Match Day: Australia v Italy

The world cup is over for the Socceroos, but we go out with heads held high. The manner of the defeat was hard to take. The lads played very well and looked the goods to progress to the last 8.

I think the Australian Football team has earned a lot of respect through its performances at the cup and surprised a great many people. Even here in the UK, the press have been right behind us. And we are all proud of the lads.

The next steps are important for the football federation, a new coach is needed and the best man available needs to be sought, sparing no expense. This success needs to be built upon.
We now look forward to the Asian cup and then beyond to the next qualification phase for South Africa 2010.

For Shane and I, last night was our last in London and the culmination of a wonderful journey. We were part of football history, we experienced some of the huge party that is a world cup and contributed to it in our own small way. We sung our hearts out, screamed and shouted.

We met many wonderful people from all over the world and made some good friends.

All that said, we both agree that we are ready to come home. We miss our families very much and are looking forward to seeing them again.

Match day - Australia v Croatia

As I write this, I am back in Bad Durkheim having driven here from Stuttgart with Tim. Shane is on the London Coach which is somewhere between here and Calais.

Last night has become the greatest night in the History of Australian Football. You all know about the match but I will add a few things about the pre-match.

The main mall in Stuttgart was a sea of both red and white and green and gold. When we heard the Cro's sing we knew we were in for a big night- they were easily the most vocal of the opposition supporters we had faced.

Tim and Michael Mann joined us for this match and they were both glad they made the effort to get to south-west Germany.

Some of the songs of note on the night were

Youre red youre white
youre going home tonight

Youre shit but youre chicks are hot

youre shirt looks like a chequered table cloth.

Shane will post photos when he gets a chance so stay tuned.

Dachau and The Samba Party

After a beer free day yesterday, we felt human once again and the morning was devoted to visiting the Dachau Concentration camp. This is place where many thousands of people were murdered and the site of some pretty horrendous medical experiments on prisoners. We saw the crematoria and gas chamber and left in a very sombre mood.

After the mornings activities it was time to head back to the LowenBrau Keller for the Samba Party. About 2000 Aussies in attendance and all in fine voice. Entertained by a selection of aussie hits followed by samba music and dancers. It was a Huuuuuge party.

Celebrities in attendance included:

the guy from Men at Work (Colin Hays?)
Matty Johns
Fatty
Eddie Maguire
John Oniell
Robbie Slater
Frank Farina
Sam Newman (Who was spat in the face and got into a punchup with some dickhead)

The Pictures tell the story

The Werfen Ice Caves and Salsburg

Today we piled onto the bus we call the shit bus and headed to Austria to take in the stunning beauty of the Austrian Alps and the largest ice caves in the world.

After a white-knuckle ride up the mountain to the ice caves we trecked another several hundred metres up to the entrance of the caves. It was a hot day and we were looking forward to some relief in the caves.

Shane had done this tour before and warned us that it was cold in there. When they opened the entrance door and an icey, 80 km\hr wind blasted us, we knew he was right.

The caves are AMAZING - 42 km deep. we trecked in 1 km. Harold our guide (Sherpa) was happy that with 200 Australians in the cave at once, we must have had the world record for Aussies in an ice cave.

After the ice caves, we drove to Salsburg in time for the Netherlands v Ivory Coast game. The world cup has served up some great games so far and this one was no exception.

After this, it was back on the shit bus and home through a massive afternoon storm. Luckily, when we got back to the tent, the contents were dry.

The FFA travel staff have been working their socks off to make sure we are having the time of our lives - they were working into the night ensuring tents were zipped up and everything stayed dry.

It was a beer and sausage free day for us today.

Bavarian Bar Crawl

The big fuck off pretzle ...not big enough to hide the git in the background

Prost


After a great night last night, we had a quiet morning in preparation for another big one. 1000 Aussies embarking on a Bavarian bar-crawl. The first venue was the Hirschgarten biergarten - the biggest beer garden in the world. The weather was beautiful once again and we enjoyed our first stein of the day with some great friends from Brisbane.

Then the large group split up into 3 sub-groups and headed for one of 3 beer gardens. Our next port o call was the lowenbrau bier garten and stein number 2 was demolished here.

The 3rd stop was our final - we went there early to get a good seat for the England v T&T match. There were further steins consumed and the singing was as good as ever.

My personal favourite was "Warnie shagged your missus and your Mum" sung to the Poms in the crowd. We are all new to this world cup supporters thing but we are learning fast and we will need all our skills against Brasil on Sunday.

WE ARE STILL NOT ABLE TO UPLOAD PHOTOS: WE EXPECT TO GET A CHANCE TO UPLOAD THESE LATER TODAY.

The Tent in Munich

After a 6-hour ride in what was the absolute best coach we had ever been in, we now are at the Tent in Munich. A massive sea of green tents has been erected. Facilities are ok - they dont seem to be as good as in Bad Durkheim - already, there is a queue for the showers.

We are kicking back in the little internet cafe at the camp-site, watching Aussie Mark Sheild officiating the Tunisia v Saudi match - which is being played here in Munchen. As with every so far here in Germany, the weather is HOT. Shane has cracked his first beer of the day. We are a little dusty today after what can only be described as the best party we have ever experienced last night. (singing and dancing on tables and swinging from the rafters). The Knaus campground put on 2 free barrels of beer last night which fueled the festivities and seeing Australia sitting top of the group after the Brasil game was an excuse to party late into the night.

We will post photos later.

Knaus - campground

The morning view from Tent 1. The Sm06 base.

Fussbal

Beer tent showing all matches

Tent city

A quick note on our accomodation. The pictures above tell the story.
Picture this: over 300 tents full of Aussies, 30 degree heat, 1 euro .5 litre German beers. Private lake, sports facilities. Wunderbah!!

Uk to Bad Durkheim

Sorrry about the orientation..

Warm Saturdays in London mean only one thing....nude cycling

Coach 5 Bound for Germany. After learning there was no bog on the bus we made a mad dash to the bogs in paddington station to dispense with the processed pints we'd had watching the England Paraguay match.

Bad Durkheim - Zentrum

There'll be seagulls over the white cliffs of Dover


A ferrymans dinner

Here we now are in Germany (crazy German keyboard layout). Our 46 hour journey has finally come to an end! We feel surprisingly good. We have wandered in to town to have breakfast and a beer and a Blog update.

London Calling

This pub contained flags of every world cup nation except Australia!

blah blah blah

Arrived safely

blah blah blah

At Tims

blah blah blah

Hot and sunny day in London

Off to pub to watch England v Paraguay
Note the Jets Shirt!!

Mobile phone contact

Just a quick note to let you know that I will be getting a sim card when I arrive in London. I will post the number on here once I know it.

Shane's phone will have global roaming but he will only be able to receive text messages.

Not long to go now!!

Thanks to Janine, Anna, Finn, Megan, Hamish & Bayden

There is no question that we would not have made it to the World Cup 2006 without the support & blessings of our two beautiful families. We just wanted to say thanks to you all and we hope that you will be watching us on the TV.

Itinerary

For those that are interested, here is a basic run -down of our itinerary

9 June - Depart Sydney at 3:45pm - for the long-haul to London (via Singapore) - I havent discussed the prospect of doing the "Boonie Challenge" on this flight. 52 beers over the duration of the flight - thats 2.5 beers every hour! (thanks Andy) That may sound easy - but to keep up that kind of drinking for a solid 21 or so hours is incredible. I will keep you posted on this.
10 June - Arrive in London at 6 am. Depart on the coach to Frankfurt at 3:30pm to arrive at 8:00am the following day
11 June - Arrival in Frankfurt & Tour Opening Party
12 June - Match Day - Australia v Japan in Kaiserslautern, 3pm
13 June - Chill Out at The Lake - what ever that means!
14 June - Munich & Lawrence of Arabia (adopt a team day for the Tunisia v Saudi Arabia match)
15 June - Bavarian Bar Crawl
16 June - Salzburg & Austrian Alps
17 June - Aussies Love Brazilians - its the Samba Party!!!
18 June - Match Day – Australia vs Brazil in Munich, 6pm.
19 June - Socceroo Training Session - Shane and I declare ourselves fit and available for selection for the Croatia game
20 June - Free day in Munich
21 June - Munich
22 June - Match Day – Australia vs Croatia in Stuttgart, 9pm
23 June - We jump back on the coach and head back to London for 4 days
Tim has now provided his itinerary for our stay at the Chataeu De Moore:
BEER
SAMBUCCA
CURRY
LAMP POST

27 June - Depart London time?? for Sydney

Our German accomodation is in Bad Durkheim - Home to the WORLDS LARGEST BARREL (Stay tuned for exclusive photos); and, The Tent in Munich.

Our London accomodation comes courtesy of Tim and Shell - Thanks guys and Tim...thanks in advance for the use of the BMW.