For many cricket lovers it’s the ultimate holiday, a few of weeks of sun, visiting the incredible sites of Australia combined with one of the world’s great sporting contests – the Ashes. Forget about a windy weekday in Trent Bridge, here’s where you want to experience this fantastic sporting event – November 2017 to January 2018 England will travel to Australia in an attempt to win back the Ashes
There are of course 5 matches which comprise the series and you can see them below;
- 23-27th November, Gabba Brisbane.
- 2-6th December, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.
- 14-18th December, Perth.
- 26-30th December, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.
- 4-8th January, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney.
To catch all would of course be the ultimate experience however for most it’s not really practical to manage all five Test Matches. However it’s often not as expensive as you might imagine especially as the major cost involved is usually the flights to Australia and back.
There are many companies who offer tailor built packages which involve tickets, accommodation and travel ranging from some site seeing and a couple of major test matches right the way to a 6 week luxury holiday covering the entire series. Most of the packages can be tailored too if you need something different but a reasonable two match package with hotels and flights, usually will be in the region of £3-4000 all inclusive.
The cost of living in Australia can be expensive mainly due to the exchange rates however it doesn’t vary much. Food and drinks can be quite costly though you’ll often find travel and accommodation a lot more reasonable. Also things like fuel are very low so travelling around in a hire or rented car can make some sense compared to taxis although it also should be noted that public transport is both inexpensive and excellent.
Here’s an example of a relatively inexpensive holidays which are pre-arranged: Taste of Victoria which covers the Adelaide test match.
- 1 night in South Australia’s capital, Adelaide
- 7 days Great Ocean Road self drive with hotels and car hire included
- 10 nights in Melbourne with 5 days match tickets to the penultimate Ashes Test
- Day tour to see the penguins of Phillip Island
- International flights with Qantas
Which is pretty good value if you consider the flights would be quite a large proportion of that cost. Although you should be able to add additional test matches quite easily remember to pre-book the tickets. Also if you’re out in Australia you’ll need to do something to access the Test Match Special which won’t be available online – however if you have a tablet or laptop you can use this to access iPlayer in Australia fairly easily.
Most of the travel consultants who operate cricketing holidays will also customise these packages for you if you ask. Mostly it’s fairly easy for them to create specific holidays if you want to visit certain places or see specific matches. It is of course possible to arrange most of these yourself but be careful about accessing tickets as these can sometimes be difficult outside the hospitality packages that travel firms have access to. Make sure you can access tickets before you start booking expensive flights if the matches are your priority.
Further Reading
James Williams, UK Proxy Online, Weber Press, 2016.