I went to the Melbourne and Sydney Test Matches in 2006/07, unbelievable experience albeit we were 3-0 down and the Ashes were lost by the time we departed Heathrow so it was a bit tame on the cricket front. Losing on Day 3 in Melbourne and on Day 4 in Sydney did mean we were able to see more of the cities etc so that was all good in that respect. It was a superb Australian team to watch with the likes of Hayden, Ponting, Langer, Warne, Gilchrist, Lee, McGrath etc.
The Aussies outside of the cricket grounds were great, enjoyed good chat and the females loved the British accent so enjoy. Once inside the cricket ground, they can turn into, shall we say, a different beast.
Went with a small group and booked with the Barmy Army as at the time we felt it was the easiest option, they booked all the flights, accommodation and match tickets so all you had to do was rock up. You did have to pay a bit extra for the match tickets (as demand was high after the 2005 series) via the Barmy Army rather than buy direct from ACB but it was one of those things.
Funnily enough I was clearing out the loft the other day and stumbled across all the documentation from it. For 2 weeks in Melbourne & Sydney with flights, accommodation and tickets it came in at £1,995pp back in 2006. The beer was relatively cheap out there too at the time if I recall.
We even managed to go and watch Sydney FC play New Zealand Knights (now bust). Terry Butcher was manager of Sydney FC. If I remember we were treated to watching an ageing Dean Gordon, Darren Bazeley Neil Emblem and Scot Gemmil strut their stuff for NZ.
I preferred Melbourne over Sydney but I would love to go out there again for cricket but maybe to Adelaide and Perth.
Oof, that was the series off the back of Englands first ashes win in donkeys wasn't it? and McGrath + Warnes final tests. We were absolutely obliterated.
Yeah the Barmy Army packages was what I was looking at. Roughly 6k now!
Thanks for the feedback.
