Perth to Darwin to Melbourne to Brisbane

Well one thing is for sure is that I have now got very used to flying, packing, sleeping at weird times and changing the time on my phone.

Once again I had a lot of travel over a short space of time, 4 long flights over 5 days which took me from the furthest western part, then northern and now eastern part of Australia.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to go home for a few days and visit family as well as have a partnership meeting with the WACA. Perth will always be home whether or not I have family there, it is so familiar and just feels like home and somewhere I feel I belong.

I spent 3 full days and saw the whole family including a night at my Brothers staying in Davis's bed.... has been a few years since I was in a bunk bed.

After Perth it was a 4 hour flight to Darwin to meet with the guys from NT cricket as part of their partnership with the ICC. The top end has had a massive increased interest in cricket mainly because Australia has now scheduled matches there every year for the last 4 or so years. It is a great place to play during the southern winter as it is warm and the grounds are outstanding.

Then a 1am flight to Melbourne to finally see my new place I'm living in with a mate from Perth in Chris Rogers. Chris moved over to Vic for cricket and we have a great little joint in Prahran just near commercial road.

So after a day of running around to Ikea and cleaning the place up it was time to head out for dinner with Chris and Joanna to celebrate the new place. Was also a chance for Chris and I to finally have a few drinks together which we have not really done in Melbourne so far.

Saturday morning..... 7am OUCH alarm goes and I'm now required to get dressed and ready for my flight to Brisbane to attend the Centre of Excellence for the next two weeks. Chris was also heading to the airport as he had a one day game against NSW, we decided to share a cab but when the cab arrived and we both had two big cricket bags we soon realised this was not going to happen. Not even a paper, scissors rocks and I allowed Chris the first cab.

So all settled in now and all the players from my region have arrived safely in what has been a full on few days with several visits to the airport to collect the players who started arriving Saturday morning.

The hotel is fairly basic but great for the players as it is only a short stroll to the complex at Allan Border field where the academy is based. The academy used to be based in Adelaide for its first ten years but due to the excellent weather conditions it has now relocated and is one of the best facilities in the world.

The players from my region are really excited and are amazed they are using the same equipment and grounds that the Australian players will be using in about 3 weeks time when they get home from India and prepare for the Australian summer.

Tomorrow we have our first game against a overseas academy side mainly consisting of English minor and second X1 county players. The team we have selected for tomorrow is not our strongest as I really want some of our new players to get straight into things and it also allows them a chance to prove how much they deserve their selection.

The squad consists of 14 players from Fiji, japan, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa. No PNG players this week as they are attending next week for their preparation for World cricket league next year.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from today, they are of the squad this morning before leaving the hotel and then some of the players doing the yo yo test and also in the nets.