First up, the Aussies innings - Gilly failed again (obviously saving himself for that mammoth innings in the final!) but Ponting and Hayden were in fine form as usual....
First, the Ponting collection:
Now, the Hayden Collection:
Now for a bit of light relief.....Big sunglasses.
Big ponytails.
Big.......ah.........ah.......
ah.................bikini!!
What were you thinking???!!!
Hayden bludgeoned the ball to all parts of the ground and scored his ton at better than a run a ball -
it was a beautiful display to witness first hand.
Symonds came in and decided to get in on the
act as well, trying to clear the fence with pretty
much every delivery he faced!
Below is a shot of the World Cup mascot, Mellow! Pretty craptacular mascot, particularly once you hear the spiel over the PA for the hundredth time about how he represents an attitude (ie - lazy islander!!) rather than any particular race, gender, age, etc, etc. I just pity the poor bugger who had to get around in that costume in that hot and humid weather! The other shot is my token shot of Daniel Vettori in action. He's crap and he's a Kiwi but I had to photograph him as he's Inge's favourite!
I also have to make a public apology here. For quite some time I (along with many others!) had been quite vocal that Shane Watson shouldn't be playing for Australia and why should we pick someone who's a substandard batsman and bowler, just because he happens to be able to both ok! Anyway, he decided to prove me wrong in a big way putting on a massive display of power hitting to put on 65 off 32 balls including 4 fours and 4 sixes. The second photos shows the Aussies impressive score of 6/348.
During the lunch break, they gave the volunteers a parade - must have been thanking them for doing a great job of keeping people from putting their feet on the seats, the most pointless enforcement I've ever seen at a sporting event - the stadium seats are plastic for F*@K's sake and were mostly empty!!! After that brief interruption to the cricket, the Aussies made light work of ripping through the Kiwi's top order and got plenty of opportunities to take a break!
Bracken was certainly enjoying himself.........while Hussey decided to get on
the phone and order the celebratory drinks so they had time to chill!
Ponting has also been hanging out with Glenn McGrath too long and
gave the thumbs up to the crowd after a comprehensive win.......
and Strauchanie was suitably impressed!
The scoreboard tells the story of how the Kiwis folded like a cheap suit at the business end of the tournament! The win was so comprehensive that Brad Hodge (12th or 13th man again!) decided he should take up footy rather than make a career as the cricket team's bar tender!
After a final evening moored in Grenada it was time to head off towards Bequia
and we overnighted again at Union Island after another solid day's sailing.....
.....and took the opportunity to snorkel from the
boat over to the Island Bar for a rum cocktail!
Here's a shot of the Island Bar close up - not sure if there
was any planning permission for this place which appeared
to essentially be a pile of concrete dumped on the reef with
a boatload of sand and a shack built on top! Still, quite a
novel idea and he got our ten EC Dollars!
Here's our skipper Jeff getting a little to close to the camera, after he handed over the reigns
to our new skipper, Inge (looking right at home!).
Finally we made it to Bequia for lunch, passing by some
beautiful old boats in the bay, most of which were
running cruises for the World Cup.
The outer harbour of Bequia was divine and we decided to pull up
just off a beautiful white sandy beach for a swim while Dany
whipped up lunch (it's a tough life!).
It was so nice it had Inge wishing we had more than one day in Bequia left before we had to go
home, and had Chris deep in concentration taking photos!
Here's a couple of shots of the beach at Bequia.
And a rather poor self portrait attempt!
There were quite a few restaurants on the island but the "Whaleboner" Cafe would have to win
the prize for most unusual name!
The sunset over the harbour was quite spectacular though.
We had a few Adelaide people Karl met at the cricket join us on the boat for the trip to Bequia so
we made use of Cam (who is a sports photographer for the Advertiser!) to get a few professional
shots of the crew before we departed Bequia:
And here's what we left Bequia on! So no inflight entertainment, but at least it offered some
magnificent views of the islands....
And finally, whilst we made it back safely to Barbados airport and on to London,
it was good to know that if we had had an accident during our time in the Caribbean,
they have EMERGENCY Ambulances, not just normal ambulances!
We had a wonderful time in the Caribbean and would love to go back again (when there aren't so many Kiwis, South Africans and yobbo Aussies for that matter all in the one spot!!). This was without doubt the most relaxing holiday we have ever taken. There is just something incredibly de-stressing (as opposed to distressing!) about being on a boat with such perfect weather and that crystal clear water all around you and being able to make it all up as you go along. Might have to call our travel agent now.......
Next on Ben's agenda - to catch up on his photo sorting and post some photos from our 2006 trips to the Football World Cup in Germany and the Kirsten Family safari to South Africa and Namibia.
Take care,
Ben & Inge
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