We lived with my sister for our first month in Melbourne. She was a god send. I literally had $20 left in my bank account to survive on. Ste had more but we couldn't have stayed in Australia for very long or been able to get jobs without her. She did everything for us, a roof over our heads, food to eat and even lent me clothes to go to interviews in. She has been a star in every way and I have loved spending so much time with her after so long living at opposite ends of the world!

Our first weekend in Melbourne was spent making model dinosaurs with Aidan, my Nephew. He loves dinosaurs and after the disastrous impression I made on him in England when he was very young this was my chance to make it up to him. We even made a giant t-rex which got so much attention at his kindergarten I was asked to go in and tell all the children how we made it.

After the obligatory dinosaur making Ste and I began some serious job hunting. We spent all day on the internet sprucing up our CV's and sending them out to jobs all over Melbourne. Ste got a call two days later, went for an interview and had a job to start the following Monday. It took him all of FOUR days!! I wasn't far behind as I started my new job as a telemarketer for a telecommunications company the week after.

The weather was still very hot when we first arrived so we spent our Saturdays at St Kilda Beach with the kids or walking around the city (basically doing all of the free things we could possibly find to do). Once the money started coming back in we could breathe out a little but and although we are saving a lot we can still do things at weekends. We went to see DJ Falcon at a club down the street which was good and had a couple of nights out in the city with my brother in law and some friends.

We met up with people we have met along the way in Asia who are/were living in Melbourne. The couple we travelled with in Viet Nam (Hayley and Steve) live in Melbourne so we spend a lot of time with them.

I saw an advert for waitresses needed for a wedding an hour away from Melbourne so Hayley and I borrowed my sisters car and worked at a random wedding for the day in the scorching heat!

My brother in law, Garrick took us to see his AFL team; the Tigers play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Tigers lost by a gazillion points but it was a good experience all the same. It is very different from English football. The fans are mixed and the crowd is made up of a lot of families. It is not a predominantly male following like English football. We didn't understand the rules AT ALL so we just got drunk and heckled at people in the crowd!!

When we were both settled in our new jobs we started looking for a place to live for a few months. We viewed a couple of places like a shoe box with a giant inflatable penguin in the living room and a random old woman on the sofa but we couldn't find anywhere we liked. We looked at one house that was advertised as a 'house share with very modern interior, friendly people and lots if space etc'. However when we got there it was a house with very little furniture (i.e. a mattress on the floor) and was full of about 30 Irish people. Everybody in the entire house was Irish, and they were less than friendly!!!. We almost started to give up when we met a couple at another house viewing who had had the same experiences as us in terms of really BAD houses and they suggested we looked for somewhere to live together. So within a week we had a gorgeous little apartment fully furnished and all ours to live in for the next few months. The other couple (Lea and Corina) paid a $2000 deposit so we could all move in and they are going to keep the flat for themselves when we move out so it worked out perfectly for everyone.

We had no electricity the first weekend we moved in so we had to live by candlelight which made eating and wandering around the flat a real challenge. I'd had far too much to drink one night and walked straight into the French windows that lead outside. I had a lump on my head for days and nobody's let me live it down!

Our first weekend in the flat was the Grand Prix weekend and my friends from Burnley were in Melbourne for a few days so we took some beer and food down to Albert Park where the track was and chilled in the sun all afternoon. There was an air show of small aircrafts and fighter jets that were really low and really loud. Other than that the Grand Prix was officially a yawn fest!

The following weekend we had our flat warming party. Guests were pretty thin on the ground seeing as we didn't really know anyone but it was a good laugh even though I had to get up at 7 the next day and waitress for 11 hours!! That definitely wasn't fun!

It's the Melbourne Comedy Festival throughout the month of April so we went to see an English comedian last week called Russell Kane. He was hilarious. There are free shows in and around Melbourne while the festival is on so last Saturday we went to watch one in Federation Square in the city centre. There was a street entertainer who made Ste get up and help in the finale…it was so funny. He made him dance wear a stupid wig in front of hundreds of people!!

Steven got laid off from his job on Friday because it was the end of the seasonal work for that company so unfortunately we are back at square one. We are trying to find a job and having to save extra from my wage for the rest of the trip but something will turn up soon.

Gido, a friend from home who lives in Australia now has booked to come and see us in Melbourne for a week in June and then has paid for me and Ste to fly back to Perth with them for a week too. I can't wait. It will be a perfect way to end our time in Australia. Everyday at work when I am bored to the point of no return I think of their visit and all the great places we have left to travel!!

So until then it is more work and less play until we have saved up enough money to fulfill our plans for the rest of the trip…..