Auntie Jane this bit is especially for you....koala bears arent as cute as they may seem....they ALL carry chlamydia and im not going to be responsible for bringing that back to the UK! soo sorry about that! also they have really dodgy mating calls! so thats the end of koalas...im going to hunt down some roos next! :)

so melbourne continued....after great ocean road we decided to do a bit more exploring....went into melbourne on saturday with the idea of getting to Queen Victoria Market....started walking in the wrong direction we found out, and by that time it was 5 to 3 and it closed at three. Little did we know that out of all three other future tries we never actually made it to the market! So we randomly bumbed into Richard and Nick (the world really is tiny!!!) a couple of guys from the great ocean roads tour, and arranged to meet them that evening. The Moomba Festival was on this weekend as it was a bank holiday so melbourne was heaving! IN Federation Square there was a free beauty tent where we could get free samples of deep cleansing hair masks and face moisturiser we stocked up! Walked along the river bank where there was Australian water skiing championships with world class water skiers jumping! they were pretty impressive, but desperately wanted one to get it wrong! We had figured out by now that we had gained two stalkers (richard and nick) as they found us again....we spent the afternoon in the Botanical Gardens, walking round taking very regular stops to just sleep on the grass. Gardens were gorgeous (saw some ducks....sorry dad i dont know the technical bird name for them!) there was a wedding reception there and what looked like a childs birthday party plus lots of people having picnics. This then started the current trend of us picknicking in gardens then sleeping :) sweet life! That evening was an amazing firework show all along the river (ive finally grown up and am no longer not that scared of fireworks sort of!) they were really good! They had a film on a massive screen as well that loads of people were watching and a fair etc etc. OOOOO they also had water ski dancing...reminded me that time in france when we went to the ice skating..that sort of excitement!! The water skiers were holding up dancers that were doing stunts and the boats were all lit up, was cool, until they made a mistake! So we then met up with richard and nick for the night, was a good night but definately shouldnt have drunk as much as i did, partly due to the fact i am absolutely rubbish at drinking games!! The next day we nursed our hangovers on the beach was so hot, and this was at like 4 in the afternoon, water was freezing! went out for dinner that night with the guys from great ocean road and another girl they had met at their hostel! lots of restaurants in backpacker areas have cheap food nights, was good to eat something with flavour! On monday the festival was still going on and so we watched the Moomba Parade/ Carnival was good but again soooo hot! Met up with richard and nick and had a picnic in the park, then wandered along Brunswick Street famous for its street side cafes and Fitzroy Street which is the boho area of melbourne, loks like it would be a really good night out with live music in most bars. That evening was our last night in melborne, had a good night out! maya went to neighbours night, personally that was bit much for me so i opted out of that one! then we went to a few bars, time just dissapears and the next thing you know its 4am and are having to get up at 7am to go round blumin Ramsey Street! Ramsey Street (homeof neighbours) was done whilst being very hungover! Its alot smaller than youd think, and people actually live in the houses. Went to the school, which again is a real school for languages i think and the airport and hospital and lassiders are all the same builiding! such a letdown!! Suppose couldnt really come to melbourne and not go there! SO for you avid neighbours fans i have some previews....tody leaves steph at the alter and i cant remember what else i found out! hope ive ruined it for you all ;) hehe!! SO this was our last day in melbourne....this afternoon we surprise surprise chillaxed in the botanical gardens for one last time! we had to carry our massive rucksacks for miles!!! agh thats one of the worst things so im in the process of emptying my rucksack!