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Arrived in Melbourne in the early hours of the morning on 14 December after taking the red eye from Darwin, we took it easy in the first couple of days and just did the lonley planet walks (they are cool cause they keep us out of mischief, you see loads and best of all they are FREE!!!) We went to the little house that Captain Cook used to like in in the UK (yes it is in Melbourne city centre now, some bright spark decided to transport it over and put it all back together!!) Rewarded ourselves for the big walk by having a chinese banquet at a nice little place in china town.
We moved hostels the next day, to one that was slap bang in the city centre and you could actually cook in the kitchen (the first one was minging and smelled awful!!) Did loads that day, went to Carlton Park which is a park in the centre of town which has English Oaks and little fountains and things.. very nice and weather was good so we just chilled out for a few hours. Next we headed to Melbourne Jail (yes, another Jail. We have ackowledged that we have issues with jails and are thinking of doing a tour of Armley when we get home!). This one was a bit different though, Ned Kelly was hanged here and there was a re-enactment on which was really entertaining. Back in the late 1800's they thought that being a criminal was hereditry so they used to make a death mask for the people who were executed so they could see the shape of their heads.... interestingly they abandoned this theory when they realised that lots of people in Oz had come from convict decendents... funny that! Also of interest was the boy who had been convicted and sentanced for "interferring with himself". He died at the age of 16 and the cause of death was also "Excessive interferring with himself" so be warned you boys!! Today was also a bit of a landmark for us as we cooked our first homemade meal for 6 weeks!!!
The next day was spent at the Queen Victoria Markets which are massive and had a real Christmassy feel which was nice. After all that walking a Thai foot massage was in order before checking out the botanical gardens and stopping off at the Shrine of Rememberance on the way. We are experts on Anzac related topics now if anyone has any questions! The Botanical gardens were pretty spectacular and there were loads of weddings going on.
The next day was a big shopping day and we walked for miles into the suberbs of Richmond and Fitzroy in Yarra City on the outskirts of Melbourne where there were plenty of opportunities for some quality retail therapy.
For a bit of a change, we moved hostels to St Kilda which is a seaside resort close to the city of Melbourne. There was a weird 70's style theme park on the front but the beach is gorgeous and the weather was nice enough for a full sunbaking day.
We had an early one the next morning, ready for our trip up the Great Ocean Road. We went with a company called Wild Wombat Escapes which was basically a guy called Chris in a minivan but what a fab time we had!! We saw loads of sites (the photos are on the blog already) including the 12 apolstols (only a few have dropped into the sea so its more like 9 now!) and London Bridge. We also saw loads of wildlife including Koalas and some Wallabies just passed the 9th hole on a golf course... very bizarre but they are cute! It was a long day, we started at 7am and didn't get back til 8pm but we got to see the Lighthouse where "Around the Twist" was filmed and the beach where Point Break was set. A fabulous day and a good night out when we got back. St Kilda is described as Melbourne's playground and everyone here is laid back and good fun.
The next day we headed back to Melbourne city centre to see some more sites including Melbourne Museum where Lucy washed up in the Robinson's old kitchen from Neighbours and we saw Scott and Charlene's wedding cake (sad I know but I refused point blank to do the official Neighbours tour that Lucy wanted to do!!)
Saturday was spent travelling to Sale where Lucy's Family live, 3 hours train journey from Melbourne. Their house is lovely and they were such nice people that it felt like proper Christmas. We had a BBQ on our first night there, but we were not the only guests. There were a couple from Canada (who, it turns out actually originated from near Halifax!), Lucy's cousin and his mate and another of her auntie's nephews so it was a full house and we went out to Kas Bar in Sale where we were introduced to everyone as Robert's sister and her friend! Everyone was really friendly but we were shattered so called it a day at 2am. Think we are getting old cause the lads didn't get home until 6am the next day! hardcore.
Xmas eve was spent wrapping prezzies for Lucy's two cousins Emily (3) and Daisy (9) and we had a proper roast dinner with Yorkshire Puddings and everything!
Chrismtas day was offficially the coldest on record (see link on message board) so of course it was our fault, there was even snow near where the bushfires had been only days earlier! there were 22 for Christmas lunch and the little people made it really special. We braved the weather and had Bailey's on ice in the hot tub in the afternoon, it was fabulous!
Boxing day we went for a walk around the Lakes in Sale where all the healthy people jogged passed us and then watched 3 back to back xmas episodes of Only Fools and Horses - its the first proper telly we'd seen in 2 months so we don't feel bad about it!
The next day was Lucy's auntie's Hen lunch, she was getting married the day before new year's eve but we were going to miss the wedding. Her sister and mum were over from the UK and we all went for lunch and had food + wine at a little deli restaurant in Stratford (it seriously is called Stratford and its on the River Avon!!)and it was really really nice. We went to an Irish bar at night to play pool with the lads although between the two of us girlies we potted about 4 black balls, its just they were in the middle of the games! We need some serious practice!!
On Thursday something totally out of character occured... we were disorganised!! All the buses to Sydeny were full even though we'd paid for a ticket, we just forgot to book the actual bus! so we went into panic mode and ended up booking a flight and avoiding the 12 hour bus journey (what a shame!) We went into Sale today and did a bit of sale shopping before going to see Emily and Daisy and having our faces painted in a lovely shade of Blue!! Tonight we got ready to travel up to Sydeny for New Year tonight and said goodbye to everyone... we are going to miss that lovely comfy bed, great food, hot tub, pool but most of all Lucy's aunty and uncle who were just lovely.
We'll write again in 2007!!
DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCURACY OF ANY OF THE HISTORY STUFF IN THIS BLOG... OR LIABLE FOR ANY OF THE GRIEF GIVEN TO AUZZIE'S. AFTER THE GRIEF GIVEN TO US "POMMIE SHEILA'S" OVER THE CRICKET - THEY DESERVE IT!!
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