Hello from sunny Melbourne!

This city feels so familiar yet totally alien! There is a real European cafe culture mixed with all the Aussie quirks! It's really random! And the weather!!!! I was warned that it was pretty changeable over here but barely 25 deg to 40 in a matter of days is pretty ridiculous! Still no rain thank goodness but having left a pretty warm Perth the drop in temperature was a bit of a shock initially! The jumpers were out in force and Eve even pulled out a scarf!

For our last night in Perth we went down to a pub called The Boat down by a little harbour - for those of you who have ever been you will know The Boat at Ashleworth! The best bit was that they even had Stowford on tap!!! Drinking Westons cider at The Boat - home from home!

We left Perth early on Wednesday morning and took a brilliant 'SkyBus' from Melbourne Airport direct to our hostel! We checked in and had a bit of an explore allbeit in massively the wrong area! When it came to looking for some food we were in the banks and business part of town which meant restaurants were fairly few and far between! We ended up in Nandos which I didn't think was really that bad but seemingly it's more common and faster than McDonalds over here! A very sophisticated first evening!

We spent the first few days wandering around the city trying to get our bearings, although it is all very well laid out in blocks it's still suprisingly difficult to navigate! Then we came across the City Circly Tram - the single greatest invention ever! It's a free tourist tram which stops at all the key points. You get a tour guide commentary whilst on board and they even play a song at certain stops - we have used the tram so much we actually now know where the song will start!!! So cool!

We went up one of Melbourne's tallest buildings, our tickets let us re-enter so we got to see the city by day, dust and night! Lots of photos were duly taken! We spent the rest of the weekend looking for bars and places to go out! There doesn't seem to be a particular bar district but scatterings all over the city. That is all good if you actually know where you are going?!? We have taken on the tactic to look for crazy looking alley ways, random doorways and bouncers stood in front of apparently nothing - all of the above invariably means that there will be a groovy basement or rooftop drinking hole somewhere close by!!! It has worked pretty well and we have found some fairly cool bars - one of which even had a stuffed ostrich and giraffe placed quite naturally in the middle of the dancefloor?! See what I mean about the random Aussie quirks?!

Saturday night we found a brilliant club called Club Retro - all the old classics were blaring out all night which was awesome! We staggered back, luckily the club was pretty close to our hostel and planned for a lazy day on Sunday! We had a picnic in Fitzroy gardens and then made our way over to the MCG - Melbourne Cricket Ground. For those of you who know Eve you may be right in saying that she is not a huge sports fan but I managed to get her to come and see the Australia v South Africa 2020s on Sunday night! I sold it to her with the music and fireworks and of course the atmosphere! We got into the spirit of things by having our faces painted - I was offered a union jack but elected against it as I wanted to make it out alive!!!! Australia won which was a real plus and despite the chilly evening we had a great time! The stadium is fantastic and much better to see it nearly full, with a crowd of 62,000 I imagine it nearly was!

Monday was the day of all days! The moment we both woke up we had grins fixed on our faces! It was the day of the Neighbours tour!!! The bus picked us up at the hostel and took us to the studios, we got to have a fairly good nose around and learn all of the secrets! So much of it is fake and done so cheaply it's incredible! The same set is changed ever so slightly to represent about four different things! And the inside of Grease Monkeys is a shed with a few chairs in it!!! All of the indoor filming is done inside a secret building which we sadly couldn't enter! The bus then took us to the famous Ramsay St which is called something totally different in real life! Although it was all so familiar it was about 100times smaller than what you get to see on the show! On the bus classic old episodes were played - Helen Daniels came back from the dead!!! We also got to meet Max, that was a bit of a let down because we were praying that it would be Karl!! Got some piccies though so still happy!

Yesterday we went to St Kilda which is a beach/backpacker haven in Melbourne. It's a bit of a way out of the city but there is still a fair bit going on! We collapsed in the shade as it was too hot to do much and dipped our feet in the sea! The Perth beaches are still reigning supreme though I must say! We met some friends for dinner and then made our way back to an excessively hot room!

Today it has been 40 deg and so we have been seeking air con the whole day! Tonight though I think we are planning to go to China Town and we have some tickets booked to see Billy Elliott at the theatre which I've wanted to see for ages! What are the chances that it would be showing here?! Tomorrow we are hiring a car and heading out on the Great Ocean Road, by all accounts it is truly spectacular and the temperature is set to drop so it may not be quite so unbearable! Then Friday is our last night in Melbourne! Hopefully we can meet up with some local friends who go to uni here and find a few more hidden bars! Saturday we are Sydney bound and Eve's cousin is already there in the same hostel so by all accounts a pretty big night is being planned! Brilliant!

Thats all for now from Melbourne but photos will follow!

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