We arrived in Melbourne airport on Monday afternoon, going back three hours from NZ! Andrew was really starting to suffer after our night out last night, which I thought was quite funny! To be fair he only got about 3 hours sleep!

We then got a bus from Melbourne to Geelong, where we were met by Irene (my Dad's Cousin). We are staying with Irene and her husband Goff for a few days in Colac and really loving it. It is so nice to stay in a family home, they have such a beautiful home and we have been made more than welcome (they will have to be careful they won't get rid of us!) It is also nice to chill out for a few days and just do normal things.

They have been so kind and lent us their car to go off and explore the area for a couple of days, so we went to The Grampians National Park, which was nearly destroyed by bush fire in 2006 but now there is loads of regrowth. The views were beautiful, everywhere is so flat so you don't have to go too high before you can see for miles! We have also seen so much wildlife already kangaroos and wallabies in the wild, all sorts of different birds and Andrew even saw lizards and a snake! We also saw some Aboriginal paintings in a shelter in the National Park which was interesting.

We have also met Irene and Goff's son Mike and his partner Tracy and her children Bianca and Serena, when we went to Mike's house last night. Andrew cooked everyone dinner to say thank you for having us and it was a great success! It is so interesting meeting relatives for the first time (as they emigrated before I was born!)

Today is the first hot day we have had creeping up to 30oC! Although we have been told that it is warm not hot! We have been earning our keep by helping clean the shop, even Andrew got involved! Goff runs a furniture business!

In the afternoon Goff and Irene took us on a tour of the area. We went to Red Rock which is an extinct volcano with crazy bumpy landscapes all around it from the lava flow and a huge crater. There were also some stunning views where you can see for miles, we worked out in one direction it was like looking from Hereford and seeing Birmingham!

We then went for a drive around the Colac Botanical Gardens and to see Colac Lake and finally we went for a look at Colac market which is HUGE! Mainly for cattle now rather than sheep. We then treated ourselves to a huge bit of cake each and a iced chocolate or an iced coffee - yummy!

In the evening we all went out for dinner for Tracy's birthday, followed by a game of ten pin bowling and we met Caroline (Goff and Irene's daughter). The guy in charge of the bowling alley was really helpful and gave us some great tips, which resulted in me winning! That is unknown usually, I managed to score over 100! Beat Andrew - ha ha!

The success of Andrew's cooking last night has resulted in him earning the nickname of Jamie Oliver's brother! We all told the guy running the bowling alley that he was and he believed us! Said he couldn't wait to tell his wife who had been in! It was so funny but we did feel quite bad about it afterwards! We all got a free drink out of it though!!

We spent the evening showing everyone our skydive DVD (check out Caroline's expression above!) and some of our photos, which everyone thought were excellent so we are really chuffed!

Tomorrow we head to Melbourne, staying with Caroline and her children, but unfortunately all the fun must end though as we need to find some work in Melbourne next week to start earning some pennies!in the search for work!

We will let you know what happens!

Lots of Love

Sarah and Andrew xxx