I feel like I know Australia pretty well. I’ve been to the continent about 15 times. My father visited when he was a professional cricketer and lived in Melbourne around 1978. I spent six months in that city when I was in my teens, which was a great experience.
As Brisbane is the first Test match we play, it is always at the start of our series of matches and so we are all focused on cricket and performing as well as we can. When we go for a tour, we usually warm up in Perth, Sydney and Tasmania before flying into Brisbane.
My main impression of the city is that it is a beautiful place. The climate is so different to other parts of the continent. It’s humid and there can be big storms here, too. When we play in the Gabba, it can be intimidating. Australia haven’t lost a Test match there for 20 years. The actual ground is like a bowl, with 60,000 spectators and no view out of it, so it is intense.
The England team usually stays in the same hotel, which is very central: the Sofitel. It is very comfortable, and easy to walk around down to the riverfront and take in what is going on in the city.
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Of the many good restaurants I’ve been to, one that stands out is Jellyfish (jellyfishrestaurant.com.au), which does great seafood dishes – I really do love my food. I also like a bar called Friday’s (fridays.com.au), which has good views across the water. The Story Bridge at night is an awesome sight, lit up by the city in the background.
I’ve played golf locally at the Pacific Beach Golf Club. Golf is a great game for taking your mind off cricket. One of the most striking aspects of Brisbane is the wildlife. Just walking on a golf course, you will come across snakes or green lizards. I’m really not keen on snakes, spiders I don’t mind so much, so it really focuses the mind when wildlife like that is underfoot.
Because Brisbane has these unbelievable storms, you can get to see amazing sunsets. The early evening is my favourite time of day; the deep burning orange skies are memorable. We played a couple of rounds of twilight golf and the sunsets were incredible.
When I get more time to visit other parts of Queensland, I really want to go to Fraser Island. As a child, I used to love reading a book that my stepmother had about it on our shelves at home. The island has beautiful, still turquoise water and golden beaches. I’d love to go there and find out if it lived up to my hopes.
I do enjoy Peregian Beach, which is a drive north of the city. It has a great long stretch of sand – the perfect place for a relaxing walk along the seafront during our time off.
There’s a lot to see for tourists around Brisbane. The Gold Coast is not far away to the south, and farther north up the coast is Cairns.
My father is just about to visit Hamilton Island in December, which is perfect for seeing the Great Barrier Reef. So far, alas, there hasn’t been much time to explore those areas, but I’m hoping in future I’ll get more time to do just that.
And in a few years’ time, when life is different, I can take longer holidays to Australia. There is so much to see.
Stuart Broad is an Investec cricket ambassador (investec.co.uk/pb)
Interview by York Membery
To download the Telegraph Travel app, with an expert guide to Brisbane and Queensland, go to http://ift.tt/1pwJPtd . For more information, see queensland.com and australia.com
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