Hi guys

So I left Melbourne on Tuesday Morning and begun the Oz experience up the East Coast which I'll tell you about so far in my next blog. I was really sad to be leaving Melbourne so soon. I had a great week there, especially the last few days which I spent mostly with Sarah and Cheryl.

I arrived in Melbourne Monday 7th and went to Neighbours Night at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub in St.Kilda. I met Lex there and a few of her friends and we had a giggle. Although I was disappointed that Harold and Karl Kennedy weren't there, I was looking forward to having a grope on Karl!! ;-) I had my photo taken with a few of the stars but I didn't actually recognise any of them. I'm hoping Lynn and Steve will get excited when they see the pics though as they're the only people I know who actually still watch neighbours!!!

The next day I met Lex for a farewell lunch as she has now gone to New Zealand. I miss her loads, she's a top chick and I won't see her now until we get back to England. She introduced me to her mate Adam - from Bristol and we spent the afternoon sight seeing. We went to the Old Melbourne Jail and Federation Square for a couple of bevies whilst watching the giant TV!

On Wednesday I was on the free city tram when I realized Sally - a chick I met on the Great Ocean Road tour was sitting opposite me!! We went to St Kilda and had a lovely lunch, and chat. In the evening, I met up with Adam and we went to the Queen Victoria Market which was great. There were loads of wine tasting stalls and amazing food.

Thursday Adam and I went to the observation deck at the Rialto Hotel, (253 metres high, 360 degree stunning view of the city) and it was nice to escape 41C temperatures and enjoy some "AC' as he calls it! Air Conditioning! We then managed to get totally lost on the tram before finding our way to Fitzroy Gardens. Fitzroy Gardens aren't actually in Fitzroy believe it or not?! Is it any wonder we got lost!! The locals we asked for help found it amusing anyway! I walked round Cook's cottage whilst Adam had a snooze and then we came back to the city and had a KFC!! We had planned to eat in but you would not believe the amount of pigeons walking/flying around inside. It was shocking. I took a photo which you'll see!! It made me feel sick and all of my guilt for running over a pigeon last year has now gone, I hate those flying rats!!

Thursday night I went back to the observation deck with my new room mate, Ju from Korea. She was so exicted bless her. As I had played Mum and kept hold of Adam's ticket I gave it to her so she could get in for free. She held my hand and pulled me round the observation area, she was so exicited and then ended up taking a zillion photos. She was soooo cute!!

Thursday night I put a sign up in the lift of the hostel saying I wanted to go to see Melbourne play footie the following night and asking if anyone else was up for it. Well I got a phonecall about 1am from 4 lads in the hostel who were very drunk but claiming to be up for it so we arranged to meet the next day at reception. I couldn't believe it when they actually showed up and in addition another new room mate who arrived that morning -Cheryl from Leicester loved footie and was up for it too. The guys and I walked into town and got the tickets and then I went to St. Kilda to meet Helly and Rasmus (from Thailand - Singapore tour) and we caught up over a smoothie!! Was really great to see them.

I returned to the hostel to discover it was ladies night and free champagne from 5-6 so Cheryl and I made the most of that and met a girl called Cat whilst doing so! Met the boys and we walked to the Telsta Dome.The attendance was 25,000 and Melbourne victory won 3-0 again Wellington Pheonix. The standard of football wasn't great, probably equivalent to Bournemouth but hey what can you expect for twelve quid!! It was an enjoyable evening though and I'm glad I went, if not for the footie but the giant hot dog and beer at half time!!

On Saturday Cheryl and I had breakie and then went to St Kilda to meet Sarah (who I met back in November on my very first Thailand tour). It was great to see her and we had the nicest day. We did some sunbathing and decided brown boobs are the way forward so after laying there for 15 minutes with out tops undone and ready to be whipped off we finally plucked up the courage to go topless!! We were giggling like school girls and every time someone walked past we pretended to be asleep!! After two hours we still had white bits but that was to be expected really!! We went to Leo's Italian restaurant and had a really nice lunch. A bottle of yummy oyster bay wine later and we were a little tipsy. Back to the beach for a few hours and we then went back to the restaurant for pudding and another bottle of wine!! You would not believe the size of the portion of cheesecake we got! Both of us admitted defeat, it was impossible to finish it off!!! We went to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow for what was meant to be a couple of drinks!! 3am I arrived back at my hostel!! We had a cracking night though, the live band were awesome and we had a laugh with some English/Kiwi Guys. (By the way I can't stop saying Awesome!! Hopefully this annoying new habit will have disappeared by the time I get home!)The next day was a chill out day .

Cheryl and I went to a cafe for breakie again and then I just slept, read my book did some washing etc.!! In the evening Sarah picked us girls up and we went back to hers. OMG, her parents were soooooo lovely! They were so excited to see us, it was kisses and cuddles all round, immediately followed by them raiding the cupboards and putting out snacks for us, pouring wine etc.We had a lovely chat with them whilst Sarah got ready and then the 3 of us went into St Kilda and to the Esplanade hotel. We bumped into the footie boys and had soon made friends with some Irish guys who were extremely funny and bought us lots of drinks! I was asked to leave the bar about 2am as I was apparently too drunk and they kind of got it right as the minute I got outside I puked my guts up.David - one of the Irish guys held my hair back and I ended up back at the guys hostel as I couldn't find Sarah and Cheryl.

The next day I awoke to a very severe hangover. I got a cab back to Sarah's ate a shed load of toast and then managed a couple of hours kip in Sarah's well cosy bed! At midday we left for the Australian Open. But first we had to sort out hangovers out and find a Mcdonalds.This took us ages but eventually we stumped upon the magic yellow M sign!! After a load of grub we felt much better and made our way to the Arena.We had ground tickets so could pick and choose which games we wanted to see outside. We watched a few minutes of a couple of games and then decided to watch an entire match from beginning to end. The match we saw was Donald Young (USA) vs Michael Berrer (GER). As it happens Michael won and we watched Rodd*** beat him last night on the TV. Was so cool knowing we'd seen Michael play live a few days before! Donald had quite a few temper tantrums was very amusing! We also saw some of the Carlos Moya (ESP) vs Stefan Koubek (AUT) which had a great atmosphere, Mexican waves and all sorts!!

I really enjoyed my day at the tennis - all that was missing was some strawberries and cream - Mum you and I are sooooo having a girlie day at Wimbledon either this year or next!

Sarah and I said goodbye to Cheryl and then we made our way back to hers and we had brie, biscuits and cups of tea!! Sarah and her family are the best hostesses ever.Saying goodbye was really sad, I had a great few days with her and she has become a dear friend to me.We've said about maybe meeting up in Thailand for another holiday in the future, I really hope I'll see her again at some point.

Sarah - pleaaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee come to England and visit!!!! So there you have it, I loved Melbourne, definitely my favourite place in Australia so far and I hope to return one day.

Take care folks and to you oldies out there, please don't worry about me drinking. I am behaving 99% of the time and the people I'm hanging out with are trustworthy. Trust me!

Lots of love to you all Xxxxxxx