Day 97 Wednesday 16th December 2009

Johno says

Today was an absolute scorcher in the high thirties, so we planned a marathon beach day to top up the burn on the previous day in St Kilda. Needless to say, we did feel the burn after around 20 minutes of sun, so we had a midday break around 2 o'clock. Stacey quite wisely spent her time in a back packer tour company office on the net whereas I decided to walk the streets through the scorching hot weather, great option, ended up needing a pint in the nearest air-conditioned pub after a full hour circuit of St Kilda - I was absolutely pooped. I didn't care about the 8 Ozzy dollars (equivalent to 4 litres of goon) it cost at this point.. It was the best estimated 5 English pounds I believe I have ever spent on beer. We returned to the hostel for a freshen up before heading out for a cheap pizza night at a nearby restaurant - we got carried away and ordered some wedges as a side after seeing them on someone else's table nearby. Feeling absolutely stuffed we decided to walk down to the beach to see the sunset which unfortunately was rubbish as the clouds were out in force by now. We heard that the infamous 'little penguins' return home to St Kilda beach as well as nearby Phillip Island so we headed to the pier to see if we could spot these little fella's. Amazingly, we did see them coming home, with our first sightings of the little penguin at arms reach from us!!! Then more and more were coming in from the sea. Unfortunately there won't be any photo's of the event as my clapped out Sony will not take any pictures in the dark and we can't use a flash light as the penguins don't like it and it would affect their eyes. After watching the little penguins go about their nightly duties of what seemed like cleaning and trying to get it on with each other we then returned to a bar near our hostel. The bar was playing some reggae and we were sinking a couple of free drinks from a flyer that we had picked up from the beach during the day. This was to be our last night in the Oslo hostel before moving on to the decent looking Coffee Palace back packer just a few doors down the road the following day.

Day 98 Thursday 17th December 2009

Johno says

In apparently typical Melbourne style the weather today was the total opposite from yesterday, albeit very warm the heavens were open and it was raining for most of the day. So, we were pretty much restricted to what we could do during the day with just lounging about in the hostel after attempting to walk about for a bit in the morning. There was a free poker night planned at a local pub 5 minutes walk from the hostel with cash prizes so we headed there for the evening to win back some of the money we had spent already in Australia. Yes, thirty minutes later I was out of the game walking home after being taken out by a very lucky hand, I wasn't winning too many hands, to be fair not even a sniff of a picture card so I bet half of my chips on pocket fours only to be beaten with double kings on the last card in the flop. Dammit. Early night for us.

Day 99 Friday 18th December 2009

Stacey says

We were to head to the 'Neighbours' set today. (Needed to tick the box!) So at 8am we were picked up by the tour bus, where the guide updated us on recent story lines in Neighbours, telling us which characters were still in it from years ago. Watching a few old legendary episodes in the bus on the way, the characters and story lines were coming back to me. After having watched every episode for about 10 years, mum would always have the dinner in time for the soaps! We drove by Erinsborough High School, but couldn't go in as it is a language school in the general public. There was one building which was used for all sorts of scenes, the police station, the airport, the prison.. They would just stick a different sign in front of the building. We couldn't see too much actually as they were doing a lot of renovations. Then we headed to Ramsey Street, which was actually sooo much smaller than it ever appeared on the television. We took some photos, with Steve going in for the cheesy photo competition on every shot! Then we went off to meet a member of the cast. Who was nonetheless, the legendary Dr. Karl Kennedy. I couldn't believe I was shaking his hand. Had the photo and got his signature, which will probably end up with the rest of the autographs lying around in the cupboards somewhere back home! They're not too phased by the celebrity life style at all, as their main audience is the British. Karl was actually a very down to earth guy, very nice and chatty, and drove a very low key clapped out car! After this exciting morning, we headed to the beach for a little snooze. Followed by making a chicken curry and a chilled out evening.

Day 100 Saturday 19th December 2009

Stacey Says

We had a pretty quiet day today, we went for a walk around St Kilda, along the other main streets, which were lined with cake and coffee shops, and quirky little clothes shops and plenty of restaurants. Walking back via the beach, we had a little sunbathe, it was really windy, so it was pretty chilly, although I did later have some red arms! We wasn't sure what to do for the evening, as their was a Christmas party going on in the common area of the hostel tonight. Having not made any outfits, we decided to buy our first box of Goon, for 10$. There was a little house music/volleyball competition going on along the beach, so we went and sat by the entertainment with our Goon. But it was still too windy, so returned to the hostel and sat in the tv room. We watched the end of Legally Blond, then Taken, 2 episodes of Sex and the City, which Steve actually laughed at! (American s***). Then some live music from the Kooks. Totally tv'd out, I suggested we go back to the room via the party, inspired by the Goon! There was a Christmas tree dancing on top the cupboards, a Cheese singing on the karaoke, and a Christmas cracker throwing some shapes on the dance floor. We got chatting to some of our room mates, finished of the whole of the Goon, and went to bed.

Day 101 Sunday 20th December 2009

Stacey Says

Waking up feeling a little worse for wear, we needed to check out for 10am. We nursed our headaches with some cereal and tea, and went and got some fresh sea air at the beach for a while. We were catching our coach to Sydney later this evening at 8 o'clock. With the hostel kitchen being closed until 5pm, we treated ourselves to some fish and chips on Fitzroy street. Went and watched some episodes of Malcolm in the Middle in the TV room, before heading to the coach station back in the city. The coach driver was completely mad as a hatter, explaining every single detail to us, including the 'use of console above our head' with a description of air conditioning works, and the light curfew. The rules of the reclining seats, 'look over your right shoulder before putting your seat back'. How to use the toilet, including flushing, toilet paper use, and most importantly how the light works. He totally covered every angle, I guess he must have some bad passengers!