Hi everyone....

Well, we've come to the end of Melbourne now... been a hard couple of weeks with working and waiting for xmas to come around. Luckily, after
finding a job I managed to settle down there for a couple of weeks and get some cash to pay for all our accommodation for Melbourne and some
towards Sydney... so worth the cuts, bruises and stories!

Only had one major funny moment with working in Melbourne... dragged a fridge out of an apartment by myself, pulled it into the lift and saw the
electric cord dragging along... for some unknown reason I completly disregarded what I just saw and pressed down to level 1 (I was level 3),
well, what followed is what can only be described as a complete disaster! Lift went down, the cord went to the ceiling and the fridge lifted off the
lift floor, upside down and snapped and fell down to the floor! The lift stopped in mid-air... s***... i threw the fridge upright and pressed down, within
15 seconds the lift door opened with the customer standing in-front of me... s***... luckily he didn't have a clue, took the fridge from me and wheeled
it down to the truck... all i could see was a snapped electric cord, a soaking wet, dented, smashed ceiling lift... soon finished the job and never mentioned
it to the boss! ha.

Apart from that just did removals, went to a few night markets in St Kilda... ate a place where you pay whatever you want to pay, nothing if you want
to... sat down the beach on the few odd days that it was actually sunny... which was as rare as rocking horse s***... seemed to warm up as we were leaving
Melbourne... always the way in oz... met up with a couple of people we knew from Whitsundays... made some friends in the hostel and the girls took
it easy sorting out bits for Sydney and going on the neighbours tour... which, incidentally, was the worst tour they've ever been on... an actor who worked
on the set 2 years ago and now worked on a building site (with a broken arm), ramsey street from a long distance... with the site of 5 large white trucks blocking
the view... and in true English style, and what we've done on every tour we've been on, the girls complained to try and get their money back... that's still
in process!

Now, as i type this, i'm sitting in an airport in Melbourne called Avalon... which is nowhere near Melbourne... suppose its a bit like Heathrow,
which is nowhere near London. Well, its only a short flight to Sydney- about 1 hr 20 mins....

fell asleep on the plane... woke up and we had landed, straight out of the airport and was greeted by one of the rudest greeks i've ever met...
actually haven't met that many, but anyway... finally got us to Sydney... me and nick legged it down the road to get the maccie's breakky before
it finished (We made it), and then checked into our room... then it was the beginning of a military operation... get the food shopping, get the
secret santas, get the alcohol, get the decorations, make a banner for the girls, decorate and then wash... after about 16 bus journeys we were
ready at midnite.... girls got up early and met the tracey and abbie from the airport, whilst me and Nick cooked a huge (and also stunning)
full english breakfast... went down a treat... the girls then got showered and we gave them a sight-seeing tour around Sydney... opera house,
harbour bridge etc. they then went back to hostel and us 4 headed over to Manly to do a bit more shopping for xmas... got back and eventually
woke the girls up from serious jet lag at about 7pm and the drinking began... ended up getting out about 10ish and headed to a bar next door
called Scubar... true backpacker bar... and then headed to Oxford Street... where we all ended up in a gay bar... enough said about that one...
me and Jade stayed out a bit longer than the others and found ourselves in a proper head-banging place... needless to say that we didn't
stay there long!

Xmas is here.... we woke up to the girls coming in the room singing little donkey and we all got up and sat in a circle on the floor in our room...
all the secret santa presents we bought for each other came out and we sat opening them all for a couple of hours... had breakfast and then
all got ready for a quality day ahead.... BONDI BEACH ON XMAS DAY...! We got there on a packed bus and turned up to see an enormous que
of people, all wearing santa hats... the beach was packed and everyone dressed in some sort of festive outfit! Quality... when we got in it was
quality, music and atmosphere was just like Ibiza... even rivalled some top days in Space in Ibiza! Me and Jade were happy! Had Xmas lunch
with a few thousand people whilst dancing, probably the best day out of all the travelling...! We headed out to the beach for a little break
halfway through and jumped in the water and then me and Jade went back in until it finished... got the bus back, which everyone on the bus
were singing christmas carols... top atmosphere! Would love to do it all over again!

Boxing day... we all woke up feeling quite tired, but not hungover! Beauty! After a couple of hours of faffing about, we decided we'd head over
to Manly... girls got to see a bit more of Sydney and me and Nick get to bodyboard! I exchanged our wetsuits for a new bodyboard (means I get
to take it to Bali)... me and nick bodyboarded for the entire afternoon, whilst the girls sunbathed... Abbie being under an umbrella! Got a bit
burnt from Xmas day! Then we headed back to the hostel, all got dressed up and went out for a meal...,

Next day me and nick had the most relaxing day ever.... sat in the cinema in our hostel.... huge 10ft screen with bean bags and massive soft
sofas, and fell asleep in there for the whole day... girls went to Darling Harbour and had something to eat... nice to relax after the last couple
of days! So, now all we've got to do is pick Amie and Toni up from the airport and then relax for a couple of days before flying to Bali on the
30th December... cannot wait until we get in our 4* hotel... we definitely deserve it... supposed to be flying out of Bali on 15th January, then Hong Kong
until 18th January, then Thailand until the 18th February... then home!

Anyways, keep in touch... that's probably going to be it for a while, as I haven't got a clue what technology is going to be like in Bali, Hong Kong
and Thailand...

Take care...

Lots of love,

Marcus x