Port Adelaide's Aboriginal AFL Academy is in China for a unique 10-day trip, which will involve cultural exchanges, a game against Team China and a trip to the Great Wall of China.

Academy graduate Anthony Stengle will give regular updates on his experiences.

Day 3
Today we woke to another warm day in Hong Kong.

We are staying at a youth hostel at the top of a mountain and although the accommodation is pretty modest we have a million dollar view to enjoy each morning when we have breakfast.

After breakfast we all jumped in a bus and headed to Ocean Park Zoo.

We arrived at 10.00am and spent the next few hours at Ocean Park.



The boys all had a great time.

We felt at home straight away because we got to see some native Australian animals like wallabies and kookaburras.

But the highlight was seeing the two South Australian koalas that have been sent across from Cleland National Park in Adelaide.

We even saw the membership plaque that our Chairman David Koch presented to them early in the year.



After visiting this enclosure we all spent time looking around the rest of the zoo. This was place was huge and so much more than just a zoo. It had a chairlift that took us across the other side of a mountain where there were numerous rides including a rollercoaster which was awesome fun.

We headed back across the mountain on a return chairlift ride and enjoyed the amazing views across Hong Kong.

For lunch we headed to this restaurant which had the biggest aquarium I have ever seen. There would have been hundreds of fish swimming around including big hammer head sharks and a massive stingray that was about two metres wide!



After lunch we looked around for a bit longer and then headed back to the bus in preparation for our first game of football on the trip, a game against the Hong Kong Dragons at the Hong Kong Football Club.

When we arrived at the ground I couldn’t believe how good the facilities were. They were first class. The ground is actually situated inside the Happy Valley Racing Club which also had a racing meet scheduled for later that night.

The ground itself was not like a normal football ground but more of rugby union or soccer pitch. Basically, it was rectangular in shape and instead of grass the surface was like astro turf.



It didn’t matter because the boys were just so excited to be playing a game of Aussie Rules in Hong Kong. What an experience.

Our opponents were made up of a group of Aussie expats who definitely knew how to play. I even heard that one player was an All-Australian under 18 player when he was younger while others had played footy at a pretty high level.

So we were expecting a tough game.

Before we got underway we performed our war cry which was a big thrill again because it was the first time we had done it before an actual game.



The game got underway and we got out of the blocks fast. We had our running game up and going and our skills were good. At quarter-time we led by 31 points, 40-9.

During the second quarter the Dragons started to settle into the game and were moving the ball well. They had a couple of forwards that were looking dangerous and they outscored us by four goals for the quarter. At half-time we led by seven points with the score 54-47.

The third quarter was a real arm wrestle with both sides missing opportunities. The Dragons looked good early in the quarter but we started getting our confidence back towards the end. We both scored 3.1 for the quarter so we held onto a seven point lead at three-quarter time, 73-66.

At the three-quarter time break our coach Wade Thompson spoke to us about believing in ourselves and taking the game on. We also spoke about not being put off by their bigger bodies and just focussing on the football.

After a tight start to the last quarter we started to click midway through and we ended up winning comfortably in the end by 38 points, 106-68.



The game was played in great spirit and as captain of our team I want to thank the Hong Kong Dragons for the opportunity to play a game in Hong Kong.

I was lucky enough to be awarded the match footy donated by EnergyAustralia for being voted best on ground. I reckon a few of the other boys could have got it as well for their great performances but I’m still really proud to have the footy for a keepsake.

Following the game we went to a very special dinner hosted by the Australian Consular-General Mr Paul Tighe at his own residence in Hong Kong.

It was a huge honour for me and the boys to be invited along and we all had a great time talking to guests about what we had done so far in Hong Kong and also back in Adelaide as part of the SAASTA Academy.

I want to say thanks again to Mr Tighe for his hospitality and also thanks to the Australian Government for helping fund part of our trip, along with UniSA.

It was certainly a great way to finish the night.



Day 4
Today was a really busy day as we left Hong Kong to go to Guangzhou in mainland China.

We had to be ready to go by 5.45am so my alarm went off bright and early at 5.00am which was pretty tough because I’m not great in the mornings.

Eventually we all got ourselves together and were on our bus at 6.00am ready for the next part of our adventure.

Because we got up so early we didn’t have time for breakfast at the hostel so Uncle Pauly (Paul Vandenbergh – PAFC Aboriginal Programs Manager) organised the bus to stop off at McDonalds in the middle of Hong Kong for some breakfast which the boys loved.



After that we all jumped on the bus and headed to the border of Hong Kong and mainland China.

It took an hour to get there but it took us ages to get through customs. It was so busy and the immigration officials are really strict.

After about two hours we were all through including Uncle Pauly and his spears and boomerangs.

Our first stop in mainland China was the British School of Guangzhou.



Like the Australian International School in Hong Kong the facilities were great and the students were really interested in what we were saying.

As part of our cultural exchange session we explained our country and language and performed our war cry again.

We then showed them how to throw a spear and boomerang and finished off with an Auskick session. Most of these kids had never heard of AFL because they are brought up more on rugby and soccer. It was great to not only teach them about Aboriginal culture but also about the game of Aussie Rules.



After our school visit we checked into our hotel in the middle of Guangzhou. This place is so busy. Cars and bikes going everywhere and people tooting left right and centre. Today was a real eye opener because we felt like we were experiencing true Chinese culture for the first time.

Our next stop was to visit the Guangdong University which was great because we got to catch up with Chen and Howard and other members from Team China. We got to know Chen and Howard when they came to Adelaide earlier this year so it was great to catch up with them again.

After the University visit we finished our day with a team dinner and a night walk around the Guangzhou CBD.