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Got back yesterday arvo. England turned on the weather for us, by which I mean I haven't seen the sun since crossing the channel! Spent last night watching the England - Tonga match with Binnie, who left for Cambridge this morning, so we made the most of the night. I got home after midnight and resumed my search for a way to watch the AFL Grand Final, which continued until 4am when I gave up and went to bed. I'm toying with the idea of bombarding BigPond and the AFL website with emails about the extortionate setup of the internet clips of the AFL, which you have to have BigPond broadband to view. This meant I couldn't even watch the post-game review and resigned myself to reading the written account of the game, which was great but not quite the same seeing your team win. Cats broke the 44 year premiership drought in style; with the largest winning margin in a grand final ever! Was most happy to hear that Dad had got a ticket to the game, not as happy as him though I'll warrant.
It's a big day of sport, no less than 4 rugby matches to keep me occupied! New Zealand demolished Romania in a boring one-sided affair. Australia took Canada, not as comfortably as they might but they took them. Fiji just beat Wales in an absolute thriller to go through to the quarter finals. It came right down to the last minute with the islanders scoring a try and cinverting to force the Welsh to score a try or die. (Pardon the pun) The hero of the match was Nicky Little who seriously injured his knee three minutes from the end of the game. Scotland - Italy smack it out for the 2nd place in their group later tonight. It's been a good day.
France was brilliant. Cycled 800+ miles all up. From Calais to Paris via Giverny and Monet's Garden, train down to the French Alps, cycle over to Lake Annecy, train to Avignon, cycle to the Ardeche gorge, canoe down the Ardeche gorge, cycle back to Avignon, train to Bordeaux, cycle around Bordeaux and visit some vineyards. Then train to Paris and the Eurostar home. A month later and I have a decent tan, a ginger beard, scruffy hair, considerably less money than when I set out, 300 photo's, and tons of great stories. And, having watched as many games as possible, I'm pretty keen to play some rugby!