Hectic final morning which included the last-minute purchase of vegemite, Australia's national toast spread. Can't even remember who asked me for it.

Perth was a picture as we drove out for the last time towards the airport, bright blue skies and a hot sun. And an even hotter sense of achievement.

Two months away from home and the prospect of an 11-hour flight to Jo'burg, three hours at OR Tambo, two more hours to Cape Town, arrival home around midnight and then a 7.00am start to board a plane to East London for a Standard Bank Pro20 match. Daunting, to say the least. Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell are due to be playing for the Warriors but will, apparently, be 'assessed' before the match to see if they are able to play. The only assessment needed to be performed on me is whether I am awake to commentate.

The team arrive at Perth airport well after we have checked our bags in. Their own luggage was checked in by the tireless Goolam Raja at 8.00am, five hours before flying. South African supporters have come from all over Perth to wave the Proteas on their way and many, many more Australians burst into spontaneous applause whenever the squad appear.

Only Dale Steyn, I suspect, could have the patience, grace and good-natured humour to walk and talk to an old lady who had a long tale to tell about how much her grandchildren had enjoyed the cricket etc. 'Steyntjie' was a beauty - while others looked on from afar and imagined how they would make their excuses and escape, South Africa's spearhead appeared to lap it up.

The Morkel brothers, together as always, are photographed by a dozen or more people and everybody signs autographs for anybody who asks. Not just the cursory scribble of a sportsman in a hurry, but the full request: 'To Riaan, good luck with your career, best wishes, Hashim.' I joke to Hashim that, in future, South Africa will have to play 13-per-side in both forms of the game, such is the competition for places - or consider implementing a rotation system.

How will he fit in, for example, when Graeme Smith is fit again and Herschelle is still firing. He chuckles before asking, with a smile: "Do you think rotation works?"

Shortly after take-off the pilot introduced himself with a brief apology to 'our Australian guests on board.' "Please forgive us if we indulge ourselves, just for a moment, but we would like to say to the Proteas squad, you have made us all so proud over the last couple of months and you can now regard youselves, rightly, as the best cricket team in the world, in both forms of the game.

"Your courage, determination, never-say-die attitude and, noticeably, your humility, has embodied all the best things our country stand for. You are the greatest South African team ever to tour this continent, and we salute you!"

The team are up ahead, virtually monopolising the Business Class section. Hopefully they were able to hear the spontaneous and prolonged burst of applause which followed the captain's eulogy.

So here I am, waiting for flight SA 377 to Cape Town. Goodness knows what time my body thinks it is - around 3.00am, I think. So just after 24 hours from the last diary entry, from Perth.

We are home.

But there is still much to tell from the tour. It'll take another day or two to unwind. Talk to you tomorrow from East London!

Friday, January 30

Half an hour after the match has finished, the presentation ceremony and champagne spraying is over, the interviews are done. Goolam Raja is walking, very slowly back towards the change rooms. I suddenly realise that we are the only two who have been on every tour. I put my arm around his shoulder and ask why he isn't cheering. "I'm just reflecting for a moment," he says. "Remember what it was like all the other times? We sat in the change room and cried. We tried so hard, but always it ended the same. It's good to remember the bad times in order to appreciate the good," he says. There is a sparkle in his eyes which, I realise after a couple of seconds, is caused by the floodlights reflecting in the extra moisture in his eyes. I feel my own eyes dampen very quickly. Goolam has been a Trojan, a tireless worker for the cause often expected to carry far more responsibility than was fair. He is quietly absorbing the reflected glow of the achievement. "This was our second XI, you know," he says quietly. "But they're pretty good, aren't they?" He smiles richly and walks away.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell give interviews which are among the most pure, spontaneous and uplifting I have ever done. Neither is carried away by a single victory, or deluded by it's significance, but both are sufficiently infused with adrenalin and sporting joy to speak without inhibition. They can't stop smiling. 'Lopsy' gushes about the prospect of seeing his Mum, Dorothy, for the first time in two months. Lonwabo's rugby-playing father, Toto, died when he was young and never shared the joy of either his own career, or that of sister Nomsebenzi, captain of the women's Springbok team. "I can't wait to see my Mum - I've missed her so much!" says Lopsy.

Parnell admits to missing many hours of sleep in the run-up to the game. "Family and friends don't seem to understand the time difference thing so they were all calling me the night before the match to wish me well. The phone was ringing all the time! But it didn't matter, I had enough energy to get through!"

Both men mention the 'chatter' from the crowd while fielding on the boundary but both are discreet enough not to go into detail. "After spending half the match at fine leg and getting a barrage from the crowd, it was..." Parnell paused, considering the truth, "...a great honour to win the match a couple of hours later!"

For Kallis, Boucher and Ntini, the victory counted among their most special - though none played a part. To glimpse into the future, and see such a bright light, rated among their finest moments.

"I will be thinking a lot about Makhaya on the flight home," said Tsotsobe. "He made his debut on this ground 11 years ago and now I am following in his footsteps. If I can achieve half of what he has done for South Africa then I will be a very happy man. He has been a role model for all of us - he is a special person."

The emotional over-load of a long tour is hard to explain. Impossible, in fact. A wonderful experience, travelling around Australia, seeing the cities and sharing in the glories of a sensational series.

But the reality is this: it's 1:25 am. I'm happy but tired and need to pack. I never imagined that anybody, let alone so many people would look at my daily diary, and I would like to thank you for logging in. It was only something to help keep me 'going'. There is much still to say about the team which achieved the extraordinary results on this tour. I hope to sign off with a final entry before we leave, but if I don't it will be because I'm too buggered and slept too late. G'nite (as they say over here.)

Thursday, January 29

End-of-term-fever has overtaken departure-lounge-fever as the distraction of choice amongst players and media alike. Homesickness and a desperate desire to hear the public address announcer at Perth Airport on Saturday has, temporarily but gleefully, given way to the robust joy of playing the final game in Perth. Jacques Kallis is revelling in the prospect of playing 12th man and Mark Boucher is hobbling around with a broken toe as if everything is just fine: "The surgeon said 'six weeks' but it'll be fine. He said 'if you want to play before that then it's up to you' so I'll be fine for the first Test," said Bouch, four weeks before the Wanderers Test on Feb 26. "Ian Healy knows a man who makes steel-capped boots in Brisbane and he has put me in touch with him, so I'm not worried. But I wouldn't want to get hit again there just yet. That would be very nasty." Indeed.

Kallis laughs about the last time he has carried drinks in a test. "Not as long ago as you might think, actually. It was here, on this very ground, three years ago when the tennis elbow injury forced me to miss the first test of the series. And the last time I carried drinks in a one-dayer was on the same tour, when I missed the Brisbane game. Hell, I've got a good memory!" The last time before that, in either form of the game, was...never. So not that hard to remember, Jacques!

Mickey Arthur struggles to run through the XI during his press conference, much to his own amusement. He stumbles as early as number three "...Ka, err, no, Neil McKenzie..." and battles through the lower middle order just overcoming a seemingly fatal block at number seven - "Albie Morkel!" he spurts out to chuckles from the local media. Afterwards, I suggest that Wayne Parnell may rank amongst the better number tens in world cricket, even though he is on debut and aged just 19. He was good enough to bat in the middle order for the SA under-19 team. "Yes, I think I got that wrong," admits the coach ruefully. He'll probably come in at nine with Morne Morkel at ten." Before the Adelaide game 'Mickey's Motto' was 'turn a good tour into a great tour'. What is it now? 'Turn a great tour into a *^*"<$ing unbelievable one,' he says.

Before training the squad sits around in a circle on the WACA outfield to discuss the match and the roles everyone is expected to play. It's a small thing, perhaps, but a sure sign that the focus is still there. Hard to imagine the tour ending with a whimper. Tsotsobe and Parnell are bursting with excitement and enthusiasm, especially Parnell whose energy has been appreciated by everyone in the squad.

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