Noosa

Of course I had to give Dara a bit of stick for leaving me by myself, but in reality it was quite nice to get a bit of space, and see what it would have been like to do this journey by myself.He did however leave me carrying all his bags as well as mine and so I was pleased when I arrived at the hostel and had everything put down.I had booked myself into a nice little hostel in Sunshine Beach, which was just around the coast from Noosa Heads.The first day I decided to do the famous coastal walk from Sunshine Beach through the nature reserve and arriving at the Heads.The lady at reception told me it would take about two hours but it took me about four, although I was taking my time.There were some stunning views from Dolphin Point and Hells Kitchen, as well as lots of pretty little coves and beaches. I also got to see a wild koala just chilling out in a tree by the path.

Noosa Heads was a lovely town, it was not really a backpacker sort of place, and seamed to be quite money orientated.There were lots of unaffordable pricey shops which were fun to browse around.I got quite used to using the bus and quite happily hoped on and off to town and the shopping centre.The Hostel was laid out with two rooms of four beds each with its own lounge and kitchen.There was a TV in the lounge and that was lucky because as far as I could tell there was nothing to do in Sunshine Beach and the last bus to town was at six o clock. Day two and I had booked myself in for a Surf Lesson.I was given my board and wetsuit and taken to the beach to be given full instructions on how to stand up.Apparently it is very easy, you just lie flat, push up with your arms, then stick your bum up, as soon as you are ready move one foot forward and ta-da you are up.I cannot really comment though because I only really managed to do stand up once and that was more of an accident than through any kind of skill.Still I learnt a few things about surfing. 1.Surf boards are heavy, and have a tendency to flip up in you face as you are taking them out to sea. 2. Surfing is really hard work, my arms and thighs were aching for days afterwards. 3. I am crap at surfing.It was all quite fun though, and I was knackered by the end.It was back to the hostel from a nap because Dara was arriving back soon.After his flight he made it back to the hostel at about 9pm and so we were both glad of an early night.

The next day we did the walk again, this time taking a picnic that we ate at Devils Kitchen while watching the stunning views of the ocean and hoping to see a whale.That evening we wandered over to the surf club thinking that they would be able to order a taxi into town for us and found there was a quiz.Dara was over the moon so we stayed at the club for the quiz and he was even more pleased as he won himself a large jug of beer on the opening round.The surf club was definitely a locals place, but they were very welcoming to us. They are set up a bit like the CIU clubs in the UK as you have to sign in as a guest if you aren't a member, but they seem to like having guests and it was a very enjoyable evening. Unlike the CIU these places aren't full of old people sipping bad beer in tatty surroundings, its really professional and well kitted out. They really look after them and use them as a focal point for the local community.We left there and headed home for another early bus and our first real trip in the Oz Experience buses.

Melbourne. (Dara's weekend)

As for me, well I could say that I had a crap time in Melbourne, but that would be lying, it was a great weekend.I even got given the emergency exit seats on the plane in both directions. As far as I'm concerned, that's practically an upgrade! I landed in Melbourne to the harsh reality that it's much colder than Brisbane and me walking around in my flip flops was a really silly idea. So I dragged my quickly frozen feet into town to meet Sinead and head for the hostel. We had booked into a hostel in St Kilda which was quite nice as I hadn't been there when we were in Melbourne earlier on the trip. (the hostel was a bit of a dump though).We headed into town and were due to meet in a pub near the ground,…. However in what must be the world's worst business decision, the Irish bar near the ground was shut when we got there!!! So we ended up trekking across town to the Shakespeare bar, which to this day I have no idea why it was picked. It was small, they had only 2 bar staff and were really annoyed that loads of paddies had turned up to there pub as they were used to quiet Saturday nights with their regulars. After a few liveners there we went to the game and got there just in time for the anthems. It's a huge stadium, but it was a bit of a subdued atmosphere throughout. The Aussies barely sang or cheered all game apart from some smart arse behind us who waited until the end of the game as we were leaving to sing bye bye to us… Loser! Anyway, the highlight of the game has to be chatting to Donnacha O Callaghan as his family were sat close to us and at the end of the game he came over for a chat to them. Sinead pulled the "it's my birthday" card and we got photo's and a bit of a chat. It was really nice of him to take the time to chat to fans and I think its something some of the other Irish lads could have tried to do rather than skulking down the tunnel. I know they lost, but surely they have some obligation to the fans who come and see them…particularly on the other side of the world. Anyway, rant over; we then headed into town for a few more beers….and then a few more …. And maybe another one after that. It was a very good night overall.

The next morning we got up and grabbed some breakfast and took a stroll around St Kilda to get some fresh air and avoid the pub for a little longer. St Kilda is a lovely suburb of Melbourne along the coast. There is a large promenade and marina which we took a walk along and had a nice morning just doing our own thing. We eventually met up with sineads mates and went to a café to get some food, at which point Ann bought a cake for Sinead's birthday. She went a very bright shade of red as the staff brought it out, candles blazing and the whole café started to sing happy birthday!After that brief interlude, we went to the pub again. On the Monday, I was due to head back to Noosa in the afternoon but took the morning to go and do something I wasn't allowed to on my first trip to Melbourne, go to the MCG. The MCG is the Melbourne Cricket Ground and as well as cricket, it is regarded as being the home of AFL and hosts the grand final every year.

To give you an idea of how popular the sport of AFL is in Melbourne, the Ireland game attracted a crowd of around 45'000, but the next day a league game between local rivals Carlton and Collingwood in the MCG attracted 82'000!!!! (It was a great game as we watched it in the pub) As the stadium is so well known, I took the chance to go do a tour while I was there. It also holds the Australian sports museum which has loads of memorabilia throughout. The tour was good, and lets you in to the bowels of this great stadium and talks a lot about the history of the games of cricket and Aussie rules. I really enjoyed it and definitely worth going to if you are in Melbourne. I also got to spend some time in the Australian Sports museum which was really good although it was full of kids when I was there so it was a bit distracting. After that, it was a quick trip across the city to catch my plane back to Noosa.