So by a complete stroke of luck and a vindication of the phrase: 'its not what you know but who you know'...i managed to get tickets to the Big Day Out festival in Melbourne. Last time I was in Melbourne I met my cousin's mate, Regi...and I randomly mentioned that I was a massive fan of Muse and that they were headling this year. Tickets had been sold out even before I headed out travelling, so i wasnt holding out much hope of seeing them, but Regi said her mate had tickets and I practically bit her hand off to get one...!!!Only problem was I was now in Sydney and the gig was on the 28th Jan, which was on the weekend of Australia Day...the day Australia was born...but really just an excuse for Aussies not to go to work lol...I ended up travelling on the Friday, which was a shame cos I missed out on the fireworks...but a small price to pay in the long run...plus i saw enough on NYE to last me a decade...!!!Ended up making a gruelling 15hr Coach ride to Melbourne and got there at 9pm...where I met up immediately with Jake and James, the guys we met last time in the Greenhouse Backpackers...Katie and Dave, the Canadians we met in Tassie were also in town, so we all met up and had an awesome night of it. Was great to catch up with the guys again, was like we never parted...and after a few robotics on the dancefloor in a very seedy nightclub, i managed to get to my hostel around 4amNext day I caught up with my cousin, Anton, but not before I made a re-union visit to the Greenhouse backpackers...the location of many awesome times in Melbourne...tho I was very much disappointed...went into the TV room and there were a bunch of guys watching surfing documentaries...now this is probably riveting viewing if u happen to be in a medically induced coma...but I wasnt wholeheartedly impressed with the atmosphere...

My cousin came to pick me up and after a bit of lunch as his, we went to meet his mate Raja...I also got to see Anton's Subaru Impreza WRX and he said I could take it out for a spin...ahh man, what an awesome car...wasnt driving it anywhere near as fast as I could, cos I didnt want to do any damage to it...but still was sooo good...tho I did embarass myself slightly by managing to reverse it down an inclined driveway in 5th Gear...lol but as u guys know, Ive managed to turn embarrasing myself into an Olympic Sport...! We ended up chilling at Raja's and playing Xbox, which was just what I needed after all the travelling and lack of sleep

Sunday was the day of the Big Day Out...I ended up going with Regi and her mate Jenny...I was sooo excited...have been wanting to see Muse and The Killers for ages and Kasabian were playing too and I know that they are amazing live...also met up with a girl called Sarah who we met in the Greenhouse back in December.  To say it was the highlight of my travelling so far would be the biggest understatement ever...I had the most amazing day ever...!!!  Mostly hung around with Regi and Jenny where we caught a few up-and-coming Aussie bands...but then watched The Vines from afar, they were pretty good, with an awesome cover of Outkast's: So fresh and so clean as a highlight...after they finished, everyone went to the next stage, but i stayed on to wait for Kasabian.  My bro and I saw them at the XFM Winter Wonderland gig a few years back, so I knew they were well worth it...managed to get right up to the barrier...they were amazing from start to finish, got hosed down regularly by the security guards, in blatent disregard for the Phase II water shortages...nd even got within a metre of Lily Allen, who came up to watch...tho im not a fan, so wasnt relally that excited...if u had said David Hasselhoff or Mr. T, then u'd be talking my language...

Then caught up with Regi and Jenny to watch the Killers...now i absolutely love the Killers...but they were such a disappointment...only played 40mins, sound was rubbish, was standing where no-one was getting into the music and they walked off without even saying bye, i thought they were coming on for an encore, but Regi broke the news to me that they weren't coming back...boooo broke my heart, then Jet played on the other stage and they were just, well, plain boring...but the reason i spent 30hrs of my life on a coach, that i will never get back...Muse...absolutely mindblowing...they played all my favourite songs and just rocked...the pyrotechnics and the visuals were amazing...everyone was loving them...!  I get the feeling they weren't even playing to their full potential...but they were by far the best band i've seen live...!!!

Was such an excellent day...spending time with the girls was cool as well, tho some of their conversations were random, even by girls standards...one gem was 'so...how come the clouds are white and the sky is blue...its just air right'...Ohh lordy...!

And so...with the weekend activities over, I made my way back for another 15hr journey though to Sydney and back to work...was gutted I couldnt stay longer than 3 nights, but was good to catch up with a few of the guys that have made my journey pretty memorable.

And now...back to reality...