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Hi everyone,
On Friday the 19th of Feb, we went out with a girl from work and her friends. After it taking far too long by public transport to get into town (and mary-ann getting bitten through her clothes again) we hung around thier flat for a little while before taking another tram to somewhere that we later learnt was called Prahran. We started in a gay bar called 'Heaven's Door'... which was a different experience for us. After a while we decided that we would just leave the others and go of to a different bar where we met some rather unpleasant guys, such as the one who told Amy she was 'too smart to work in a bookshop' and that not to worry, she didn't have to justify herself to him. Thank God! We certainly met some characters but it was a bit of a weird taste of Melbourne's night life.
We spent all of Saturday organising and booking the rest of our trip and Sunday Amy did alot of uni research while Mary-Ann had a rather unexpected delivery, our friend Chuey had sent a couple of his friends who live in Melbourne over to our house with a box of chocolates and some red roses as her birthday present.
Tuesday was Mary-Ann's birthday. Though we both had to work, it was a really enjoyable day. Amy set out Mary-Ann's presents on the dining room table with balloons and confetti the night before, and in the evening Steve and Fiona took us out for a birthday meal, and bought Mary-Ann ice cream cake. Mary-Ann was very excited to recieve Amy's present for her, and we both cannot wait to go and see 'Bach and Beyond' in Sydney Opera House in April!
On Saturday we made our way in to town for the neighbours tour which was also very enjoyable, but as with anything that is so familiar on tv it was very weird to see the sets. We were shown all the exterior sets, we met and ex member of the cast, we watched episodes of neighbours in the van and got lots of behind the scenes gossip. Then we rented a movie.
The next day we took a trip to the Melbourne Museum which we both found really really good, the exhibits were really well done and there was lots to see.
Friday, after work, we made our way by train to Kyneton which is about an hour north of Melbourne and is where Amy's Dad's cousin and his wife (Greg and Janet) live. Greg picked us up from the station and took us to thier amazing house (6 acresof land including a 2 old renervated halls, 4 Alpacas and 10 chooks.) We tucked into some home made pesto and had a catch up chat while Greg made pizzas for dinner - it was lovely!
The next morning they made us pancakes with berries and maple syrup (we were so pampered). After breakfast we got in the car and made our way to Gordon where some of Amy's relatives were buried, we also also stopped in at the eccentric hat makers where Mary-Ann tried on a few hats. We then drove to Ballarat but it got really stormy so we had to pull over for a bit, when we got there we were treated to lunch, and then went to a horticultural fayre. On the way home we drove through Daylesford where we stopped at a huge antiques building and were very tempted by lots of clothes and books. When we got back to the farm we took the neighbours dog for a walk, showered up, watched Australias equivelant of 'You've Been Framed' and then were treated to dinner at a new Indian place in the old mill. When we got back we watched a film and went to bed.
Sunday was national 'Clean up Australia Day' and Greg had organised a little group of people, so we joined them in litter picking a lagoon. Then one of the ladies offered we all go back for a barbeque at her house, so we did, and it was really nice talking to some new people. After feeding the Alpacas we went to the train station, said our goodbyes, and made our way back to Melbourne.
Work was work. Except for on Tuesday Salmat brought round a giant cake for the Flybuys team to celebrate International Women's Day. Friday we packed in preperation for our Great Ocean Road weekend, which we begun on Saturday.
The first stop was Tourquay, where we grabbed hot drinks and sat on the beach for a bit. It was really striking how surf-orientated the town was with literally just surf shops everywhere, nothing else. Point Addis had some of the most stunning views, but that was really the case for the whole trip just looking out of the windows. We drove through Lorne which was a gorgeous seaside town, missing the Erskin Falls and having to go back on ourselves to see them, but it was well worth it, minus the steps up. Teddies lookout brought some for stunnign views, then we had lunch on the beach underneath the lookout point. Apollo Bay was next - more hot drinks and beach sitting. We drove to the Cape Otway Lighthouse but decided not to pay the extortinate $17 as we have seen lighthouses before. We finally arrived at Port Campbell at about 5.30, and unpacked in the room before grabbing some yummy veggie dinner, and eating that on the beach where we got talking to some fellow travellers, and there were some silly boys climbing a stupidly large tree, After dinner we finally got to the Twelve Apostles which, like the neighbours tour, was strange to see because of its familiarity. It was the highlight of the weekend in terms of scenery as we saw the sunset and then waited for the fairie penguins who only turned up in a small group of 4.
The next day we returned to the Twelve Apostles to see them in a different light. We also visited the Loch Ard Gorge, the Blow Hole, London Bridge. We then went to Cheeseworld in Warrnambool where we couldn't help but think of Jess the whole time. We did some cheese tasting and saw the museum, then headed home.
That kind of conludes what we've done up to now. We still can't believe there's only 2 weeks left in Melbourne 'till we're off to Alice. We're still Flybuying on the weekdays, and have several things we want to squeeze in to our last couple of weekends before we leave.
Lots of love,
Us!
P.s. Happy Birthday Hugh!
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