Hello!

Thought I (alex) would write a blog post since sammis been doing a lot of the work recently. We left Singapore five days ago and took an overnight flight to Melbourne getting no sleep along the way as usual! Arrived early in the morning in Melbourne and got a bus to our hostel which despite its name is not by the beach, although it is close in a place called St Kilda. We were sharing in an 8 person dorm, and unfortunately the peop[le checking out werent up so we went to a cafe and relaxed before getting access to our room. As soon as we did we had a quick rest and then went for a quick explore of Melbourne. Its such a contrast with the more 'eastern' places wev been to before but it is a really nice place. The nightlife is great as we discovered on the first night. In the first bar that we walked into we met a couple called Greg and Kerry who were a typical australian couple; up for a laugh, loud and liked poking fun at the english (although we gave as good as we got). They ended up paying for most of our drinks since they were smashed so I tried to keep buying them as many back as we could! We ended up really drunk and staggered back home. The next day we were nursing thumping hangovers so went to the Botanical garden in the centre of Melbourne to look around and relaxed. It was refreshingly green compared to the dryness of Thailand and we relaxed there for quite a while. It was St Paddys day so we went out, despite the hangover, to an Irish bar where there were another load of characters. By the time we got there everyone was smashed and falling off stools etc which made it a fantastic atmosphere and made you the same way..or maybe that was because they served pints rather than bottles..

On the third day we visited the Old Melbourne Gaol where Ned Kelly was hung (typical of the australians to have a hero whos a fugitive, think Robin Hood but steals from the rich and keeps it himslef ;) joking). Afterwards we visited Federation square where there was some sort of fashion show taking place. We watched that for a while and then headed back. We went for a meal by the sea in a salsa restaurant and bar which had a really nice feel to it and later on went for a late night coffee fix..On the fourth day we visited the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is a famous stadium for aussie rules and cricket. On the way round they forgot to tell us that they were revamping parts of the ground so sammi went and walked through a large patch of wet cement which was hilarious..certainly left her mark! Took a photo of it..dont know if they noticed...After that we went shopping/exploring round the city centre for a bit, which was really alive with the Melbourne Grand Prix being on at the time! You could her the cars all the way accross the city. One guy we met at the hostel was telling us how you needed ear plugs at the ground it was that loud! On the fifth day we went for a tour along the Great Ocean Road which meant we needed to get up at 6:30 in the morning! The coastline itself was beautiful and it stretched for over 200km most of which we covered. Our tour guide, Bernie was a really nice guy! He was a right laugh and had hundreds of stories and opinions on everything and everywhere! We also got to see some Koalas up close and had an interesting hour meeting with an aborigine who told us loads about their history and showed us his digareedo playing skills.

Well wev finished in Melbourne now and are off to Canberra for two days then Sydney for a week so will keep you updated! Hope you are all well and we miss you lots! Take care. Love Alex and Sammi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx