Wednesday 11th March 2009 - So I'm in Melbourne now. Luckliy got out of Cairns just in time as cyclone Hamish decided to work up into category 4 and people had to be evacuated. I got to Melbourne airport at midnight, and I had decided not to book a hostel that night as I thought it would not be worth it for the amount of time I would be in the room, and I thought Id save some pennies (must be the Jewish streak in me coming out there, ha ha). Why oh why do airports have the nice comfy seats in the departure lounge, but when you're not, they are the awful cold hard metal things with huge gaps inbetween? WHY????? So I had an EXTREMELY uncomfortable 6 hours on the seats, freezing my butt off and having cold seizures in all my bones. When I left Cairns it was like 35'C, when we landed in Melbourne the pilot happily announced it was a mere 15'C!! A drop of 20'C!!!! My body was in shock and I had to put on 4 layers of tops including 2 cardigans, and I lay shivering like mad. NOT the best idea of mine in the world, but nevermind. Then got the bus to the hostel and was just in time for the free brekkie they put on every morning. I then settled down on the sofas to kip until I could check into my room, and it was 8am now, and a German guy decided to put on ' Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. I started laughing my head off at the lovely pleasant start to the morning, and he had the most sadistic look on his face the whole time yelling at the TV for them all to die. Germans. They are a breed of their own. Take a tip from me, when you book a cheapo hostel in the middle of the city centre - DON'T. The noise never stops, there is bar downstairs that shuts at 5am, so I get to hear all the drunkerds yelling abuse at each other, the trams run up and down constantly, then the builders, binmen, construction people start at 4am and don't stop. Oh its heaven!!!! I do like Melbourne though. For the first time in 5 months I'm by myself at the moment, so I'm really taking on the sightseeing and culteral aspects. I've visited Federation Square and gone to the galleries to see Aboriginal art - which I really like, gone to see Captain James Cook's cottage in Fitzroy gardens (they actually picked the cottage up and moved it here, it really is the same one. How awesome is that? You could just pick your house up and move to, ooh lets say... the Caribean. Hell why not???), and then wandered round where there are fairy trees (carved especially for the fairyfolk), and the park is laid out in the flag design which is kitsch. The first day I got there it was the moomba waterfest. Ive been so lucky with festivals over here, catching them in Sydney and Brisbane, and now here. They had water skiing competitions on the Yarra River, carnival rides and stalls, live bands and fireworks. The Aussies really do know how to put on a firework display - they are spectacular. The live bands were hilarious, they were apparantly well known Aussie bands that obviously I've never heard of, and all the teenage girls are packed at the front swooning over these total geeks. The best part was they included lyrics along the lines of getting a house big enough so the partner could move their dog in! Random. Also viewed all the sights from the Observation deck, and wandered around for ages. There is a free city tram which is useful. Also went to Old Melbourne gaol where Ned Kelly was imprisoned and hung. I'm getting all this out of the way as Will gets here tomorrow, and no doubt things will get messy, so at least I've actually seen stuff before he destroys me with vodka!!

Friday 13th - had an incredible evening yesterday. I went to Philip Island to see the world famous Penguin Parade. These are the worlds smallest penguins, slightly smaller than a seagull, and its to watch them in their natural habitat doing what comes naturally to them. Basically, penguins see light as danger and dark as safety, so they won't get eaten by predators, so they like to come out in complete darkness. 3% of their landing spot on the beach is slightly lit up for people to come and view them, and its their choice whether to come out of the sea in the darkness so we don't see them, but they choose to come out where we are because they are used to humans watching them and they understand we are not a threat and we will not hurt them. About 8.30pm at dusk we were all sat watching on the platforms, then we could see tiny white things coming out of the sea. My eyesight is pretty poor but I could see really well these penguins popping out of the shore in small groups, and they stand around for a while debating whether to come in or not. Sometimes they loose their nerve and go back into the sea, then they will pop out again and do some more debating together, heads popping from side to side checking out the environment, then they will make a dash for it. Now these adorable little things have spent the past 14 hours or so gorging themselves on fish in the sea, so their little tummies are so bloated, and they now weigh about twice their usual weight, so getting up shore to their nests is somewhat a challenge. Think the equivalent of you or I eating 5 roast dinners, then going for a 50km hike and climbing a few hills whilst we're at it. Yep - sod that!! So little groups of about 6 penguins at a time come waddling up the beach, and its hilarious to watch them, but the best thing is its completely natural. These are wild birds doing what they do every day, and its the most dangerous part of their day. There was a camera crew there filming for a documentary as well. Anyway, they come up and have to climb over small mounds of seaweed, which in their size and swollen tummied state would be like climbing Mount Everest for us, then they waddle up through the middle of us to their nests. Sometimes one of them will lag behind the rest, and everyone was crying with laughter watching them toddling along, desperately trying to keep up. This went on for an hour, group after group coming up, and it was just truly incredible to witness, then we follow them along our platforms to view them roosting, and they get into the dunes, stop off and have a groom and preen, then carry on to the nests, and their all chattering so loudly. They were about 50m away from us, and they really are so tiny, you could just squish them they are so god damn cute!!!! Its one of the best things I think I've ever seen.

Sunday 22nd March - more time has passed in the city of 4 seasons in one day. I have been working as a locum nurse at a vets in the suburb of Sydenham this week and its been great. The people there are so lovely and friendly, chilled out and just generally awesome, and I have absolutely loved working there. I know all the girls I used to work with will all be in shellshock as I used to say there was NO way in this world I would ever do nursing again, but I realised its because where we worked in Oxford was s***, so you get so disillusioned, but this place is fab. Mind you, the pay is awful, but as a locum Im getting $10 an hour more than them. One of the girls Corrina is obsessed with my English accent, she tries to talk English everyday - she says its addictive, and she sounds like a poor version of d*** Van Dyke in 'Mary Poppins', bless her. She also thinks I'm from London, everyone else realises Im from Oxford, but Corrina seems to think the only place in England is London, so every English person is a Londoner. I just let her crack on. It was her birthday on Saturday so I was invited out with the others, and they picked me up and we went to a really nice bar, and Corrina introduced me to everyone as "this is Anouska our locum nurse - she's from London". This went on the entire night, and she said it in an attempted English accent, much to everyones entertainment. She is a absolute sweetheart. I really miss working at the vets. Never thought I'd say that. Anyway, met up with Will a few times along with Katie and Caesar for a few drinks and hangovers from hell. Every weekend there have been events at Federation Square, music and wine festivals, multicultaral events and today was a Thai event. They put on live music, dancing, Thai kickboxing shows, and art stalls and food and drink stalls from all over the world. I love the fact there is always something happening to keep you busy, and the place is always packed out. Went to St. Kilda today as well which is one of the suburbs, and saw the famous St. Kilda Esplanade market along the pier. Also checked out Chappel Street in South Yarra which is famous for shopping. Would be great if I had money!!! Theres a Greek festival going on in the streets this evening so will go and check that out. Melbourne is the city with the second highest population of Greeks after Athens. This place is so cosmopolitan. I've got another week left at the vets which is good, will be a shame to leave, they made me feel like part of the team from day 1.