Authentically Australia

KL Academy of Polo’s Perth Polo Experience Tour to Perth, Western Australia last week was a hugely enjoyable trip. Noreen Jilani, her son Emad, Datuk Kannan, Natasha and myself had a really wonderful time there, most of all because our friends at the Perth Polo Club were so hospitable. From the time we landed to the time we left, we were looked after wonderfully.

Noreen had got there a few days before, and drove to Margaret River and back, by the time we got there on Wednesday.  We met at Padbury’s, a great little cafe opposite the iconic Rose & Crown Hotel.  Australian breakfast food has a refreshing zing to it.    My friends John and Lyndie Fischer were generous in allowing everyone to stay at their house in Guildford, but it was to their Crimson Park Stud up in the hills of Gidgegannup, that we went for a drive to that afternoon.

At Crimson Park, we watched their 4-goal son, Hugo Fischer, school some young horses, and admired their stallion, Planet 5 in his 25-acre paddock.  Their polo field was in full bloom, the daffodils and kangaroos there to greet us.  It was really nice to see Crimson Park looking so good, and the Fischer’s so well.  Dinner that night was with Neville and Gillian Stewart, Hugo and his partner Chelsea, and the Fischer’s at Chidlow Pub.  Wouldn’t you know it, Peter Ghouse, from the legendary Malaysian pop group The Strollers, was playing there that night.  Natasha had a great time chatting with Peter, who is related to one of her besties.

Kannan arrived the next morning.  We all took a drive to King’s Park, a botanical garden, and admired the flora and fauna of Australia.   At lunch, I took the opportunity to reconnect with a musician friend of my own, David Clunies-Ross.  David is a band-master par excellence who now lives in Australia.

In the afternoon, Kannan and Noreen got a chance to try some horses, with a stick and ball at the Perth Polo Club’s ground at King’s Meadow.  There were a few nerves, especially at the prospect of riding some Thoroughbreds, but it all went very well.  Noreen and Kannan chose horses from the Fischers, Graham Lane and Adrian Cobley.

The Australians love Asian food, so it was no surprise when they announced that dinner that night was at a Vietnamese restaurant.

Friday was an authentically Australian day.  We drove up to Gidgegannup, meeting at the polo field in the morning.  Andrew Kikeros explained what a stock saddle is, to Noreen and Kannan.  Then, a big group went out on a Bush Ride.

Once off the Fischer’s property, they had 10,000 acres of Australian Bush to roam.  Expertly led by Perth Polo Club’s past President, Neville Stewart, and current Vice President, Graham Lane and his lovely wife Marina, Lyndie Fischer, Andrew Kikeros and Adrian Cobley, Noreen and Kannan had a chance to hack out, riding over hilly Australian terrain, and experiencing the wildlife.  The Bush Ride was about 90 minutes, enough to build up a proper appetite for the Australian barbeque that followed.

Graham is also the President of the Australian Polocrosse Association.  He taught us how to throw some balls to each other using polocrosse racquets.  It was great fun!  Polocrosse is an inclusive game in that you can play catch with each other even when you are not on a horse.  The rules are such that only one horse is allowed per player, and players can play many matches in a day.   It is no surprise that it is one of the fastest growing games in horse sports.  It was really fun playing with the polocrosse racquet and ball.

Kannan and Noreen mounted up after lunch and played two chukkas of polo.  It was good to see former Australian star Ed Goold back in the saddle.  With Noreen and Kannan on opposite sides, it was fun to watch friendly Australian polo.  I noticed that very few players would turn the ball there, preferring unselfishly, to hit it first time to their team-mates.  Both Noreen and Kannan got on well with their horses, and scored some nice goals, the highlight of which was a 60-yarder that Kannan put through with a good hit.

The day finished early enough that we had time to stop at a saddlery shop on the way home.  Then it was a taste of Alfredo’s classic burgers for Emad, and a lentil burger for Kannan, while Noreen, Natasha and I went out to Kappy’s for some Italian.  As I said, we really enjoyed Australia’s cuisines.

It rained a little on Saturday morning, turning the weather a little colder than the wonderful mid-20’s we had enjoyed.  With the morning off, we raced into Fremantle and had breakfast at an Italian Cafe called Gino’s, recommended by my friend Peter Tan, who owns and runs his own Sala Thai restaurant in Freo.  Peter, and another old St Andrew’s buddy Dr Jake Mitra met us there.  After breakfast, we did a bit of shopping at the Fremantle Market and Christmas Festival Market, which was on the green at the harbour-front.

The big game was that afternoon, so we left Freo before noon. It was a 4-chukka match at the Perth Polo Club’s King’s Meadow polo ground.  Players came from all over Western Australia.  Zoë Ednie-Brown and Julie Bolingbroke drove four hours from Kojonup for the weekend.

Noreen played really well, making many great runs at goal, and even making a super saving play off her own goal line.  Kannan was a scoring machine that day!  It was an excellent match. Both Noreen and Kannan loved their horses, and I hope have come to realise that most Australian Thoroughbreds don’t deserve the bad reputation ex-Racehorses have in Malaysia.  If you asked me who won the match, I couldn’t tell you, but polo and friendship certain were the winners that day.

Saturday night’s  dinner was an Indian affair at the Tandoori Bistro just off the Great Eastern Highway.  Noreen ordered in Urdu, and we had an excellent north Indian meal   Definitely as good as any Indian we have had in Malaysia.

The next morning, we said goodbye to Noreen and Emad, who had to fly back to Kuala Lumpur to be in time for school on Monday morning.

Kannan played another outstanding four chukkas that afternoon at King’s Meadow.  The match was well attended.  I got to catch up with my friend Derek Reid, who I got to know well from our time running the FIP Snow Polo World Cups and FIP Super Nations Cups in Tianjin, China.  It was great to see Dick Lester, Leonard Hamersley, Imagele and Hugo Fischer,and many other friends there at the Perth Polo Club again.  It was also very good to make new polo friends there.

Then it was time for us to say our farewells too.  I would have loved to have stayed longer, but lessons and businesses beckoned.

It was a fantastic tour, one that we all really enjoyed.  We look forward to a bigger and better tour in 2023.