Victoria, a new territory, a new start! No rain, only sun and an absolutely amazing time! We packed everything in to this trip for sure. We walked around Melbourne for the day and enjoyed the city sights and the beach at St Kilda before chilling in a cool little bistro on the street all night with a few carafs of wine. Things only got better.

We decided that since we were in Melbourne it would be rude not to go to the most famous street in Australia...Ramsay Street, where all the fun happens. We booked ourselves onto the tour on Easter Sunday and off we went all excited about who we were going to meet and what we were going to see. Now Ramsay Street is a real street, a teeny tiny street in fact and we felt terrible turning up on Easter Sunday looking at everyones house shouting "It's the Kennedy's.....look at Harolds house"! I really couldn't contain my excitement at being on the street and holding the street sign outside Harolds house. So for half an hour we stood and looked at some houses and I swear everyone living there must think people are crazy. We also visited the school Erinsborough High, which was a bit of a let down (mainly because I couldn't remember any scenes in it). It all came flooding back when the sign was placed in front of the school. This is a real school too though and it was also quite small. We didn't get to see Lasiters or the general Store or the Bar though as we were too late in booking it. Apparently the world and his wife had booked it all out weeks in advance as it was Easter Sunday! We got to meet a star at the end of the trip, again being Easter I guess they couldn't get anyone big and we ended up with Genelle...but no one recognised her as she had her hair dyed dark. She was saying that when she went to London no one recognised her as if they would anyway?! We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we were going to the Neighbours quiz night where you can meet the stars as we were there for that day too. Excellent news.

The following day we went to visit the MCG Stadium and Barry was so excited he near wet himself. It was pretty impressive and put Wembley to shame but I don't think you can really compare a round pitch to a rectangle one...the round one is always going to look prettier in my eyes but hey, it's not about which is prettier apparently. This tour took ages, we went everywhere, changing rooms, media lounge, family rooms, places where only rich people get to go. It was cool seeing it but it took absolutely years to get round...I was surprised when we got out and it was still 2008!

That evening we went to the Neighbours night. It was in a British pub in St Kilda, which was lucky as it was only a five minute walk away from where we were staying, a short stumble home. Safari Pete (he writes a travel guide in Aus) introduced the night and the "stars". I was more excited than anything when we found out that it was going to be Stuart Parker...I had a MASSIVE crush on him when he was in the show! Excellent! Then a girl came out that the guys went crazy for even though she is like 15 or something and had to leave early with her parents! She was beautiful though, Rachel, Susan's step daughter. After that came Connor, a fellow Northern Irish guy who has piled on the pounds and then some! We got round to the quiz which had a few rounds and was really funny, everyone was copying each others answers and Barry was getting the answers via text from his brother Alan. There were games in between each round, kissathons and dance offs, it was a brilliant night. The stars come round to the tables to meet you and have their picture taken and 'Stewart' gave me a massive hug to wind Barry up as Barry was being cocky to him and I went all girly and giggly, it was all good times. Then there was a party afterwards. It was a shame that Carl Kennedy wasn't there as he usually plays with his band. I don't think it could have made a difference as we had a good night without him.

The following day we were up early to pick up our hire car (Rosita) to drive along the Great Ocean Road (GOR). We were a little later leaving than we thought and we managed to take twice as long driving there than we did to get back but it was another brilliant day. It was the most amazing scenery I have ever seen. We stopped off at Bells Beach to watch some of the World Surfing Championship. This was pretty cool as we got to see Kelly Slater, the world champion...I accidently saw a little more of him than expected when his towel fell down as he was changing, oops! We got to see the lighthouse that was used in the TV show Round the Twist. We walked up a scary path that had a warning for snakes. There were other great sights along the way but the most amazing one was the one that we went for...the Twelve Apostles. What a sight to behold, we got there a little while before sunset and managed to catch the sun going down and it was a beautiful sunset. You can't see all twelve of the stones but the ones you can see are really stunning. It was freezing cold though so we were pleased when we got back and turned the heater on full blast. That day Barry drove for around 10-12 hours. It was cool on the way there as the views were amazing but on the way back it was pitch black, the only lights were the car headlights and the roads were the windiest roads I have ever driven on. The cool thing was that you could see all the stars adn the moon was glowing above the Ocean and it was massive. It was so beautiful.

The following day, Barry drove another 12 hours. We had decided to keep Rosita for another day to drive from Melbourne to Sydney as it was cheaper than the bus and supposed to be quicker too. It might have been cheaper had it not been for the congestion charge and toll we had to pay for accidentally driving the wrong way and the parking ticket we got for parking in a space that only has restrictions on a Wednesday between 8 - 9am. This had to be when we had parked in that spot. The drive to Sydney was so much fun. We stocked up on CD's and sang our way into New South Wales. On the way there was a thunderstorm that went on for hours. The lightening started at about 8.45pm and when we got to Sydney at 12.30am it was still going on. Crazy weather.

I really liked Melbourne, it was my favourite city so far. Pretty chilled and relaxed with a city feel and a beach feel a the other side of the city. The trams were good as long as you knew where you were going. Having the car was brilliant. We really enjoyed driving around together on the open road and it had made us look forward to our road trip around New Zealand even more!