As the pick-up truck pulls into Tony Rees' acreage about half-an-hour outside of Brisbane, the former second-row points out where a snake had once been sneaking around the rafters of his garage. "That one was fine," he says. "The brightly coloured ones always are. It's when they're brown and black that you want to start running!" By now, the former Cardiff and Wales A lock - who hails from Chepstow - is fully acclimatised Down Under. It's been 37 years since Rees first came to Australia, getting the opportunity with University of Queensland in Brisbane. Within two weeks, Rees knew this is where he would want to spend the rest of his life. There have been a few adventures since, taking him to different parts of the globe, but Queensland is where he has called home for over two decades. Around the back of his house, a Welsh flag flies above his homemade gym - the result of a recent trip back to the land of his fathers - while an Australian flag hangs from the house. On the back of the golf cart in his shed, there to transport him to his local course, is another keepsake from a recent visit - a sticker of a sheep. Small reminders of what was once home for one of Welsh rugby's great wanderers, but there's no doubting where his heart lies now. The man who will forever be Wales' first winner of the Heineken Cup is maroon through and through. "People ask me what my favourite rugby experience was and it has to be Queensland University," he tells me over a couple of steaks cooked up on his barbeque outside, tangents coming thick and fast as he reminisces over rugby memories. "This is my life and there's so many great characters. "Once I got here, my whole commitment was about staying here. The club supported me throughout. "I couldn't believe the lifestyle here. Winter was better than our summer. Playing rugby was an absolute pleasure. "There's 13 teams playing at UQ. Nothing's changed since then. So many great people here. "Doing all those things in the first six months, just going around and having the most amazing experiences. Seeing these tropical islands, going to the biggest sand island in the world, fishing on boats, working at Emerald, going to sheep stations, getting stuck on islands - all that happened in the first six months. "All my mates in college back home would have been starting teaching in Billericay or wherever and I was sat listening to Ben Johnson winning the 100m gold on the back of the boat in the middle of Whitsunday Islands." The rugby side of Australia was another massive draw for Rees. University of Queensland's club has produced seven Australian captains - just looking at the roll call of Wallabies from UQ is a who's who of Australian rugby. When Rees arrived back in the late eighties, it wasn't unusual to have a host of Wallabies playing for the club regularly. The young man from Wales, who just a year or so before had been an excitable young pup getting told in no uncertain terms by Bridgend hard man Billy Howe to calm down during one lineout, was now turning out with the likes of Greg Martin, Peter Slattery, Michael Lynagh, Brendan Nasser, Jeff Miller, Cameron Lillicrap, Andy McIntyre and David Nucifora. "Coming out of college in Cardiff, it was insane," says Rees. So too was winning three consecutive Grand Finals with UQ between 1988 and 1990, including the last against John Eales' Brothers. "Just a really nice guy and a super athlete," he says about the man titled Nobody, because Nobody's perfect. "Brothers were our huge rivals. "You took it for granted that you were playing with so many Wallabies in most of the games. You'd play a big game and there'd be a load of Wallabies. "It was full-on. Just fast, open, tough rugby. How can you not love it? I took it for granted after a while. So many of my team-mates went on to play in the World Cup in 1991." He narrowly missed out on selection to face the Lions with Queensland in 1989, while he also didn't feature against Wales when they came to Ballymore two years later - instead captaining Brisbane against Queensland County. Back then, his allegiances still were with Wales. "I was sitting in the stadium in 1989 with two Welshman who were supporting the Lions, it was a bit of a strange experience. But by the time the Lions came back in 2001, I'd sort of jumped ship!" After the initial spell in Brisbane, Rees headed back to Wales with Cardiff and Alec Evans. It was in the Welsh capital where he would meet his wife Lynn, the highlight of his time there he adds; "Keep that in the interview," interjects Lynn. His first spell with the Blue and Blacks would end with Welsh Cup glory and a brush with royalty for Rees. Earlier in the season, Rees had been sent off against Llanelli - not ideal for him, but getting a draw with 14 men served as "the turning point in our season". "Everybody sent you off, though," jumps in Lynn, before Rees reminds her of my phone still recording on the table. "How long was your ban?" she continues, referring to the 90-day ban during his second stint at Cardiff against Harlequins. A picture from that game - not of the kick - as well as Rees lifting the Heineken Cup trophy are the only two rugby pictures on display in his house, sat next to a giant map of Queensland. "I think it was the longest until some French guy pulled someone's eye out and saved me," he says, before protesting: "I kicked Gareth Llewellyn apparently - but I didn't." Even before that ban, though, some - including the future King - were aware of Rees' on-field indiscretions. His off-field words, admittedly inadvertently, also got him into a spot of bother. "I was called up by a journalist the day before that 1994 Cup final and they asked how I felt going up against Phil Davies," he explains. "I said I didn't think much of it and said he was a bit of a slug. "Before the match then, we're stood there - with the two teams facing each other - as Prince Charles comes to meet us. Directly opposite me is Phil, who's like a bull. "All his focus is on me. Prince Charles goes along the line and doesn't really say anything to anyone. Then he gets to me and is introduced. "He goes 'Ah, Tony Rees, nice to meet you. Hopefully you don't get sent off today.' I said I'm not planning to Charles, but we'll wait and see. "I was thinking 'how does he know that?' I hadn't read the programme, but it said Rees had recently been sent off. "Anyway, the game happens and we win. Lyn Jones comes into our changing room afterwards and says you gave us so much entertainment before the game. I didn't know what he was on about. "He says 'didn't you see the Sun?' They'd been on the bus down from Llanelli and had been reading the papers when they saw the Sun. The headline was 'Rees says 'I'll mug the slug'!" That triumph would mark the end of his first stint, with a few more twists and turns to come in his rugby adventure. After one match for East Wales, he had bumped into former Queensland wing Ian Williams, who had mentioned over a beer afterwards about playing in Japan. Rees said he was open, gave him his number and thought no more of it. Regardless, a secretive return to Australia, with Sydney University, was on the cards. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. "Before that final against Llanelli, we were booked to leave London the Thursday afterwards," says Rees. "I didn't tell anyone other than our parents because once they know you're leaving, they won't pick you. "I learned that lesson from the Lions in 1989 when they were asking me if I was going back to the UK and I said maybe. We were flying out on the Thursday as Lynn was pregnant at the time. We had to go. "I was heading off to play for Sydney University. The Cup final was on May 7 and then on May 12 we flew to Thailand and Sydney, then the following weekend I was playing for Sydney University. "When we got to Sydney, there were only three people who knew my number. My parents, Lynn's parents and Alec Evans. We were living in a lecturer's flat at Sydney University. "The phone would ring occasionally and it would be one of our parents. We'd only been there 10 days and the phone rang. It was Ian Williams. "I asked how he got my number and he said Alec. He then told me he had a contract for me in Tokyo and asked if I could fly in on Saturday. I was playing on Saturday, but he said the flight was late at night. "I had training on Tuesday night, so he said I'd have to make an excuse and make it. "Lynn was 34 weeks pregnant at that point. I jumped on the plane to Tokyo, had a few days there. This was June 1994. Within a few weeks of playing the Welsh Cup final, I was in Tokyo signing a contract. I hadn't even started teaching in Sydney at that point. "I did that for a term. As soon as that finished, we flew back to the UK and then onto Tokyo in November 1994." His next adventure came about in similar seat-of-the-pants fashion. Ready to head back to Australia for a life without rugby, a call from Wallabies legend Nick Farr-Jones added another remarkable chapter to his career. "At the time, we were just sat in Tokyo about to go," he says. "Then the call came through and we were gone. I was ready to come back to Australia and start a life without rugby, but then we were off to France. "It was weird. I ended up in Brive and thank God I was fit enough to do it. I wouldn't have lasted a month otherwise. I didn't know where Brive was until we saw it on the plane's map flying there. It was fun. "We just winged it. It was an adventure. You do it for a laugh. We went for the experience. We had no money going to Tokyo. We arrived in France with six weeks of summer clothes going into winter over there. "That's how last minute it was. All our stuff had left our flat. We had the suitcases backed for Brisbane and then we had the phone call from Nick. "We played at Sydney Uni together. His brother-in-law delivered our daughter. I saw him at the Hong Kong Sevens in April and he took my number. "Had he rang 48 hours later than he did, I wouldn't have played for Brive. Because we unplugged the phone when we left the flat and we stayed at a friend's place for three days. He wouldn't have been able to get hold of me." Once there, European glory would come next in France for Rees. The first British player to lift the trophy - a pub quiz question forever more. "It's interesting," he says. "I've reflected on it a lot. I actually watched the first final in Tokyo in our new apartment, which had cable TV. "I watched Cardiff v Toulouse and it was one kick away from not being that person. That's the reality of it. Cardiff almost won it. "And at the time we did it, it didn't really mean anything. It didn't dawn on me until later on, when it started appearing in programmes. It was also an answer on a Question of Sport once. "But at the time, we were just focused on where we were going - surviving, living. What's next? Where's the next contract?" That next contract - which would turn out to be his last in rugby - was back in Wales. "The semi-final against Cardiff was when Peter Thomas grabbed me and said he wanted me back with Greg Kacala," he says. "We tried to do it under the radar, but it didn't quite work out that way. We were on our way to Bordeaux airport to fly to Gatwick to meet Peter and Alec Evans. "I got caught speeding as we were rushing for the flight. You had me and Greg in the front seats. It was a company car, so the camera picture came back to the club. "So they found out. Then the police at Bordeaux airport recognised us. There's no secrets in France!" It's at this point that Lynn encourages Rees to tell me the 'passport story'. Initially, he resists - although, with each mention of it, I'm more desperate to hear it. Eventually, it comes. "Another time, I was flying back to Cardiff to watch Wales play Australia in 1996," he begins. "It was a last-minute thing and we were playing Cardiff afterwards so I thought I'd just go. "It's a five-hour drive from Brive to Charles de Gaulle airport and I was due to get in the morning of the match. About half an hour away from the airport, I realise I haven't got my passport. "It's by the bed back at home. There's nothing I can do about it at that point. I go to the British Airways guy and ask what I can do. He says there's nothing he can do without a passport, but he can see I'm desperate so he says go speak to the airport police. "I walk in and they're all sat around, smoking a cigarette and having their breakfast. The chief of police looks at me and, in French, asks if I'm the Welsh player who plays for Brive. 'Le joueur Gallois'. "I tell him I've forgotten my passport and he says he'll write me a letter. He types it out and it basically says they're happy for me to fly in and out of France without my passport!" Having finished up playing with Cardiff, Rees coached with Cambridge University for a few years before moving back to Australia for the 2000 Olympics. Initially working in financial planning, he bought an existing business in 2003, buying one truck, building that into a landscaping company with eight trucks and 25 employees by the time he sold it just before Covid hit. For the first year or so back in Brisbane, Rees coached with UQ before life got in the way. However, an accident involving one of his trucks offered some perspective that pushed him back towards his beloved rugby club. "Sadly, one of our trucks rolled over and two guys died in it," he explains. "It was pretty traumatic. I was in the morgue looking at these two guys. "I stood there and it hit me that the only thing I had was my business and my family. I had to do something else as life is too short. I had to do something as it wasn't living. "I joined a golf club and then I went back and got on the committee at UQ in 2008. I was present at the games, got involved with the coaches and sorted out some challenges. I was made vice-president the following year. "That led to our first premiership in 2010 - the first since I played in 1990." The only role he hasn't held at the club is president. He's brought over a dozen Welshmen, including Nicky Robinson and Jevon Groves, to play for the club and hopes to bring more over. He's also brought future internationals like Japan's Jack Cornelsen and Australia's Tevita Kuridrani there, also giving them employment with his company. A couple of days after meeting Rees at his home, I see him in his other natural surrounding. The day before the Lions' first Test in Brisbane, UQ hold a lunch in central Brisbane that pulls in around 800 guests, including Wallabies greats Stephen Moore, Nathan Sharpe, Phil Waugh, David Crombie and many more. It's an annual event, stretching back to the 2001 Lions tour. Among all these Queensland greats, Rees is in his element. As his good friend Frank McLoughlin - the club's long-time historian amid countless other roles - receives a lifetime membership from the club, Rees is watching on full of pride. "I want to say I'm sorry," says McLoughlin to the packed exhibition hall at Brisbane's Convention Centre. "Back in 1988, I stood at the airport gate and picked up Tony Rees. And he's still here today. "So I'm sorry." If anything sums up what this club means to this one Welshman, now an adopted Australian, and vice versa, it's that.