Hamish Hartlett catches up with Angus Monfries above on PTV. Can't view the video? Watch on YouTube

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Day 2

6.30am
After going to bed early last night I battled through a restless night sleep and woke up for day 2. Speaking to everyone at breakfast, it seems like we all had the same unsettled night as we tried to adjust our body clocks from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. I went to bed at around 8pm and woke up at 11.30pm, 1.30am and 4am before eventually getting up just before 6.30am. For anyone who has experienced jet lag you'll know what I mean. I only slept for 10 hours but it felt like I had slept for 2 days. Anyhow, I got up, had a shower and got changed into my Port Adelaide training gear in preparation for our first kick on Italian soil.

7am
I enjoyed a light breakfast of cereal and eggs on toast before finishing off with some fruit. Looking outside our dining area I could see the morning was chilly but shaping up to be beautiful day with plenty of blue sky and sunshine glistening on the surface of the lake.


Boaky and Jacko enjoy breakfast with a view

8am
The team hopped on a bus and set off to our outdoor training facility located about 30 minutes away from our destination at the AIS. As we cruised along we noticed the magnificent snow capped mountains in the distance. Boys were scrambling for their mobile phones to take pics of this truly magnificent sight, a sight which is completely foreign to us. A few of the more experienced travellers such as assistant coaches Shaun Rehn and Daniel Healy were adamant that they were the Swiss Alps or at least the start of them. I'm not 100 per cent sure if they were winding us up but they certainly looked impressive from our bus.


Not a bad sight to start the day

8.30am
Training commenced in very cold conditions, about three degrees, although there was plenty of sunshine to thaw us out. There was a great feeling amongst the group and we couldn't wait to kick a Sherrin on Italian soil and officially get our pre-season campaign under way with the majority of the group together. Burgo got us to do a fair bit of running to start with and we all enjoyed stretching the legs and getting the lungs working hard.


Good setting for training

After our running session we got the balls out and had a slick 45 minute session which was led predominantly by Shaun Rehn and Tyson Edwards. The boys were up and about trying a few things and although everything wasn't perfect it was a great session and good way to launch our pre-season. We finished training off with another intense running session which the boys all really helped each other through.


First kick of the Sherrin for pre-season

10am
After training we jumped straight on our chartered bus and headed back to the AIS admiring those snow copped mountains all the way. Debate continued to rage as to whether they were the Swiss Alps. Where's Google when you need it!


Swiss Alps or not Swiss Alps?

10.30am
On arrival back at the AIS the team headed straight for the weights room where we worked very hard for around 45 minutes. Jarred Redden and Matthew Lobbe were lifting some big weights and were clearly best afield from my perspective. I'm thinking both boys are going to be in for a big pre-season.


Not quite as heavy as Lobbes and Big Red, but still a good session

12pm
The boys all had a light lunch at the AIS. I enjoyed some salad, a couple of slices of ham and low fat cheese and finished it all off with some yoghurt. After lunch the boys went there own separate ways for some leisure time. I took in a short walk around the surrounding lake area, had a hit of table tennis with some of the lads for a while and then upstairs for a rest in my room.

2pm
Once again the boys met at reception at the AIS and jumped on the bus eager for our next adventure - a tour of the Orica-GreenEdge facility in Brunello about 45 mins from our destination. While being chilly outside it certainly wasn't the case inside the bus and our driver had the heaters going at full throttle and within minutes had all of us taking our jackets off.

After a few more minutes the situation got beyond a joke and we asked our Welfare Manager Stuart Cochrane to look after our welfare and tell the driver to turn off the heating and put on the air conditioner for some relief. The only problem was the driver couldn't speak English and Stuey couldn't speak Italian. Anyhow, after another 5 sweltering minutes and plenty of sign language the driver eventually switched the heating off to make the remainder of our journey more bearable.

2.45pm
We arrived at Orica-GreenEdge, already a world-reknowned cycling establishment despite only being formed in the last 18 months or so. Our tour was led by legendary former Port Adelaide club doctor Peter Barnes who now works as a doctor for Orica-GreenEdge. It was a fascinating tour to be able to see how some of the world's leading athletes, including one-eyed Power fan Stuart O'Grady, go about their work.

We were lucky enough to jump aboard the team buses which carry up to nine cyclists at a time and are fitted with luxury leather seats, full kitchen facilities, a toilet and shower and a TV viewing area. They certainly have some of our buses covered that we travel to games in! We also got to see the workshop area and all the team bikes that are valued at around $10,000 each - that's more than my car! It was an eye-opening experience and we thank Barnsey for giving us the opportunity.

You can see our tour of GreenEdge on PTV here

4.30pm
Arrived back at the AIS and the team immediately commenced a full pool recovery session in preparation for our next training session on Wednesday.


Some of Cam O'Shea's handywork with his camera phone...good views everywhere in Italy

6pm
We all gathered as a team for dinner at the AIS and enjoyed a nice meal before retreating to our rooms for some relaxation. Not much on TV unfortunately as I found out on night one - we have 36 channels on our TV and 35 of them are solely in Italian, the one in English being a pop music channel which I can only take so much of. So another early night was on its way as we prepared for another exciting day tomorrow which includes a trip to the world famous soccer club AC Milan.

See Jasper's travel diary from day one here