G'day mate!! We have arrived in our final Australian destination on the 2nd January after a very short 1 ½ flight to Melbourne. We took the Skybus to our hostel which was called 'Urban Central' late in the afternoon. The hostel was very big, but new and clean and the rooms were huge.We had a late lunch at the Crown Casino; I had a rather tasty chicken and brie pizza. We didn't do much in the evening, we had some internet time and I went out for a run…YES I WENT OUT FOR A RUN!

On Monday, we awoke from a much needed early night and it was nice as no one else had moved into our room. As it was our first day we did the standard sightseeing. After getting a bit lost we jumped on the free circle tram, had a little ride on that and then went to Parliament, St Francis Cathedral, China Town, Town hall, St Pauls Cathedral and Federation square. The problem was that it was a public holiday so a lot of things were closed so we just had to admire them from the outside. After lunch, we went to the ACMI museum to see the Disney Exhibition, it was really interesting as it showed how animation had changed throughout the years on the different movies, it made me feel like a massive kid. After dinner we went back to the Crown Casino Complex, which is HUGE, we played a game of bowling which we drew, much to Jess' dismay, then we went to the casino, where we had a walk around, not really knowing what to do or how to gamble, so we just watched and tried our hand at the slot machines. These machines are so confusing; they have so many different buttons and rules, so it was all guessing. I want to play on the old ones with the big levers.

Tuesday I was still hurting from my run, my body was punishing me for trying to do exercise after such a long time.We did some more touristy bits in the city; we went to the Queen Victoria markets, where I bought some presents. We also went to Captain Cooks Cottage in Fitzroy Gardens, where i suited up as Captain Cook. In the evening we jumped on the very confusing trains down to South Yarra to meet Madison, Georgia and Tom at the Lucky Coq; one of Claire's favourite places for a $4 pizza and a couple of drinks, and It was so great to see them and spend some time with people we know.

Wednesday 5th January was the half way mark of our trip and Dani's arrival in Melbourne, we took a tram down to St Kilda, a really cool and quirky area in Melbourne. We walked along the coast line, went on the pier, along to the harbour and to Luna park. We had lunch along Fitzroy Road, I stupidly ordered a salad, and it was the smallest thing ever, so Jess lovingly shared her omelette with me.Note to self; don't just order salad without meat, its going to be crap. After lunch we had a bit of a walk around the shops and stopped off at the Vineyard for a bottle of sparkling to toast Dani's arrival and our half way point. This is also when we realise that Dani had turned into a massive panda, she was burnt quite baldy and had hilarious sunglasses tan lines, and of course we ridiculed her for it. In the evening we took a picnic to the Moonlight Botanical Gardensoutdoor movie showing, we went to see Buried staring Ryan Reynolds (HOT.) it was a bit chilly so we bought a nice cask of red wine to warm us up and all snuggled up together to watch the movie on the big blown up screen, it was an awesome movie and really well done despite it being completely filmed in the coffin.

Thursday was our trip to Phillip Island to see the Penguins; I got up early to go for another run. We left at around 11am and we had spent a lot of money on the trip so we were expecting a lot. On this trip we actually had a really good tour guide, just a shame about the annoyingly loud woman on our coach, but I guess you always get one. So our 1st stop was at a wildlife/ nature park where we had some lunch. We all decided to pay an extra $10 to get the chance to stroke and get up close with a koala; we didn't spend a lot of time with it but it was so cute and I'm so glad I managed to get a picture with one as I felt like I was missing out, as it felt like one of them very touristy things you have to do. Also at this park we hand fed wallabies in the woods, some of them were very timid, others were very cocky and would come straight up to you, it was a brilliant experience and they were all so cute. Next stop on our tour was to Churchill Island Hobby farm to watch a very dull man give us a sheep shearing demonstration; we also had a walk around the old building of the farm and even tried our hand at whip cracking, which I was awesome at. We were back on the bus for a quick stop at the Chocolate factory and then a stop for Pizza in the park for dinner. We were then back on the bus for our stop at the beach, these stops were starting to get a bit boring now as it was clearly filler until the Penguins and for them to warrant charging us the amount they did. Our last stop before the Penguins was to a set of rocks off the coast of the Island called the 'Knobbies,' of course you could see the amount of amusement that we had out of this. The Knobbies were quite pretty, but that probably helped that the sun was setting apart from that there were a lot of sea gulls that lived there and it smelt because of the seals which we didn't see. We did however get our 1st glimpse at the little penguins, and we were able to take pictures of these ones, unlike the ones at the parade. Apparently if your flash goes off, the penguins would vomit, this was something else that amused me. Anyway we were finally on our way to the Penguin parade and I was getting excited to see these penguins. The downside of the parade was that there were a lot of people there, so we were stuck at the back for the 1st group of penguins to arrive on the beach, but we managed to push our way down and by about 9.30pm we were right down at the front and the penguins were only a couple of metres away. It was absolutely amazing to watch them come in from the sea and walk up the beach in their little groups and to see them in the wild. Also on our way out we could get up close to them on the broad walks to watch them find their way back to their burrows and their mates, there was hundreds of them so it was really exciting to watch.

On Friday I dragged my ass out of bed to go on the wine tour around Yarra Valley. We were on a set tour and I was really excited to do this as we were unable to do it in Sydney. It was a very hot day so I was already aware that the booze was going to affect me. Our 1st stop of the day was at Domaine Chandon, the Australian branch where they produce Moet Chandon. We were taken around on a tour of the factory and vineyard, and then we were given a full glass of Chandon and Cheese, chutney and bread. Jess and I then took advantage of the free tasting and got stuck in on trying the different styles of sparkling and whites they had to offer. Next stop on our tour was at Rochford winery which apparently is also a famous one. We had a quick lesson on how to taste wine properly, and then it was time for lunch. I had the most amazing pork belly on cous cous and rocket, it was so tasty and probably one of the best meals we have had out, but it was severely lacking in carbs for the amount of wine we were having. After lunch we moved back on the wine tasting and made our way down the list of wines you could try. I was getting very into the red wines that they were giving us at Rochford and if it wasn't for the stupid prices I would have bought one. Our 3rd stop was at Yearing farm, which was a really quaint farm, and all the wines were named after animals. After a short talk from one of the employees we got back into tasting, as I said before I was getting into the Cabernets and our tour guide was making sure none of us were going dry. Also at this point everyone was half cut so our group were all starting to get to know each other. Our last winery of the day was called Kellybrook which was a small winery that also produced cider, which was great as I was able to taste some traditional cider as well as their wine. Before we left we were tasted some very strong apple brandy and port, which gave us a good kick. So our way home we were all a bit tipsy, but they whole day had been brilliant and was glad we managed to get on a tour as it's a must do in Australia. When we arrived back at the hostel it was a really awkward time, as we wanted to go to bed but it was far too early, so we instead had dinner and carried on drinking and played pool with Dani in the hostel bar.

On Saturday, we had a lie in to sleep away any sore head, and then we walked into the CBD to grab some lunch and to buy our last tacky tourist bits from Australia. We then got on a train down to Madison's house, to spend the afternoon in the pool as it was a really nice day. Of course by the time we arrived the sun had gone but being British we had a swim anyway. It was also so great to see where Claire had been living for the last year and to spend some more time with Madison and Georgia.We also met Mr and Mrs Stephenson, who were AWESOME, they made us feel so welcome and I chatted away with them and they also cooked us an awesome BBQ, we even had Kangaroo. There were about 12 of us for dinner and it was the perfect way to end our Aussie experience to spend it with friends and at an Aussie house having Kangaroo. After dinner we had a quick change and headed out to a pub in St Kilda, the elephant and wheelbarrow, I think. I had so much fun with the girls and their friends, I also finally met Hayley too, who was so lovely.We danced, had lots of drinks, and a very disgusting black Sambuca shot. I was gutted when we had to leave and was annoyed that we weren't able to spend any more time together and that we weren't staying in Melbourne for longer as we didn't have enough time to see everything.

Sunday, we said our goodbyes to Dani and arrived at the airport nice and early so we didn't have the same episode as last time. We were sad to be leaving Australia and regretting not spending longer here but also I was looking forward to going to New Zealand.