Well, it was an Asian Cup quarter final, between Iran and Iraq, so along with nearly 20,000 fanatical supporters of the round ball game, I ignored the 30 plus degrees temperature, travelled the 15 minutes it takes to get to the stadium in easy-to-get-around Canberra, and sat in the blazing sun from 5pm till sunset as the game unfolded in front of me. And what an amazing match it was.
But hang on – I thought this blog was about travelling around Australia by bus and train. What’s soccer got to do with travel? Hold your horses; check out p 377 of the yet-to-be published ‘Safari’. Better still, I’ll quote the relevant paragraph.
‘I was closing in on Melbourne, Australia’s other great city. While I knew Sydney well, Melbourne remained a mystery. As a Sydneysider, I was genetically wired to dislike the southern capital; several stays over the years had failed to win me over. One of those was in 1997, when my son Tristan and I went to the soccer world cup qualifier between Iran and Australia. With 85,000 screaming fans, the atmosphere was electric. The Socceroos led 2–0 with 20 minutes to go; a world cup birth was within our grasp, until Iran netted two late goals to sink the Aussies. I was gutted. Quite reasonably, I blamed Melbourne.’
Now, I’m not vengeful by nature, I’m not the sort of person to hold a grudge for 18 years, but I did want Iraq to win! And when the Iraqi players ran on to the field in their emerald strip, I figured I was on a winner. However, I still had some misgivings. Surprisingly, these doubts stemmed from the Iran strip, which featured the Asiatic cheetah, an innovative way to highlight the plight of this endangered species to the sporting world.
So it became, for me, a match between the ‘Greens’ and the ‘Cheetahs’. I hoped it would be a good, close encounter between these arch rivals but someone had to win. With memories of 1977 still lingering, I stayed with Iraq.
And, as they say, the rest is history. The teams were 1-1 at full time; 3-3 after extra time; and Iraq finally prevailed 7-6 in the penalty shootout, an engrossing game, one of the best international matches seen in Australia according to some commentators.
And it happened in Canberra! (allow me some provincial pride).
Meanwhile ‘Safari’ starts to gain some traction. I spent last week ‘doing’ Canberra’s bookshops and getting printing quotes. Five stores have agreed to stock it, and I’m negotiating with several others. When I have finalised arrangements and have the books printed, I will list the stores on my website and the blog. Non-Canberrans will (eventually) be able to purchase print copies of Safari through my website
Smashwords has distributed the ebook to its retail partners and it is turning up on many websites including our own Angus & Robertson’s, and Bookworld. It is also on Amazon and iBooks. I am working with my ebook publisher, An Van den Borre of Rubida Communications, exploring ways to expand the marketing of the ebook.
See you next week. In the meantime:
Read lots, travel safe.