With our Asian adventure at an end, we headed to the home of Neighbours, Melbourne. Feeling a sense of betrayal, we left the likeable but less than punctual Air Asia behind in favour of a Qantas A380 air juggernaut. Although distraught to leave behind such a loyal companion, we quickly adapted to our new surroundings which included double legroom and a 10 inch touch screen entertainment centre, featuring a compendium of films, tv shows, games and music. Another added bonus was a 'Skycam' which allowed us to view our whole flight from the camera mounted on the tailfin. With all this media available to us, we thought it would be both rude and foolish to turn down the opportunity of using it in favour of a nights sleep. 8 hours later, mentally drained but thoroughly entertained, we touched down downunder.

Despite our exhaustion, our creativity continued unabated as we ventured down to St Kilda Beach to develop a game set to change beach sport forever, Sandball. It is very difficult to describe this game without the intensity, pressure and atmosphere created in the cauldron of a Sandball court. The best explanation we can offer is that it resembles a cross between golf, boules, curling, tennis and darts so make of that what you will. Needless to say it was enough to keep us busy for the remainder of the day.

Inspired by our invention, our thirst for 1st class sport only increased, so we felt it best to head to Melbourne's second best sporting arena after St Kilda Beach's Sandball Arena, the 100,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). We were lucky enough to arrive in Melbourne the day before a 4 day test match was due to start. It was the big one too, Victoria vs South Australia in the semi-final of the world famous Sheffield Shield. Surprisingly, we arrived to find that it was not a sell out and tickets were readily available for the small sum of $5. After purchasing our tickets and meeting Wally from Crocodile Dundee on our way through the gate, we took our unassigned seats only to find we had joined a crowd of no more than 45 people, making the ground less than 0.05% full. Whilst the atmosphere was not brimming with enthusiasm, the ground was spectacular and the cricket was very enjoyable. With so few people we were able to walk around the ground unchallenged and therefore were able to find seats usually reserved for the rich and famous, right behind the bowler's arm. After a late tail end fight back from South Australia, we left the game with it poised evenly after day 1.

Following a couple of shandy's too many the previous night, aided by a $75 bar tab won by Dave in a glorious exhibition of pool in the Base Hostel tournament, we decided to get the most out of the $27 a night we were paying for our hostel and spend most of the day in bed. Later in the afternoon and as fresh as the proverbial daisy, we leapt out of bed with uncontrollable excitement at the prospect of viewing our first Aussie Rules game. Despite being a pre-season game, the local derby of Essendon vs St. Kilda at the impressive Etihad Stadium was sure to be a fiery affair. After again being able to pick any seat in the ground and intrigued by the fact the referees were practicing their kick offs and throw ins, we spent most of the first quarter attempting to ascertain if there were any rules to the game at all. Having eventually got the gist of the rules, we thoroughly enjoyed the game despite Essendon annihilating local rivals St. Kilda in a very one-sided match.

After another chill out day on the beach and a night out in Chapel Street it was time to head out onto the Great Ocean Road. Our planned early start was held up somewhat by traffic and more importantly, laziness. Eventually we got our hands on the wheel of our hire car, a wonderfully practical and unsporty baby blue Hyundai i30. Leaving Melbourne we thought we were back in Blighty as we passed through the towns of Torquay and Anglesea before eventually arriving at the start of the Great Ocean Road. As we trundeled along the road in our underpowered Hyundai we realised just how spectacular the scenery was going to be. Bright blue sky, bluer water white sandy beaches littered the coastline as we made our way to our overnight stop in Apollo Bay. Despite the sleepy nature of the place, Dave and Ant managed to find one of only two pubs in the town that just happened to be showing the England vs South Africa cricket match. With England on the ropes, our hope of victory was slim to none, but after a sterling late bowling performance we claimed a dramatic win, brought to the rest of the pub's attention by our raucous shouts of delight. Feeling very satisfied with the day and evening we headed to our Apollo Bay Backpackers hostel to lay our weary heads.

Following a good night's sleep, we hit the road again in blazing sunshine. The day started in comical fashion when James, in an attempt to remove the label from his shirt, managed to rip through half his shirt in an uncanny impression of the Incredible Hulk. Following a quick walk around the rainforest at Mait's Rest, we took a bit of a detour off the Great Ocean Road and headed to Triplet Falls. What we found was a stunning waterfall which we were able to explore freely after going slightly off the beaten track. We then drove on to main attraction of the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles. Despite feeling conned about only being able to count ten apostles, it was fantastic sight and another memorable experience. Carrying on our journey we also visited the equally impressive Loch Ard Gorge and Thunder Cave before arriving at Port Campbell where we decided it would be best to pause for lunch, before turning back for Melbourne. After a long drive back through swarms of airborne insects, we arrived back at the hostel with our battle-hardened Hyundai, which was soaked in the blood and corpses of many hundreds of flies, butterflies and dragonflies. Despite the high number of casualties on our hands and James' shirt now in tatters, it was a phenomenal trip.

We have really loved our time in Melbourne but it is now time to part ways as Ant heads to Alice Springs and Dave and James head to Cairns tomorrow.

Ant, Dave and James