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25/01/10
Up at 05:30 ouch! Caught the Overland and it was a good 10 hours till we got to Melbourne. The scenery was different to the last train journey, it seems a lot more green and lush here, it reminded me of England at some points. We arrived in Melbourne around 19:00 ish and got a taxi to Oslo Hotel which is a hostel in St.Kilda. Only staying here for one night, good job really, it's a proper backpackers hostel and the room is basic to say the least! We've got a small room with two single 'beds' and no bathroom, we could afford a bungalow on the beach for a week in Thailand for the same price but we're not gonna dwell on that! Melbourne seems nicer that Adelaide so far, seems a lot bigger city but it's no match for Perth, still my favourite Australian city so far!
26/01/10
Happy Australia Day!! Up early, walked up the road to pick up the van, it's smaller than I imagined but it's very nice, bright green! We checked it over and that was it, $2500 bond secured and we were good to go! Simon drove first, we dicide to head into the city and go on the 'Neighbours' Tour!! We rang up and booked ourselves on to go at 12:30 so then we had to find our way into the city and poark which is much easier said than done when most of the roads are blocked and there's loads of people everywhere (street parade's for Australia day!). Managed to find the place with minutes to spare and when the Neighbours tour bus pulled up we all jumped in and began the best (and cheesiest!) tour I've ever been on! Jerry our guide put some classic neighbours on the T.V as we made our way to 'Ramsey Street'. It took about 20 mins to get there, we went to Erinsborough High School first and then to the studio and then we drove about two mins, turned the corner and we were on Ramsey Street!! It was so surreal, much smaller than it looks on T.V and very weird to actually be standing outside all the houses, it was brilliant, we were totally buzzing off it! We took loads of photos and walked around the street, we were all loving it! We were there about 3/4 of an hour and then we headed back to the city where Ned Parker was waiting to say hi. This was surreal as well, would've been better if it was Karl, Paul or Toadie but he was really nice so it was a great way to end the tour. We had a brilliant afternoon and I'd definitely do it again!
We got back in the van and fought our way out of the city, need to find somewhere to stay out of the way but not too far 'cause we've got to come back tomorrow for our x-rays at 12:00. We drove around for AGES, I'd had enough so I suggested we stay on an industrial park on some wasteground. This is what we did, a definite first for both of us, sleeping in a van, on wasteground, with no toilet and a bloody train track right next to us that we only realised once we'd got settled! At least we were laughing about it! I made us a fry up for dinner and then we settled down for the night, a surreal day all round!
27/01/10
Up early (ish) and made our way back into the city, at least all the roads were open today! Went and had our x-ray, when we got there they told us we'd have to pick it up 4-5 days later! We told them we were leaving Melbourne today and that when we booked it we were told in would all be sorted in one day, not happy! She sorted it for us but it means we'll have to hang around for 4 hours but at least it'll get done. So this is where we are, in a basement carpark, in the van having a brew so it's not all bad!
We headed to an internet cafe to search for some NZ jobs and to pass the time, we went back to get our forms around 15:30, everything was clear so that was good!
We've travelled approx 200kms down the M1 Southeast of Melbourne so we're officially on our way to Brisbane! Staying just off the freeway on a grassy area callled 'Willow Park' in Rosedale, it's much better than last night, at least we're allowed to be here!
28/01/10
After a good nights sleep it's off again on the M1, just gonna drive and see where we get to. Posted our x-ray reports to Sydney so hopefully we'll be allowed in NZ now! After a few hours drive we stopped for lunch at a place called 'Lakes Entrance' where the river meeets the sea, very beautiful.
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