight so we get ourselves ready and head off. Had a nice meal, beef noodles for hubby which were delicious and fresh crab (allegedly) noodles for me. And the booth we were sitting in was adjacent to a table hosting Michael Vaughan and his family. Again we sensed not to interrupt his family dinner with a photo opportunity, the look on his face said it all! What is the matter with these miserable so-called cricket celebrities (apart from the obvious, being the dismal English performance!). All was fine until an hour later back in our room when my stomach started cramping and I quickly became nauseous and disorientated. Maybe not such ‘fresh’ crab after all, two days of this unfortunately then ensued. Yuk.

Friday 15 December

We went to the Waca this morning, hung our flag and found our seats. It was a very hot morning and combined with the heat and the dodgy crab from last night, I wasn’t feeling at my best and retired to the shade whilst Dan watched the cricket. We stayed till about 2.30pm then headed back to the hotel, England having a pretty good day with the bat though. We watched some more live play in the Sports bar, had a couple of beers then back to the room for an early night. That’s pretty much all there is to report for today.

Saturday 16 December

Much the same as yesterday. We did go back to the Waca about 10am although it was still very hot. Lovely to be in the hot sun unless you are sitting directly in it! We left early afternoon and unfortunately I was still feeling dire so retired to the room hoping fervently that this sickness will have gone by tomorrow! Dan watched the cricket on the TV in the room whilst I drank gallons more water and wearily summoned some sleep.

Sunday 17 December

Woke up feeling a whole lot better today, thankfully! We went back to the Waca this morning to retrieve our flag and watch an hour or so of live cricket. The forecast was not the best and frankly with England so close to losing the entire Ashes series by playing so appallingly,

interest by us English fans is inevitably waning all round. We got the bus and headed back to the Sports bar in the hotel and enjoyed some beers together whilst keeping an eye on the shambolic mess at the Waca! The rain eventually came and saved the day but it’s only a matter of time, we feel now that we will be very lucky if we get to Melbourne without having gone 3-0 down and therefore already lost the series. Watched some TV and had supper in the room, time to get packed up tomorrow and move on to Melbourne. Time is flying by!

Monday 18 December

It rained through the night and was still raining this morning, so fingers crossed for rain all day to give England the chance of a draw! We went down to breakfast then started packing up ready for our flight tomorrow to Melbourne. The start of the play was delayed but eventually play began around 2pm. And the conditions predictably gave the Aussies everything, our wickets fell like dominoes and soon we were all out and the Aussies would be reclaiming the urn for their Ashes victory. 3-0 up in a 5 test series says it all. Off to Melbourne and then Sydney for us knowing that we have already lost the series, but hoping for results in one or both of those locations to retain some pride. Same old England!

We went down to the Merrywell bar for our last evening at this fabulous hotel and had wine and beer, with huge burgers and spicy nachos, yum! The nachos were piled high and very spicy but delicious. Off to bed reasonably early, travelling again tomorrow! We cannot tell you how much we have loved staying here at the Crown Metropol Perth, if you are reading this and thinking of going there, please do not hesitate, it is fabulous entertainment and worth every penny!