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Hello again my fellow readers from the shire...
Welcome to the next instalment of our traveling diary. In the last blog I left you all at the point of arriving at Melbourne. You can easily fall in love with Melbourne from first sight. Its a beautiful place to live in, and after Jane had driven us to our Hostel we became very optimistic. Me, marti, Jeremy, Amber, and some other people from our Oz bus.
We spent two nights at Nomads, and in this time we watched the Australian open at Federation square on the big screen. We also checked out the area, consumed the free food from our hostel, and arranged our arrival at Dave and Yvonne's, for anyone unaware Dave and Yvonne are Martis Godparents...and they are Scousers!
We had the excellent pleasure of seeing the funny Swedish dude Thomas, and guess what poeple, we did it again; we bumped into none other than Faye Holiday (again).
Okay so Melbourne was a happy stay so far, my god does it get better? well yes it obviously does. Once Marti had rang Dave up, who was at the stadium watching the Tennis (works really hard you see) he arranged Yvonne to pick us up from the station, and told us what train to get ect...
At 10:00am in the morning we prepared ourselves for a long walk with our backpacks to reach the station. Not stopping too long to enjoy our Subway meal, we not long after found the right station.
Yvonne was on the dot to pick us up :) to our delight, and we found ourselves inside a car! an actual family car, something we hadnt experienced in some time.
Yvonne then stepped into guide tour mode and let us know where everything was and what places to go; including Cheltenham, a place in Melbourne how cool. We reached the Ranch and gasped at the Richards household. After stepping in the front door we were met by young William, the tallest 11 year old ever, and Blue the dog. Yvonne then gave the grand tour showing us the tennis court, swimming pool, games room (snooker table) playsation's about three living rooms, a dinning room, a massive kitchen, our room and the kids room, oh and the balconys, oh and dave and Yvonne's room-with walk in wardrobe, oh and the outside tables with BBQ....did i mention the tennis court?
So you see, i wasnt sure that we would have enough room?
Later that day, as Yvonne prepared marvelous food for the BBQ, lauren returned for us to meet her also, Lauren is 15 :) and likes the odd book or two. Later on; the big man arrived, Big Dave.
Now we had said hello to the entire family, we were excited about spending the rest of our time in Austrailia with them!...And I forgot to mention what the first thing we actually did was once we had arrived.....play a seriously long game of tennis of course.
Whilst gaining our bearings and getting comfortable, we also needed ideas on what to get up to in Melbourne. Dave and Yvonne wernt short of ideas thats for sure. The next day was a Thursaday, and Dave suggested going to football training with him, so he could show us a thing or two, so he says. Sure enough we joined in, and could definately feel the weight of too many Mcdonalds and Subways sitting in our stomachs. :( still though, we out played everyone.
As the Weekend approached, the Friday night was the Mens Australian open tennis final, and a night out called for. Faye, James and Thomas were texting for a cause of beers at federation sqaure....big screen for tennis and bars!
Firstly we enjoyed a game of Snooker with some beers compliments of Big Dave, then headed off. The night was buzzing around federation sqaure, masses of people watching the tennis. We were gagging for a beer, so all of us ventured into the Hotel Bar. It was good chatting with everyone again, and Thomas seemed even funnier than we recalled. Sadly I lost $50...which is about 20 quid, and for all that know me well, its not a suprise, at least i know marti wasnt anyways!!!
The next day the Richards decided to give us a road trip around Melbourne, ending up at the Penguin Parade. Always stopping for pastries, milkshakes, fish and chips ect, the penguin parade was the last stop...as dawn fell hundreds of 'fairy penguins' made thier way up the beach into little huts and holes to settle for the night....quite a sight, they waddled along in very funny looking manners. Afterwards it was getting late, and reaching the ranch everyone else retired whilst marti and myself enjoyed films until 3:00am...which would soon become a habbit. Next day the house was chilled, by the time we had awoke Big Dave had gone cycling a massive distance, lauren had been to tennis, Yvonne had made about 5 meals and will was getting ready to go Basketball training. With the usual. It was funny how me and marti would always here "Anyone walked the dog yet?" and looked Dave would look at Lauren and Will.
With more BBQ's, Appetisers and such...we dived in and out of the pool. Also Dave and Yvonne showed us several possible jobs to overcome and keep in mind to do through our stay whilst everyone was busy at work/school ect.
We familiarised ourselves with T.V shows and films, espcially enjoying the funny 'Who's line is it anyway'. I have much to take away from watching that show :) throughout the next couple of weeks we alternated Tennis with the pool to films with going out and bike riding to St. Kilda....
I suppose i should let you all know about the mission of a bike ride to St.Kilda, never again we tell ourselves. Borrowing two bikes from the shed as Dave and Yvonne suggested, we began our journey. I cant remember how long it was again, but it seems exceptionally longer when riding back with stiff legs and the wind against you. The way their isnt as bad, and you really can admire the scenery but OMG, never again. At St.Kilda we awarded ourselves with a Subway footlong. Half way on the journey back Marti was lost around the coastline to me as i rested. he felt the best way was to go as quick as possible, me i believed there is no point in rushing when something hurts! to make matters worse, i must have missed the turning and ended up at Black Rock, wondering around for some time, my only possible way to go was to cycle back to Sandringham station, as I knew my way from there, Oh how Marti Laughed...smart ass.
On the last day off their summer break, Yvonne decided to treat the kids to bowling, which we joined in on. It pains me to say that Will won overall over the two games, but pleases me to say i won the second game, but Yvonne won the first...somehow Will won over the 2 games though??? go figure?
Yvonne's cooking was getting better with each day, especiially when Mexican was on the menu!! very enjoyable...just abit of teasing for all the Mexican lovers there :) and it was goooood.
Through our stay, Dave pestered me and Marti with his constant nagging "you need to get a real mans hair cut" "you look like a pair of girls" blah blah blah, its hard to let these men in on the truth! its just Jealousy....and being a liverpool supporter he wouldnt leave Marti be when a Man U game approached, and it wasnt good news when Man City won the derby. Yet When Barnsley defeated the scousers in the Cup...Rejoice, he had no problem with Celtic though, so i didnt mind.
On another weekend, halfway through our stay with the Richards, James text with the suggestion of the Cinema? and so we did, but with intentions of going out afterwards. We reduced ourselves to a Mcdonalds once more...before watching American Gangster on the big screen, a pretty good film in all fairness...afterward still hungry but putting it behind us, we went to Richmond into some random bar, which was not to bad really :) a couple of pints, said goodbye to James and watched the locals dance the night away. Then as we realised our last train was due to leave, we drank up and left. Being the hungry person that he often is, Mr Hoskins felt food was in order. Checking the clock we saw there was 10 minutes until the train left. "Can I have some Chips please" Marti asked.......8 Minutes later STILL NO CHIPS, through the 8 gruelling minutes we moaned at the oursleves, at the employees "If I miss this train!!!" was a phrase used alot. Marti was saying to them, "sorry can I have my money back, I cant wait for them, got to go!". Then finally the Chips came, with a couple of minutes to go, we sprinted to the train platform and arrived in the nick of time...phew. Even then Marti moaned at the quality of the chips, I think he felt it was a bad decision, especially as Yvonne and Dave were just about to go to bed and offered some Venicen stew and mash potato, I of course said yes!
This was but only one part of our Brilliant stay at Melbourne and the fabulous Richards house, whom we are still Grateful to. The second part will continue on a seperate blog, such amount of Fun cant be described on one blog. so enjoy, keep reading, and good night....LOVE LOVE LOVE xxx
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