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8/1/2011
I left Canberra today and got the night bus to Melbourne. People that we had met at New Year in Sydney live in St. Kilda which is a suburb of Melbourne and kindly offered to pick me up from the bus station and show me the sights.
I visited the sunday market which was packed with lots of funky stalls with jewellery, scarves, hats, and lots of artwork. I took a walk along the beach and saw a few people kite surfing. This is very popular in St. Kilda and its basically a small surf board attatched to a kite that catches the wind and lets you ride the waves! It was really cool to see as it was really really windy and they guys who were doing it were being lifted about 5 feet in the air!!!
10/1/2011
Tonight was the Neighbours Night!! It was all very exciting as the tv show 'Neighbours' gets filmed in Melbourne and every Monday night in St Kilda a few celebrities from the show gather at an irish pub called 'the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow'. I got to meet Karl Kennedy, Steph, Skye and Dylan. There was lots of games being played and a quiz - my neighbours knowledge was a bit lacking but it was a lot of fun! Karl Kennedy's band got up and sang for the rest of the night and we all had a great night! I was feeling a bit star struck by the end of the night! :)
12/1/2011
Today I went to the Victorian Night Market with friends called Adina and Baz. This is a very popular market in Melbourne and there was a least a few thousand people there! The market was huge!! You could get food from all over the world - I had some yummy paella. The three of us hung around the market people watching, and watching the live band that was playing. Me and Adina had a few cheeky cosmos and we sat around chatting until we had to catch the tram back to St. Kilda.
13/1/2011
Today I went to Philip Island with two of my roommates, Hannah and Mike. This is an island south of Melbourne, about 2 1/2 hours away but Hannah and Mike had their own car so it was handy. We were very excited about this as we had been planning it for a few days - we woke up early as we had planned to leave around 8ish and as we looked out the window the rain was pouring down!! Oh dear! After a bit of consideration we decided to go anyway and drove about a mile down the road to the petrol station and the car cut out!! So me and mike got out and pushed the car in the pouring rain while Hannah steered it into the garage! Luckily we were just outside the garage so we didnt have to push far! :) The car was as old as me....and we think that becasue it had been sitting on the street for a few days there was just too much water for it to cope with!! So thankfully after a fill up on petrol and a bit of pleading with the car it started again and we were off!! We got to Philip Island around 12 and decided to stop at the chocolate factory first. After a very yummy hot chocolate we took a tour around the factory and saw a massive potrait of dame edna, a chocolate waterfall, a choc-o-bot, and chocolate penguins. There was lots of free samples too! :)
After the chocolate factory we headed to Churchhill Island ( a very small island next to philip island where there is only enough room for one farm!) And the sun came out! So we were all very happy! At the farm we saw a blacksmith at work, sheep dogs rounding up the sheep, and a whole sheep being sheared. Hannah decided to milk a cow but I opted out of that one - doesn't appeal to me!! We then made our way back to Philip Island and to a koala sanctuary. We saw lots of wild koalas in the trees, we even saw a little koala family with mummy, daddy and the little joey clinging onto mum. It was all very cute!
From there we headed to see the main attraction that Philip Island offers - the LITTLE PENGUINS!! After the sun goes down thousands of little penguins who have been out in the sea all day hunting for fish come back onto shore and go back to their home where their babies wait for them and for the food they bring! We waited for about 2 hours until the sun had gone down and the penguins felt it was safe to come ashore! I wasn't sure of what to expect as you cant see any of them if you are just looking out to sea, but then this little penguin appeared and started waddling across the beach!! It was amazing! It then decided it wasn't safe so ran back to the beach and dove back into the sea and dissapeared! It took another 20 min for other penguins to become brave enough to come out of the sea and they started to come out in packs of 8 to 10 at a time! It was a fantastic sight! There would be one brave penguin at the front leading the way and the others would follow behind and if the one at the front decided to turn back they would all turn back together and sprint towards the sea again. Eventually all of the penguins had come back (the rangers said there was about 3000 that night!) and we got to watch them make their way up the beach and back towards their families using the penguin call. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures as the flash scares the penguins and can sometimes give them a heart attack. Once the whole show was over we headed back to the car and back to St. Kilda - got back at 1.30 at night, ppfff what a long day, it was a whole lot of fun!
15/1/2011
Today I met up with Clare (an australian girl who we had met in Sand Diego!) and we started our day by going to Acland Street and having a fancy cake! (Acland Steet in St Kilda is very famous as it has the most fantastic bakeries and every one sits outside and eats their treats!) I must say the danish pastry I had was very yummy!! After that healthy breakfast, we headed towards Mt. Dandenong. Clare drove and it took a while to get there but once we got to the top the view was fantastic - we could see the whole of Melbourne's CBD. Clare then drove me around the suburbs of Melbourne showing me everywhere and telling me stories of all the different places! The best tour guide is always a local and I was very grateful to her for showing me around!
16/1/2011
Since I had such a good time at the Neighbours night I had deceided to go to the Neighbours tour with my friends Meena, Jess and Caroline. We were on our way to Ransey Street!!! We met our tour guide, Gerry. He was an irish guy who knew everything that you could possibly know about neighbours!! We met 'Janelle Timmons' who was an actor from the show and she signed postcards for us all before we jumped on the bus and headed off. As soon as we started Gerry put on a dvd of all Neighbours 'best bits' and it was the cheesiest thing I had ever seen! It was very funny as it showed you back to the days of Kylie and Jason and all the deaths and marriages that happened on the street. We got to take a tour of set, we saw Lassiters, Harolds store, Charlies bar, grease monkeys, carpenters mechanics and many more. After lots of cheesy pics we jumped back on the bus and headed towards Ramsey Street. Most of the houses are owned by residents who get paid by Neighbours. There is 24 hour security and the residents are not allowed to make any renovations to their home withought Neighbours approval first!! It was very ineresting and the street looks so much smaller in real life compared to the TV! What a chessy day!!!
17/1/2011
Today I went to the ACMI (Australian Centre for Moving Images) This is a free museum in Melbourne that shows you the origin of tv, video games the internet etc. I then sat in Federation Square and watched some australian open tennis action on the huge tv screen. I took the city centre tram around the CBD and saw the main sights of Melbourne, the parliament, the art galleries, the museums, the aquarium etc. This city is very pretty and has a very high art influence in the architecture of the buildings. They come in all shapes and sizes.
19/1/2011
I went back to the night market again tonight and I tried the garlic sauteed prawns tonight! Very yummy! Met Adina and Baz again and few other people who were staying in my hostel. It is such a nice market and the live enetertainment was fantastic - it was a carribean style band with dancers.
20/1/2011
Australian Open Day - Today I was very excited as I was going to the Australian open with clare - and we found out that Andy Murray was playing!!!!!!!!! It couldn't have been any better! I got up early and went to the market and picked up a Scottish flag to support my fellow country man! When we arrived in the afternoon we sat and watched some side court action - Watching pro tennis in real life is very differnt from tv, you can appreciate how fast they serve and return the ball, the spin they put on the ball and the angles they play at. It was very very hot so we deceided to leave the side courts and get some frozen rasperry drinks! We walked around and all the sponsers had tents so there was lots of silly freebies being handed out and I even got my picture with a gigantic tennis ball!!!! It was time to head towards the Margaret Court Arena where Murray was due on at 7 at night. We went there really early to make sure we secured our seats and watched two women players finish off their match - it was very close and intense and the player who won came from a set down to win the game!! It was time for Murray!!!! I was sooo excited! The arena was filled with scottish fans, there was loads of flags and posters printed and t shirts supporting him! He came onto the court and got a huge shout from the crowd!! (it was mainly me an clare going mental!!) Murray won his game and got through the second round in 3 sets! It was fantastic to see the Scottish fans going crazy on every point that he won, and at set point the arena errupted. Great atmosphere, great game, great night! :)
21/1/2011
Today I decided to leave St. Kilda and go on a 3 day tour of the Great Ocean Road. This was an early start as I was getting picked up at 7am!!! I met the other guys who were on the tour with me, Blake, Wayne, Dianne, Paul, Jason and our tour guide Cameron. We stopped at Torquay and this is where Billabong and Rip Curl started so there was lots of shops to look around. We then went to a place called Bells Beach where there are many famous surfing competitions. Then it was one of the highlights...the 'Round the Twist' lighthouse!! This was an auzzie kids programme that I used to watch many moons ago so it was funny to see where it was filmed! For those who might remember the theme tune goes 'Have you ever, ever felt like this...when strange things happen and your going round the twist!' haha Could not get that song out of my head for the whole day! We had a nice picnic lunch here and headed for the official start of the 'Great Ocean Road'. The road was built by soldiers returning from WW1 for mainly two reasons, 1. The road is now a memorial to all the fallen soldiers from WW1 and 2. To put all the soldiers returing into employment straight away!. We stopped for ice cream at a campsite where we got to feed the birds that were flying around - then we were off to our campsite. Where our camp site was set there was loads of wild koalas in the trees and there was a few even running around the campsite!! We arrived and I was sharing a tent with Blake and they asked us to set up out tent...huh set up a tent??!?!?where do you even start?? lol you can tell Im not the most experienced camper! With a little help from the guys we got there in the end and had a nice night cooking fagitas and sharing our travelling stories.
During the middle of the night there was many strange noises coming from outside the tent - Im sure it was koalas as it was mating season, and the males make a funny grunting sound to attract the females!!! We didn't dare get out the tent to look!!
It was an early rise the next day and started with a nice walk through a rainforest in the otway ranges - in this rainforest they have carnivorous snails!! Im glad I didnt come near any!!! We then headed for the 12 apostles in Port Campbell National Park. This rock formation was stunning and very famous so there were a lot of kodak moments! We then headed to Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge and the Bay of Islands. Cameron kept us entertained with many shipwreck stories. We finished the great ocean road and headed to the Grampians Mountain Range as that was where we were camping. Luckily me and Blake were getting the hang of putting up the tent so it was pretty easy!!
23.01.2011
Another early rise and we were heading for a hike in the Grampians. Victoria had also suffered from the floods that hit Queensland so there was a lot of things we couldn't do on our itinery as the roads had been destroyed so we had to work around it! We hiked to the top of 'Hollow Mountain' and it was one of the most difficult hikes I have ever done! The sun was beating down and we were literally scrabbling up the rock face to get to the top. Once we eventually got there, the view was stunning! It was really worth it! We hung out at the top for a bit admiring the surroundings, I could have sat there all day but it was time to head back down. We did see a few wild wallabies on the way which was cool. We jumped back on the bus and headed to 'beehive falls' where there was a really nice waterfall but then it was time to head back to Melbourne - not before a quick ice cream though! We had a long drive back to Melbourne and it was cool coming back into the city over the bridge and seeing all of the CBD all lit up at night. It was a great trip and I met some really nice people.
24/01/2011
This year Queensland has been hit really bad with flooding and there were many charity events that was trying to raise money to help! Well, who better to hold a charity night than the Elephant and Wheelbarrow....thats right ANOTHER NEIGHBOURS NIGHT!!! I convinced myself it was ok to go and see the celebrities for a 3rd time as it was all for charity!! There was 18 characters from the show there!! I was in neighbours heaven! Some oldies like Karl Kennedy and Paul Robinson, Janelle, Stingray and Dylan Timmons, Irish Connor, Steph, Boyd, and there were a lot of new characters. It was a good night and they managed to raise over $20,000 for the relief appeal. (I think Im becoming a Neighbours Groupie!!)
25/01/2011
As I had had a busy couple of busy days I decided to meet my friend Meena and chill in the botanical gardens. We sat and spoke about how good the neighbours night was!! :)
26/01/2011
AUSTRALIA DAY!!! Today is very special in Australia as its Australia Day and all the ozzies celebrate (get drunk!) Captain Cook first landing many moons ago! I was off to Wilsons Promontory National Park or also known as 'the Prom'. This is located at the Southern Most tip of Australia Mainland. After a couple of hours drive we arrived there and were greeted by a lot of wild kangaroos. We managed to get really up close and personal with these roo's. They have no predator in the area that they are living in so don't feel scared of anything and thats why they let you come so close. We also saw a massive Emu. We explored many walking tracks and a rainforest on this tour called 'Lily Pilly Gully', and got to see some fantastic views. We ended up in 'Squeaky Beach'. This is a beach where the sand actually squeakes underneath your feet - its very strange but was fun to jump around in. This was a great wee day out, the people on the tour were very nice. We stopped off for some pizza and headed back to Melbourne. I then met my Meena and Caroline for a drink to Celebrate Australia Day!! Ozzie, ozzie ozzie, oi' oi' oi'!!!
27/01/2011
Today I said goodbye to my friends in Melbourne as I was flying to Cairns. I was sad to say goodbye but excited for my new destination! I arrived in Cairns late at night so got a taxi to the hostel and fell asleep!
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