I arrived back to a week of rather mild weather in Melbourne but it soon changed and the wood-burning stove in my Godmother's house appears to be on almost 24/7. The trees outside are the brightest shades of orange, red and yellow and the crisp air sings of Autumn in full volume.

While the remains of the Spring hung around, my godmother's mother took my godmother's son and I to the zoo. We arrived mid-morning and started at the primates; we moved round the maze of animal enclosures seeing the elephants and the tiger before stopping for lunch. We soon moved on to the meerkats; they seemed to be everybody's favourite! We saw the giraffes and zebras as well as the seals and penguins before a quick look through the gift shop and then back home for a cuppa.

The day after, the Sunday, was Mother's day here in Australia. After my godmother's sons took my Godmother breakfast in bed we finished up the watermelon and pancake mix for what basically became brunch for us. Then she headed off with her mum for the afternoon and I got started on a three-course meal for dinner. After almost breaking the food processor and using every other piece of machinery in the kitchen, dinner was served: melon balls in a mint, honey and lime dressing followed by roast chicken and a whole host of roast veg; pudding was passionfriut pavlova. We enjoyed a rather lovely evening altogether and the week came to a wonderful end.

I spent a good few days after this answering emails, catching up with family members and trying to book my flights to Vietnam! I've also managed to book my trip to the Northern Territory which I am so excited about, plenty of sights to see and hikes to go on and hopefully with some very lovely people.

I did however also make it into the city again on Wednesday and spent almost the whole day in the Melbourne Museum. There were so many amazing exhibits, Mind & Body, Bugs Alive!, The Melbourne Story and all sorts of interesting and wonderful things. I was impressed by the level of interactivity in all the different exhibits and I learnt quite a bit about the history of Melbourne. I had a hearty soup for lunch about halfway through and when I felt satisfied that I had seen all that I wanted to see I decided to walk to Melbourne Central.

Although not the closest train station to the museum, I had wanted to go back and explore it a little further having only been through briefly on the walking tour I had done with my Godmother before I left. I got out my map and found my way there without too many mishaps, apart from encountering the start of a heavy rainfall on the way! It seemed quite at the heart of all things 'in the fashion' and was alive with colour and fun. The building is built around an old shot tower and the mix of the old and new creates quite a unique juxstaposition of architecture that every tourist to the city should go and see. I shook of the water droplets and grabbed a hot chocolate at the first cafe I saw and enjoyed a little sit down and people watch before I caught the train home. I would have liked to have stayed longer and wish to go back again as there seemed like there was so much more to see.

Yesterday I managed to meet up with the family I have that lives in a different Melbourne suburb. I told them my Fijian tale of woe and recieved some very wise advice about travelling to the NT by myself that I think, after my recent naiveity and ignorance in Fiji, I shall abide by dearly...

Hopfully we will get a spot of dry weather this weekend and I can go out and do a bit more exploring of the surrounding countryside.