Boxing Day in Australia is synonymous with two long-standing sporting events – The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the start of the Test Cricket. This year India and Australia faced each other on the hallowed grounds of the MCG.
In East New Britain, Boxing Day is synonymous with the Kokopo versus Kerevat Cricket Match, played at the stunning Kerevat Country Club. In the match yesterday Papuan New Guineans, Indians and Australians banded together in a fabulous multi-cultural match that saw the Kokopuddlians come out on top.
The spectators sit in the shade of the massive kings of the rainforest, the Kapok trees.
The cotton-like Kapok fibre can be seen all over the ground from the seed pods high up in the trees.
25 comments:
Nice photos.
Isn't it fascinating that cricket - originally that most English of sports - is played in PNG. I love these photographs and what stunning trees. I've watched cricket in Canterbury, in Australia, in Singapore (even in Los Angeles where the film community has/had a British team) and suddenly I'm homesick - not sure for where tho!
Now that's my kind of cricket ground.
Do you think your team would like to play an exchange match with my village team?
This tradition sounds like loads of fun! Sadly many of the traditional Boxing Day events and even Christmas Day events in Jamaica have fallen by the wayside and are no more. :(
I'm so sorry you're having trouble viewing my page, jules. Dial up sucks, doesn't it ? :-( I've been trying to keep the photos small and have today reduced the number of posts on the main page to 5, so hopefully this will help.
in Portugal we don't have that tradition of the boxing day...
Gads, I can feel the warm breezes on my face as we speak! Wonderful!
I really don't know the rules of cricket :-)) I dn't even know what MCG means. I learn so much on your blog, Jules!
The photos are very beautiful.
Have a great year 2008!
Nice photos and some interesting info here. And it brought me back some memories of those days I lived in South Africa and played crikect in school.
Dive - what fun!! But you realise the local tradition is that the losing team are fed to the crocs!!!!
Ann - thank you sooo much - that will make such a difference and I so do love visiting you as we have so much in common!! Will hot foot it over there now!!!
jilly - the Australians brought cricket with them to PNG but football is what the PNG people love more than anything - they are mad keen supporters of Australian football teams (not soccer - rugby league I'm talking about )
Marie - sorry - MCG is the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Quinto - yes the Sth Africans love their cricket too - and they are great opponents of ours!!!
I sometimes watch a Cricket Match in Central park--
Jules,
First off I very much enjoy your daily photos. I also have to admit I knew what kapok was but I had never seen a photo of a kapok tree or seen the cotton from one. So, thanks for teaching me something!
I too will add a link from my blog to yours. I’ve been meaning to add some links to some of my favorite daily photo blogs and now you have kicked me into action. Thanks for that too. And, thanks for your kind words on my blog.
Very interesting post Jules. I love learning about different holidays and cultures. i don't think I have seen the actual kapok tree before.
you have the boxing day criket in England the booxing day football;
in France not of sport it is rather the boxinfg day to eat
Looks like a fantastic day!
I remember being a HSC marker out at the old Sydney Showground when the kapok trees were in blossom - the fibres caused more than few itchy noses and allergic reations!
A great set of pictures for sure Jules.. so warm looking.. I step outside and the cold hits me right on the nose here.. ha!
Thank you for the explanation, Jules :-)
Cricket. I think of those creatures that hop around and sing. I never understood Cricket as the sport it is. I suppose it depends on where you are born in much the same way ones religion depends on whose house you are born in.
Nice photographs, nonetheless, and the fluffy, cotton-like material is used for pillows isn't it?
Your photographs make it look so calm and peaceful there.
Wow kapok, we used to stuff toys with it, I never really thought about where it came from.
OTW must have thin blood - it's not that cold here!
Interesting post.
Hope you got your cards ok Jules.
Breaking News - now up
Tom & Lizzy - I'm with Tom - if it gets below 23 degrees Cel. I'm heading for the blankets!!!
sally - yes the stuff just gets right up your nose - very sneezy!!!
Abe & Lizzy - yes it is used for stuffing things
Imac - the cards are going to my base in Australia so should get them late January when i go home. I am soo looking forward to them!!!!
Did Moot Moot (alias Mark Svenson) tak another classic catch this year?
Your pics bring back some great memories. I used to live about 1/2 mile from polo fields on the North Shore of Oahu that had the same sort of ambiance evident here. I can almost smell the plumeria!
What a fantastic scene and what an enjoyable event it must have been.
It's so admirable to see the chaps drinking mineral water. So British ?
I always wondered what a Kapok tree was...now I know. ! Hope you had a great holiday(s) and look forward to seeing more gigantic bugs and volcanic mayhem from your corner of the world in 2008!!
Cricket has been a common tradition over the years. I enjoyed the games well. From my memory, there were at least a couple of english players that "banded" with the australians,indians and papua new guineans. All in all its a lovely tradition.
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