We spent the first 11 days of our time in Australia with Dave's family in Melbourne. They live in a suburb of Melbourne, Werribee, which we used as a base for our explorations. After 7 weeks on the road, it was lovely to just relax and not have to pack / re-pack our cases constantly J It was also great to spend time with his family - including two new additions to the family, cousins Tilly and Sam.

We hired a car and spent two days exploring the Great Ocean Road, which is a road which follows so many picturesque coastal scenery. We crammed a lot into two days, travelling for a solid 10 hours each day and frequently stopping to explore the sights. Highlights included:

• Going to the Ripcurl and Quiksilver outlet shops in Torquay
• Seeing kangaroos at the Anglesea golf course
• Seeing the picturesque coastline and Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet
• Exploring a beautiful waterfall (Erskine Falls) in Lorne
• Staying over in laid-back Port Fairy
• Spotting a Wallaby and her joey in the wild, whilst doing a walk in Tower Hill National Park
• Seeing the 12 apostles and Loch Ard
• Spotting koala bears sleeping in some trees near Cape Otway!

We spent some time in Melbourne also, spending a couple of days and a night there. We really loved Melbourne - it's so cosmopolitan and got a real creative, boho vibe. It's really different to cities in the UK but at the same time, it feels like you could be at home. The lifestyle of being able to do more outdoors things really appeals too - although the weather can be unpredictable to say the least, that's half the fun of it for us though (and reminds us of home). We explored the South Bank and Crown casino, Vic market, Chinatown (eating at a yummy Taiwanese restaurant), St Kilda and Fitzroy.

The rest of the time we enjoyed spending with Dave's family, catching up with them as it's been 4 years since the last time Dave has seen them. Dave went to the pub with his uncle, we went to see Werribee mansion (and ended up in the local winery!), I explored the local garage sales, we went to Laverton Market to pick up some bargains and just spending time in the garden, having BBQs and drinking beers… We also spent Tilly's 2nd birthday at Werribee Zoo - the animals (including meerkats, gorillas and hippos) were out in force and putting on a show for us!

We also spent some time planning the rest of our time in Australia - and have just booked a camper van to explore the East Coast of Australia. Good times ahead J