Ant Trails Ramblings

  So, we went to the tennis. The Australian Open, the AO. It’s in Melbourne you know. The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne is fierce on the East Coast of Australia. For the rest of the world however the image of Australia is of Sydney; the bay, the bridge and the House. Melbourne, they might wonder, what’s the point? Well in the last few days we have discovered what the point of Melbourne is. And it’s tennis. A tennis point! For two weeks in a year the city comes alive, basking in a brief period of global significance. A kind of collective madness descends on the place and perfectly sane looking people decide that $200 for an AO branded Polo shirt is a good value purchase. Tennis has always been of peripheral interest in my admittedly over-crowded field of sports interest. The last time I went to a professional tennis tournament it was in a leafy suburb of South West London and bad boy John McEnroe played, followed by the somewhat more appealing (to a teenage boy!) Hana Mandlik...

On our travels around Australia we have discovered that the best experiences to be had in the self-contained RV world are as far away from the city as you can get. There seems to be an inverse relationship between distance from civilisation and the wonder of the real Australia. The joy to be experienced in the far outback of the Northern Territory or the far North of WA (so we're told - we're going next year) is a complete contrast to what is available near the urban centres. Frankly, to experience joy in a city leave the RV and camping gear elsewhere and book into the most luxurious hotel you can afford. Preferably with a spa. A spa was something we craved through much of our journey across the South Coast, from the Eyre Peninsula to the South Coast of Western Australia via the Nullarbor. We fell into the trap of assuming anywhere in Australia should be starting to heat up as Spring heads towards Summer. Let me tell you there are lots of great places to play, but at this time ...

Golf. Let's be honest, its difficult enough at the best of times. In July I had the pleasure of playing a round at La Manga   in Murcia, Spain with my good friend Harry. The fairways were perfect and the rough really wasn't all that (rough). Armed with a handicap that reflected my general incompetence at the sport, I pulled off a memorable victory. It was a rare high point amongst my normally underwhelming dalliances with the game.  The contrast between that day and what Tracy and I have experienced over the last couple of weeks could not be more stark. We have been playing the 'World's Longest Golf Course', the Nullarbor Links . For those not familiar with the geography of Australia, the Nullarbor is a desert plain that's name derives from the latin - null (nil) arbor (trees). It divides the populated areas of South Australia to the East and West Australia, you've guessed it, to the West. As an aside, we don't have a North Australia (although we do have...

Being a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter with a passion for great leadership, I can’t help but share my thoughts on Ange Postecoglou, the first Australian to coach an English Premier League team. Early days still but eight games into the season and Tottenham sit top of the league. Following on from his success in Australia, Japan and Scotland, it is clear that there is much to be learnt about effective leadership from this man. Here are my observations: ·     He's a nice person. This for me is super important, all the best leaders I have worked under have demonstrated great humanity and care for others. ·     He gets the best from his players. By encouraging everyone to be their best selves, play to their strengths and without fear of failure. ·     He has a clear and consistent strategy. Tactics will change on a weekly basis, but the underlying philosophy doesn’t. “The only Plan B is to do Plan A better”....

It's the fifth and final leg of our Great British Sporting Crusade and Tracy and I are at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first home game of the season against Manchester United. Just in case anyone reading is not aware, I am a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter. I had a season ticket in the old West Stand at the age of 10 before they knocked it down to build the New West Stand before they knocked the whole stadium down to build the new one. Being a Spurs supporter was never a conscious decision for me, it was a birthright, or some might say a life sentence. The genesis of this situation was when my father, as a young lad, was offered the opportunity to go to a match by his uncle. "Do you like blue or red?" he was asked, to which my Dad replied "Blue". Had he not I would today be a supporter of that other North London team, Woolwich Wanderers. Virtually all football clubs, like Tottenham, stay true to their geographical roots. Every now and again a team ...

No 4 in our Great British Summer sporting crusade and we're at  Wembley for the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final. This event wasn't on our original itinerary but was quickly added when we discovered that the Leigh Leopards (nee Centurions) had made the final for the first time since their glorious victory of 1971. I should explain that Leigh is Tracy's childhood home town so, previously unaligned to any English Super League team, I instantly became a Leigh fan. (Any suggestions that this was seen as a way for a Tottenham fan to be able to celebrate a trophy are roundly rejected.) Leigh Leopards (nee Centurions) also gained a second new fan with the happy coincidence that my daughter Anna had arrived in the country two days before and is actually a rugby league fan herself.  When I was a kid I didn't take much notice of rugby league. It was the game played in places 'up north' that I'd never been to, and showed by the BBC on a Saturday afternoon to fill the t...

  No3 in our Great British Summer sporting crusade and we're at The Oval for day one of the fifth and final Ashes test match.  I am often asked who I support in the cricket now that I am a dual national, it's like a coded way of saying 'I know you've got both passports but what you are you really? Like deep down. In you soul.' And the answer is England, that is how I choose to see my life story. I'm an Englishman who went to live in Australia and also become an Australian. I am not an Australian who used to be an Englishman. Either would be acceptable but I choose the former. I've become interested in this concept of how we see the world, and our part in it, since I read a book about Selfies*. Those who follow Tracy and I on our travels through our Instagram account @anttrails will know that we enjoy taking selfies. In an idle moment, wandering around a bookshop whilst Tracy had her nails done (a prominent feature of Tracy's life story!), I bought said b...