I WORKED in Sydney for eight months before setting off on my travels. I lived in a flat with a view of the Opera House (if you had good eyesight), the train I got to work went past the building and I enjoyed many an evening in its quayside bar.
But it was two months into my trip, upon my return to the city to fly out to New Zealand, before I realised a part of Watford had made it into this world-famous venue.
Follow me to the green room to meet Les McLean.
Les originally came to Australia in 1968, when his parents emigrated from Carpenders Park, leaving behind friends and an apprenticeship.
Although at first aggrieved, the move offered Les a window into a world he would return to 15 years later this time for good after seeing some more of the globe first.
These interim travel plans came to an end when his money came to an end too, and Les found himself in Watford, working in various jobs.
"Having made the decision to put my dreams of globe-trotting on hold for a few years," Les said, "I stayed put in Watford, relaxing and enjoying myself."
While there, he played football for teams in Watford, Wheathampstead and Hemel Hempstead, "forging some great friendships".
In October 1974, Les said goodbye to the single life and married Jackie. Like Les, Jackie was born in Carpenders Park ("Jackie in Prestwick Rd and myself in Maylands Avenue"). They started off married life in Vicarage Road before moving to Whippendell Road.
"It was sometime after our daughter, Jade, was born that I started to get a yearning to return to Oz.
"So, with a bit of gentle persuasion over the next 12 months, we decided to apply to return to Oz, as I knew what it was like and the opportunities it held.
"We came out to Australia in May 1983, with the addition of twin boys, Aaron and Ross."
Les has worked as a technical superviser on the maintenance section at Sydney Opera House since 1987.
"The view from my factory is incredible, with what I think is the best harbour in the world. Unfortunately, it's not all celebrities and opening nights.
"Yes, you do rub shoulders with some of the celebrities, but most of the time it's a lot of hard work.
"We have just had the premier of Matrix Revolutions and will host an outside broadcast on a giant screen of the Rugby World Cup Final."
Les lives in a "country area" just outside the metropolitan districts.
"Having spent most of my time working in London and Sydney as a service mechanic, we now enjoy the peace and quite and wide, open spaces of the countryside."
Is there much he misses about Watford?
"Maybe not just Watford but England in general. We certainly miss our friends. I miss going to the football; joining in with the banter on the terraces.
"Yes, even on a freezing winter's night. I've said to friend many times that, if we had the four English football divisions here in Australia, it would truly be paradise.
"Jackie misses the shops: Marks & Sparks; BHS; Trewins etc. But she doesn't miss the cold weather. After a while, I have found that most people do tend to reminisce about their home town and the English way of life.
"You can keep in contact far more easily nowadays, what with the Internet and e-mails.
"You can get English papers that are only a couple of days old instead of being about two weeks old. It's cheaper to keep in contact by phone. We still buy our English brands of food that we grew up with: HP Sauce; salad cream, Branston Pickle etc.
"It seems, after a while, you start holding on to your English ancestry and end up collecting little, fun English knick-knacks like fridge magnets of a phone box and letter box or figurines of an English bobby. If you return back to the UK for a holiday, you come back with heaps of mementoes that you can put up on a wall.
"I'm no different. In my den I have a Watford scarf hanging off the wall, a soccer ball light fitting, a little furry toy that resembles Harry Hornet sitting on top of my computer and a Watford mouse pad."
So, he's still a huge WFC fan.
"I'm connected to the official WFC website so I can keep up to date with the latest goings on and read The Watford Observer on the net.
"My car has the obligatory WFC sticker in the back window and I have even personalised my car number plate to WAT44D. You can take the boy out of Watford, but you can't take Watford out of the boy.
"I remember a few seasons ago being at the traffic lights when a guy knocked on my window and asked me if I was from Watford. Startled, I replied, 'Yes'. He said: 'Good on yer!' He then ran and jumped in his car right behind me.
"Strange bloke, I thought, only to find as he drove past me tooting and waving his car covered in Sunderland stickers. They had beaten WFC 2-0 the day before.
Is there anything he misses?
"English TV shows, having been brought up on a diet of good dramas and great comedies.
"Obviously we have these shows on TV here but they are normally up to 12 months old or put on at some silly hour of the day or night."
Les hasn't been back to Watford for 20 years, any plans to soon?
"We would like to come back to Watford for a holiday. We would dearly love to see our friends again and re-visit the areas we used to go to. As we have heard from friends, Watford has had many changes. When we left, there was no Harlequin shopping centre."
So did Les keep playing football in Australia?
"I extended my career by a couple of seasons when I first arrived here, as I teamed up with my brother, Steve. Joining clubs are a great way of meeting new people and helping you settle in. It also helps that many of the other players are Pommies as well.
"A bad motorbike accident to Steve finally ended our footballing partnership, to which I took the opportunity to hang up the boots and retire.
"With our young family growing up, I thought I'd start to spend some time with them instead of gallivanting around the countryside on the weekends playing footy. How wrong I was."
Aaron and Ross were showing more than a keen interest in playing football (what else) so the next season they joined up for the under 6's.
"I was quite looking forward to being a parent on the sideline. Wrong again!
"There was a desperate shortage of people willing to coach the side and, after a lot of persuasion 'You're English, you know all about football', I was press-ganged into coaching the side.
"Australians love their sport in a big way. They are much more organised and encourage children to play sport from a very early age. They modify the games of football, rugby, cricket etc to suit the age groups. They start competitions from under 6's with the goal of teaching teamwork.
"In our first pre-season friendly, we got thumped 6-0. I knew then I had my work cut out.
"By the time the first league game came around we had a bit more shape. We found we had to play the same team that had thumped us, and we eventually lost 3-2, although we were 3-0 down at half time. That was it. I was now hooked on coaching.
"We ended up finishing our first season halfway up the league, but our improvement could probably be measured by the return game against the team that had beaten us twice, in which we ended up thumping them 10-0.
"I stayed on coaching for 15 years. I took a leaf from the Graham Taylor school of coaching and just went out and played attacking football.
"I ended up coaching most of these guys from the under 6's through to all-age. The team became quite successful over the years, winning the double in 1990 and taking the treble in 1994.
"After this success, we moved up to playing representative football in the New South Wales state league. We spent a couple of years playing for the same club that Mark Bosnich played for as a junior. When we arrived from England, we stayed at my parents' house for a while until we got on our feet.
"Aaron and Ross used to play in the street with the young kid next door. His name? Harry Kewell.
"My sporting career has now tapered off to playing the odd game of golf (and it certainly is odd) and competition darts, another pommie activity.
"The boys still play. Aaron and his wife now live about four hours away from us up the mid-north coast. Ross and his wife live around the corner.
"Plus, our grandson, Bradley, is showing quite a lot of skill with a ball. As for his coach, well, you never know!"
Any regrets about leaving England?
"Well, we've been here 20 years now and we've worked hard and enjoyed our leisure. We are happy with our decision to emigrate.
"It may not work for everyone but it's worked for us. We took a gamble and it paid off for us.
"We've made some very good friends of all nationalities and enjoy the different cultures. Our family has grown up and they have children of their own.
"We still keep in touch with our friends in Watford. We still keep in touch with Watford via The Watford Observer, which gets sent out to us each week by our friends Graham and Rosina Smith from Garston."
And, with the sun setting through a window of Les's "factory" over the world's best harbour, this gentleman finishes with a touch of kindness that has been displayed throughout my meeting with him.
"If you're from Watford and you get to Sydney, call in and see me at the Opera House and we'll have a coffee and a chat in the green room."
Believe me, it'll be worth your while.
