Saturday morning we said goodbye to England and made our way to London Heathrow for the long trip home to Perth.

Gordon hugged his brother, perhaps for the last time and said his emotional goodbye. It was great to meet Rendel and I very much appreciate the hospitality he and Mandy showed us on this trip. Many thanks to Rendel’s “in-laws” too, especially Nick who drove us from the Airport to Stalbridge and having us for drinks to meet his wife and brother Hugo. Also thank you to Hugh and Colleen who graciously opened their home to us for our Lords adventure in London. We met so many generous and kind “poms” – it (almost) seems a shame that we have to beat them in the Ashes.

We boarded our seven hour flight to Doha trying the “seats in the middle” trick again. Again no luck as the plane was full. We had a five hour stopover in Doha where we used the time to pick up pasalubongs for our loved ones and I wrote some more of my blog.

The Qatar airways A380 to Perth was perhaps the longest and more tiring trip we had and we prayed to the airline gods that we could have the extra space. At last the gods smiled upon us and we had no one sitting beside us for the 11 hour trip. 1 out 4!

11 hours later…

We cruised into Perth about 6.30 pm missing the Fremantle Docker’s last home game for the season. We got a good view of the stadium as we approached the runway.

What a week! Its amazing what we packed into those few days. The Highlight was of course the cricket at Lords. My number one bucket list item fulfilled. Second was seeing the sights of Dorset. This was an unexpected day out for me and I loved the English countryside. The train from Dorset to London, riding the tubes, walking over the Thames and catching up with my old mate Chris were all special moments.

I loved every minute of the trip and can’t wait to get back and explore more of England and the rest of the UK.

Special thanks should go to my great buddy Gordon for travelling with me. Quite a different experience travelling with a friend rather than a partner. We had plenty of laughs and shared some truly memorable moments together. Thanks mate!

Oh yeah Jane got her designer bag from Stalbridge…