Day 13 – ‘The Long Walk’

The day began with much anticipation towards the much awaited sight-seeing of the beautiful city of Sydney. After a comfortable night sleep, surprisingly as it is to say with James Wilson and James Wagstaff, I awoke to the foolery of the JW duo chucking water at each other absolutely soaking themselves. However the worst was still to come for James Wilson…Heading down to breakfast in about a 50 floor hotel was not an easy task and almost made Josh Collis ‘dumpling’ and Cameron James ‘cammie’ very late but all was fine luckily. As we headed back to our rooms for collection of bags and final preparations for the day Mr. Wilson had realised he had left the 24^th man, Buster, behind at the table. It was only a matter of time before he would feel the wrath of not only Mr. Edwards but the entire tour team. Update of the stupid jumper and late cape was given to Alex Hurst for a horrendous enquiry of where to leave the hotel keys and also for being generally late. The punishment was harsh but fair for Wilson – no longer was he recognised as a member of the tour party and would be ordered to sit far away from everyone else and be generally ignored by Mr. Edwards. Mr. Green saw fit to award him random and embarrassing tasks throughout the day – distance no longer was 2 feet but quoted as “off the radar”.

Stepping into the brisk and beautiful sunshine of an Australian morning excited everyone to what the day might hold. Pictures were taken across the Sydney Harbour Bridge overlooking the impressive view of the city skyline and Opera House. Holder and responsibility of Buster was given to Richard Penn who saw fit to quite literally chase down early morning women jogging for over 200 metres for a respective picture. Although slow at first he did not give up the chase and remained committed for the rest of the day. Funnily enough as we were viewing the Opera House there seemed to be some dignitary arriving, turns out to be the head of the Fifa bid for the Australian World Cup 2022. An interesting cultural dance performed by some of the native Aborigines seemed to top off the day so far. Of course Mr. Green felt it necessary for a picture with the only woman present with the glamorous Buster. As she thanked us for our support for the Aussie bid he commented on the possible new headline for the media “Head of Australian bid for World Cup supports English chances for grammar-school rugby team” with the photograph below.

Walking through the Botanic Gardens was a fantastic experience for all as we got a short taste of the local Australian wildlife. James Wilson was then ordered to dunk his head into every fountain we came across meaning he was intensely wet. The stupid jumper was then passed over to Ben Malone for trying to convince Tom Fulford that dodo’s weren’t extinct in Europe. This feeble attempt at humour backfired terribly even worse as it was within earshot of the staff.

We then entered China Town where we were advised to have the ‘Emperor Cream Puffs’ which proved highly popular at only 30 cents each. Shopping seemed cheaper here allowing a short period for gifts to be bought for family members at home. Suddenly Josh Walton was given permission to dance – usually an embarrassing and cringing period for everyone but Josh impressed all with a highly amusing dance on a Chinese man who appeared bemused and angry to say the least. This was by far the best dance we had seen so far on tour and one that will not be surpassed by any. Further photographs were taken of the area including the spectacular Darling Harbour. Notably every photograph and team photo did not include James Wilson for obvious reasons. Towards the end of the day we returned to our hotel to collect our bags and head on to our billets at the St. Ives Rugby Club. With all tour members on their way to the their respective families their remained an air of excitement and eagerness to the next day’s evening match and final day tour of Sydney and its beaches.