Match day, but first some R&R in the morning. The boys had the morning free to do as they pleased. Some took a cab into Cairns city centre for a little shopping and a bite to eat; others just took the opportunity for a lie in. We assembled at 2:00pm to head off for our last fixture against Trinity Anglican School.

Thankfully the game started at 4pm as the heat of the day subsided. The game began as all our encounters in Australia have - tough and physical and it was clear the opposition were prepared to take the game to us. After an initial phase absorbing pressure St John’s were finally able to get their hands on the ball. Some good work at the rucks by the forwards and slick handling led to the first of many tries. An 11 try fest for the visiting team saw us emerge 67-0.

But it was not always one way traffic and our opponents made some desperate attempts to cross our line. A brilliant tackle by Jake Luscombe held the opposition up over the line. Ed Mac was brilliant leading the line and I hope the junior players have learnt from his example. He was immense today and led the side brilliantly as he has done all tour. A fine send-off to his playing career at St John’s.

Well done to the team on winning five out of five. A great effort. Tomorrow is our last day in Australia - a little R&R in the morning and then we head off to Hong Kong and on to London to enjoy the rest of our summer break.

The game was a tough physical affair and The Cathedral School clearly had some speed out wide. No quarter asked or given was the motto for today’s game and St John’s were clearly up for this type of encounter. Gareth Powlson scored a well worked try in the first ten minutes and the conversion was promptly knock over by Eliiot Davies. But this is where it stayed for a large part of the first half.

Our opponents replied just before half time leaving the score at 7-5. We began the second half at a frantic pace and scored two excellent tries early in the second half. Davies converted both and we lead 21-5.

Our opponents throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at us and were finally rewarded with a second try. The score was now 21-5. A penalty took the score out to 24-12. Another try from our hosts 8 minutes from time set up a tense finale. With the score at 24-17. We pressed hard up the field and Elliot Davies took a well taken try and conversion to seal the victory 31-17. Definitely Elliot’s best game on tour, contributing 16 individual points. We enjoyed a hard fought win and now look forward to our final few days in Cairns.

A long day of travelling lay ahead. We left Surfers Paradise at 8:45am for our coach trip to Brisbane Airport. Upon arrival at the airport fog all over the eastern coast of Australia had already played havoc with flight schedules for the morning. Our flight was delayed by just over an hour and so we had to hang  around the airport, a skill we perfected in our six hour stop over in Hong Kong. A short two hour flight to Townsville and we finally arrived. At last it is warm and there is no rain. From the airport we take a short drive through Townsville to meet our hosts.

It is still raining this morning but the forecast is set to clear up. A trip to the local mall and a game of team bowling clearly showed which boys spend too much time in bowling alleys.

From here we headed off to the Q Deck - one of the highest apartment blocks in the world with 77 floors. The observation deck gave some simply stunning views of the Gold Coast, even through the cloudy weather - the picture shows the view in better weather!