G'day all,

I know I said a new blog would be added in Auckland but seeing as I have time spare here in Melbourne here it is-

After spending almost 6 hours on the internet on Friday I headed into town to do some souvenir shopping and bought 4 butter croissants as my breakfast and lunch for only a buck. Seeing as the post office was across the road I decided to check out what Saturdays opening times were but to my surprise they don't actually open any time on a weekend. Therefore, as it was 4pm, I had to rush back to the hostel (took some photos on way), sort out what I was sending home then get back to the post office and pack it all up in a box and send it before they closed at 5- and there was me hoping to relax in this town! Me and Hannah relaxed by the pool and wrote our journals before I had a nice camel lasagne and a beer for less than 10 dollars in the bar. For the remainder of the evening I did some more writing then just watched some TV in my room; makes a bit of a change to the shennanigans the Friday before.

Hannah had reminded me that the hostel has free breakfast so I woke up about 7-15 and had about 10 pieces of multi grain and tasty raisin bread to fill me up for the day. I then packed up my bag, checked out and said goodbye to Anna then me and Hannah walked all the way through Todd Mall and up Anzac Hill in the morning heat to get a great view of the whole town and surrounding mountains and deserts. She then decided to join me on the 45 minute walk North along the dry Todd River to the Old Telegraph Station. Once there I decided against paying the entrance fee and just looked around the outside (expected to anyway) and saw the Alice Spring from which the town is named after. Back in the town centre we bought some 49 cents outback biscuits (yum yum), looked around the place and the outside of the Royal Flying Doctors Museum (couldn't be arsed to pay for that either) then relaxed by the pool for a couple of hous counting down the time till the shuttle bus. At quarter to 3 I changed and sorted out my bag for the plane then we left ten minutes late but still arrived at the airport at 3.40pm. Me and Hannah checked in (was busy so couldn't sit next to each other) and were told there was a half hour delay so looked around the two shops they had; the airport is nice and modern but is a fair bit smaller than even Guernsey's airport. While waiting the guy on the speaker informed us that because the weather radar on the plane was not working we would have to change planes in Adelaide because of some storms around Melbourne, effectively becoming 2 hours late (wasn't too fussed). We boarded at 5pm and once on board were told the storms would go away and we could fly straight there- cheers on the plane and the pilot allowed 5 minutes for people to make phonecalls! The plane left at 5.30 and was a nice relaxing flight with a nice meal and beer and all I did was listen to my ipod and watch most of In Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith which was not a bad film. Upon arrival in Melbourne at 8.30pm Victoria time (30 minutes ahead of Alice) I said goodbye to Hannah who was connecting back to the UK, then collected my bag and jumped on board the sky bus to the bus station and walked the 15 minutes across the river to the Urban Central Hostel. There was a problem with my card in all cash points so got stressed and had to use my credit card which was extremely annoying. Most of the evening was spent worying about my card then I had a quick beer and watched a bit of Kiss the Girls in the TV room, getting to bed before 1am.

Yesterday I woke up at 7.30am had breakfast and made some phonecalls about my card problem. I then hit the streets of melbourne, walking up to Spencer Street Station and looking in the shopping centre there then heading over to the Telstra Dome and the area around. It took me about half an hour to walk to the Victoria Market (Melbourne's main market) where I spent a couple of hours walking around buying some souvenirs and lunch then before leaving buying an Australian made outback leather hat; was something I aimed to buy before I came to Australia so was really happy and only cost me about 12 quid. Next stop was the Old Melbourne Gaol towards the East about 15 minutes away so wore my hat there and also inside the really black dark building. I spent ages in the old jail walking around the main cell block going in every door and reading virtually everything written on the walls including the story of Ned Kelly, his gang and his hanging; as you can see I saw his death mask and gun which I didn't expect to see. I went all over the prison on each of the 3 floors then eventually left and spent a while walking around the main shopping streets of Melbourne much to my delight as there are so many and the place is so nice to look at and walk around. On the way back to Urban Central I bought 6 crumpets for dinner (trying to save money and they only cost $1.50 OK!) and enquired about the price of the cinema at the Crown Complex. In the evening I got changed into some nice clothes and went to the cinema to watch the film 300 which was utterly amazing and highly reccomend it to anyone as its a great story and very original in the way it was made. I decided to walk around the casino for a while looking at all the people playing and losing money then sat outside for half an hour looking out over the water at Melbournes skyscrapers. At the hostel I spent ages writing neatly in my notepad, as I have no room in my journal, then went to bed.

This morning I had a massive breakfast in the hostel as it's free then walked around Melbourne one last time as well as going to the HSBC to sort some issues out then went on teh internet doing my photos and this. My flight this evening is at 7.30pm and I will be in Auckland at 1am which I cant wait.

Hope you enjoyed reading my Australia bits and look forward to writing more in New Zealand.

Bye

Antony-