Great Drive, Great Venue, Great Company, Crap Taxis

Mel and I left for Brisbane at 4:45am on Friday morning and had a clear run out of Sydney, in fact we got from our house to the F3 without stopping at a single set of lights - that'd have to be at least 20 sets of lights. We were in Newcastle by around 6am and chomping down on Maccie D's at 7. The drive was uneventful and mostly pretty good going. The Kepsey bypass is quite a construction. It must be 30 or 40 kilometres long but desperately needed. We stopped at the Riverside Park for lunch and sampled the local brew - VB. Stocking up the in-car refrigerator we were armed and ready for the remainder of the drive.

We caught up with Anne Wade and Jeremy who is staying there prior to his posting in Florida with the US Navy on exchange from the Australian Navy. Lots of laughs and a Thai dinner later we hit the sack. I put myself to sleep thinking of the sweet taste of victory that would most certainly come our way on the morrow.

Saturday was spent sitting around relaxing and waiting for the big game. I bought the local Courier Mail to read the hype. Sadly there was only one pitiful article recycling the usual tripe about cameras spying on the teams which I note turned into a bit of a beat up in the Aussie media after the game. There was no mention of whether we had any Labor ministers, MPs or backbenchers willing to be the NSW government

We spied Aussie Robbie talking on the news about how it was going to be a game like no other. Well I've seen a heap of Bledisloe Cup games live and I could tell him it was going to be just like the other ones played in the last few years - close and down to the wire.

We headed into the city from south Brisbane at around 3pm and caught the route 555 bus - this becomes important information later. I must say that the Cane Toads know how to build busways. Carr, no Iemma, no Rees....well whomever the latest Labor screw up is, could certainly take some tips from these chaps. When they build a bus way up here they do it properly with bridges and tunnels so that the bus doesn't need to stop at the lights!!! They have 1/4 the population and less than their fair share of the brains and yet they can teach us a thing or two about building bus lanes.

We got to the city in less than 30 minutes and headed straight to the nearest pub to establish ourselves and begin the campaign. The atmosphere was promising. Plenty of likely lads including a Yarpie wearing his SASOL shirt (which I learnt the other day is a mining company). Perhaps he was there from last year's tri-nations or he picked up the wrong program guide but anyway he seemed to be enjoying himself with his mates.

Johnny arrived and upped the pace a little but nothing Brother Ian, Mel and I couldn't handle. Jeremy sneaked in a "wedgy" which I learnt is a drink you slip in between shouts. Fine form indeed and showing the Navy training is paying off. Here we are at the boozer

After an hour or so we decided to head towards the stadium to be within close proximity of the event. Well a bit of a walk turned into a significant walk and the grumbles from Melsy were increasing with each block. Fortunately we got to the stadium precinct before we hit crises point and were able to refuel quickly. Plenty All Black supporters here I thought to myself. You could have been forgiven for thinking that we were in New Zealand but the reality is more likely that the Kiwis are more inclined to have a few beers before the game than Aussies.

We headed to the game in time to get supplies and see the new Haka - no medals for predicting that.

And a good game it was. Started off exactly as anticipated and ended the first half with Australia in front. Ian had predicted this and we weren't worried at all. Its a game of 80 minutes we told ourselves.


Half time over and the business end of the game began. Twenty one unanswered points and Ian and I were high fiving and enjoying the game feeling a little less stressed but it wasn't in the bag by any means. Mel started to distance herself from us and at one stage I thought the iPod was going to come out but then the Aussies came back with a vengeance and it was game on. In the end there wasn't enough time and the Mighty All Blacks bagged the silverware yet again.

I must say that Suncorp Stadium or whatever its currently called is a great ground. One of those made-for-football grounds where you get a good view of the game from anywhere rather like Moore Park in Sydney.

So with the silverware secured it was time to celebrate the win with like minded individuals. We hit a couple of pubs and Mel felt better being surrounded by Wallybee supporters. There were plenty of men in black and a great rugby feeling to the crowds.

This bloke had too many but kindly gave us a photo op.


Unfortunately the night ended with a 5 hour wait to get a taxi home. After three hours waiting for a taxi we decided to find the route 555 bus to Logan City. Once we found the bus stop we only had to wait another hour for a bus.

The Brisbanites can learn how to manage public transport for world class sports event from Sydney and can learn how to build bus ways from them.