Hey again...still in Melbourne

Its my last full day in this amazing city as I am off on the oz experience bus tomorrow which takes 4 days to get to Sydney as we stop in a few places en route. I have been quite busy the past few days so will get you all up to speed.

We did the Great Ocean Road Tour on Thursday which as you can see from the pictures was amazing. We got up really early (well early for me anyway), jumped on the tour bus and headed South West to a town called Geelong. After a quick tour of the industrialised area and a visit to Bell's Beach, we went down to start the Great Ocean Road from near a town called Torquay. We headed along the road, stopping at various places for a break and a look at the view, before reaching the Koala area. Here we could see Koalas up in the trees and bushed without any human interferance (the one in the photo just appeared when we were walking along a track). After some lunch me and the Pete the driver went for a swim on the nearby beach amonsgt the big and powerful waves (should have bought the body board). Next up was a cool, temperate rainforest which had some massive trees and loads of lush vegetation; it was very pleasant to walk around. It took a while to drive to our main destination, the Twelve Apostles (in photo), but was definately worth it as the views were immense. While Anna flew over them in a helicopter I walked around with a few people from the bus taking photos and realising I was sunburnt (oh dear). Just a little further down the coast was a gorge with an arch outcrop in the middle near to where a famous shipwreck was. Myself and a few others went for a swim in the gorge next to it but this time was cold and had some pollution in the water. We then started the 3 hours drive back to Melbourne, stopping in a town called Colac on the way for some food, and finally getting to the hostel after 10pm.

The next day was the cricket match which i have been waiting for ages to see. After tending to my sunburn we headed to the MCG for around half one (we caught a tram with a bunch of loud aussie supporters) and got in straight away as there was a lot of gates. We sat just 4 rows up from the front with some English supporters which i was very pleased about. Play got under way about half 2 with the aussies winning the toss and batting first and were soon up and running scoring rund frequently. Things looked bad at 170-2 but we soon skittled them all out for 253 so things were nicely poised when England came out to bat. Unfortunately the usual happened with us starting slowly and before long being a measly 15-3 but things picked up and before long were right back in contention. The crowd were entertaining with the main aussie supporters chanting and starting 'banned' Mexican waves every now and again. As it got really dark and the floodlights were on full blast England closed in on an unlikely victory whcih promted us all to cheer alot more and wave the flags around. The game was briefly interupted when a supporter came on the field and was thus faced with a 6000 dollar fine. England won the cricket with 3 balls spare and the feeling was incredible. We celebrated for a while in our area and were soon on the big MCG screens with our flags so might of been on tv...who knows.

Saturday was the day I went on the Philip Island tour (Anna did it on Sunday), which wasen't as good as the Great Ocean Road but definately worth doing. The tour bus picked me up just before one and i had Pete as my driver again (he looks a bit like Rolf Harris). We headed out of Melbourne and through the suburbs South East to Philip Island, stopping off to sample some not so great wines and going to a Wildlife park. Here we could get up close to a variety of animals (as shown in the pictures) including Dingos, Wallabies, Emu's and Koalas. My favourite parts were seeing a baby wombat and feeding a large number of hungry Kangaroos (great experience). We then headed to Philip Island and on to a picturesque Surf beach. It was nice to walk along it next to some really rough sea and one of the guys I was talking to, Matt, went in for a swim but didn't stay in very long not surprisingly. At Cowes i bought the last Maxibon ice cream at the shop and saw a fisherman catch a poinsonous Spiny Fish (he was promotly told by other fisherman to put it back without touching it). The Nobbies were the next stop but beside a rugged coastline and some volcanic features there was little to see until we found a penguin underneath the boardwalk huddled up (no photos are allowed at the penguin parade so was good to get a picture of one out in the open). The Penguin Parade was a little dissapointing; besides the fact it was far too touristy it took ages for the penguins to almost one by one get out of the water and we only saw a few before it started raining. The way back up was better as you could see them up close interacting with each other and trying to find their burrow (over 700 to pick from). We got back around midnight and after some time killing went to bed.

Yesterday i met up with Matt and Alex (two guys off the Philip Island bus) and we went to the St.Kilda festival. The festival was massive and there was an incredible amount of people down there (i am sure i saw ex neighbours star serena!) but it was quite breezy so sand and dirt was flying everywhere. there was alot of music going on, fair rides, shows and gneral entertainment and overall was great. We then went to a bar for a few pints then bought some more beer in a nearby shop and headed down to the pier and chilled for a bit. After another walk around the festival we went to their hostel and sat in the bar watching the cricket (England won again!). Pete joined us for one and dropped me, Alex, Matt and Johnny (their mate) at the Crown Casino Complex. We had a couple of beers and played on the Roulette tables (I ended 25 dollars up!) for a couple of hours then left just after 4.

Today all I have been doing is sorting my stuff out for tomorrow, spending an insane amount of time on this website updating it and writing about my travels. This evening i am off to the Neighbours night at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub in St.Kilda and am hopefully meeting Harold, Steph, Fraser (new gambling one) and seeing Doctor Karl's band so am really looking forward to it.

Anyways i had better go as i am very hungry and my internet time is running out rapidly.

Thankyou for everyone that has been leaving me messages and hopefully a few more will do the same at some point.

Speak to you soon

Antony