Our flight from Sydney was very short and soon we were back in Melbourne ready to explore and see what opportunities there may be. We are excited to be based in one place for a little while, it's started to get a bit frustrating getting to a new place, finding your way around and then moving onto somewhere else.

We went back to Nomads hostel where we had stayed before, surprising Steven and Mo having not told them we were due back. Steven had sorted us a few free drinks from the bar, good lad! The receptionist at the hostel hooked us up with the quietest room, so when we went into our room we were joining 3 other lads, 2 of which were staying in our room. They were from Tasmania and pre-drinking for a heavy night. Haven't got a problem with that, they even offered for us to join them with their booze. After noticing the wet floor and joking with them for which one of them had spilt their drink, we found out that they had bought a 1kg bag of ice and left it to melt all over the carpet overnight, very clever! Anyway, we left them to it as we went to the bar to meet a few people. When we got back we found that they had bought another bag of ice of which had already melted in the exact same spot as they had repeated their stupidity from the night before. Honestly, the stupidity and selfishness of some people amazes me. Later in the evening they came in absolutely steaming, with their McDonalds and kept us up for a bit. The room stank of a concoction of smelly damp carpet, alcohol, fast food, Doritos and what could only be feet. The carpet was so saturated that you could see the water sitting on the surface and there was rubbish everywhere. Clearly taking the mick, we went down to complain, not often my style but it was disgusting. We told them about the two lads staying in there where she checked their system and informed us that there should only be one other lad in there! The cheeky b*****s paid for one bed the whole time that they had been staying here. By the time they had gone up to inspect the room and kick the lads out they had already left! Well at least we have the room to ourselves now.

I think we stayed in this room for one or two more nights, and it wasn't actually the smell of the damp carpet that persuaded us to leave, but the fact the dodgey looking guy whom checked into our room had a dodgey story to match our impression of him! He was about 45 years old and had been deported from France after spending 3 weeks locked up for apparently not showing them his passport when stopped in the street. I'm sure they would take you to your hotel and give you the benefit of the doubt before paying all that money to deport you. We went down to reception (whom must have been getting sick of us by now) and found that he had paid in cash and submitted no form of identification (which is supposed to be mandatory!). Not sensing a good vibe from this guy we moved rooms, last we saw of him. We stayed in our next room for ages (like 10 days or something) and met quite a few people, most of which were really cool to get on with. We stayed with two other girls this entire time, I think they were Swiss or something, but they were not interest in getting to know anyone else and barely even spoke to them.

We eventually got around to doing our CV's which let's be honest, is boring isn't it! Emily didn't take too long to do hers, but the only place I could settle down and get on with mine was in the city library. It was so majestic inside and full of character, they really tried to preserve the original features of the building. It was also the only library where no one actually spoke to each other, while Emily and I awkwardly whispered to each other.

By this point our flat search was well underway, this was not fun, it was actually very annoying. We were looking to do a flat share with some people, a very common thing in Australia. Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to find somewhere for backpackers, but what did surprise us was the amount of people that turn their noses up at couples. Our first viewing was full of Chinese people, they had literally crammed a bed into every little space, so even if you were making a cup of tea you found yourself inside some ones bedroom. Of course we said no, which was a shame because it had a great view over the city. We then went to see another flat in Elwood, just outside of the city centre. The area was ok, and that flat was great and while the lovely lady accepted us, we didn't really want to live with a late thirty something year old because we are sure she would of wanted to mumsy us and we would never had made it feel like our own home. We viewed quite a few places, mostly full of Chinese students and a similar story to our first viewing. This was ridiculous! We were starting to feel a little down, ploughing all our money into hostel accommodation which works out more expensive and not being able to cook our own meals.

Eventually we found the one! We got a flat in St Kilda, a beach suburb of Melbourne about a 20 minute tram journey from the city centre. Very sought after area with it only being about a 6 minute walk from the beach, 2 minute walk from Albert Park (where all the F1 cars race around) and not far from the nightlife scene and restaurants. It also had air con, perfect! There was a couple already living there, Charlotte and Jake from the UK. We never got to meet them before we signed the agreement with the landlord, they weren't in when we viewed it with him and we were relieved to find that they were really cool people to live with. Charlotte was 19 and was a hairdresser, Jake is 20 and got a sponsorship with Delta Force (a paintballing company) to move to Melbourne. We almost passed the flat with the flat manager being late and us getting fed up of waiting around, and we actually viewed a flat the night before which we were happy to commit to, even if it was just for six weeks. The guy (Mark) owned a cat (Oscar) but spent the whole week working in Sydney, so really I think he was just looking for a cat sitter.

We had the flat, now we really needed a job. That was far easier said than done. Emily was looking for a job working with children. She actually had a couple of job offers, but they needed her to get her qualification reviewed to ensure that they meet Australian standards! No one told Emily this and was one of those learning experiences. The cost to have her qualifications reviewed were fairly steep, but more off putting was the fact that it could take up to 8 weeks to have them sorted! Frustratingly, she was signed up to an agency that didn't require her to go through this process because they work closely with UK establishments, but they do not require many substitute teachers during the first term as most teachers actually seem to do their job.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't really look or try to find some work in the construction industry. I did, and it started to become depressing. I learnt a number of things: 1. The Australian construction industry is a little slack at the moment: 2. Australians don't like giving jobs to non-Australian citizens: 3. They especially don't like applicants on working visas: 4. Melbourne currently has a higher than average unemployment rate. Given that I had injured my back after a poorly executed dive on a SCUBA diving trip in Phi Phi (which has still not passed) there was no way I could even labour on site without embarrassing myself. I also wasn't hanging around until June when their graduate schemes start.

When we weren't looking for jobs we were relaxing, either in the flat (we finally had TV and internet!) or by the lake. Obviously we had the beach, but it was nicer to sit on grass on the lake! We also started running quite a lot, having both bought some decent running shoes. The lake in Albert Park had a great 5km running trail with views over the lake and parkland, as well as the high rises of the city. We do have a guilty confession though, while we were living in the flat, and because we had unlimited Wi-Fi, we did indulge in a bit too much Netflix! We developed an addiction to The Walking Dead series!! It was bad, for a few days we smashed through seasons 1 - 4, and the start of 5. We have no regrets! We also went to the Australian open which was fantastic, until Djokovic beat Murray in the final!

As much as we loved Melbourne, we still had no jobs and a flat to pay for. The rent was due soon and we decided that our best bet was to move on. We were both disappointed that we were leaving Melbourne, but now was probably the right time to leave. We put an advert on gumtree looking for some farm work, an experience that we could share together. It didn't take long for a farm in Bundeberg to contact us, and that's where we decided we were heading. It's in Queensland and would mean we would have to fly there because Australia is so damn big! We never got to do half as much as we wanted to in Melbourne, but we were looking forward to our new adventure. Our flight firstly goes to Brisbane before we take a small aircraft for the rest of the journey to Bundaberg, some sketchy little propeller plane! We agreed with the farmers that we would take a few days to get there so that we could have the chance to visit Byron Bay, a popular backpackers destination.

C & E x