Wed. 4th June, 2008.2.30pm.Melbourne

Greetings!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a while! Why is it June?!What's going on.

How is everybody?! Thanks to Thom we've managed to keep u up to date on our antics, thanks Torrence, ahhhhh.But this blog is well overdue so……….

I should be at work. But I'm not, har har! We'll get to the work speil later, just want to let you know that I've had time to put up all the latest photo's and vids - start with Byron Bay, then Red Rocks , then Port Maquierie, Sydney, and finally Melbourne! Pheeeew, been busy!

Andrea and Mum, glad u appreciate the hilarity of the teddies - he's called Grover, from Sesame Street I think, and he is much loved over here. (Really we've no touristy pics yet so had to put sumat up!! Priorities eh!)

Okay then, to everybody's disappointment Thom Thom Terrelli left us in Sydney. God that seems ages ago, see Thom we miss u - time only goes fast when you're having fun.That day Chris spoke to no-one and we packed our bags ready for our flight to Melbourne the next day.We were supposed to fly 2hours after Thom seen as we'd gone all the way to the airport to say our farewells and we'd 'done' Sydney….but Paula booked the wrong day.She's Irish.So, we arrived in Melbourne the next evening and found a hostel.The three of us had fun… had some beers, played pool, and went on 'Who wants to be Millionaire', tried to answer the hostel quiz as well, and even watched Adam Sandlers new film 'Reign over Me' (gotta see it, its weeeeell good. Very sad though.) before hitting the sack.

The next morning Michael had hunted us down and woke us up by banging on the door! He was so excited to see us that he'd hardly had any sleep, seriously Mike, you're 33, and decided that we weren't getting any either, ha! So we got up and jumped into his car and went to live in his house for a week. Get in!!!3bedrooms, 2bathrooms, L-shaped settees, 2living rooms, 10m wide HD plasma TV, double garage and a back garden!!!! He lives with Cori, who owns the house, in Ringwood which is like living in Burnley/Barlick and driving to Manchester to go to Melbourne central if you catch my drift?Fortunately for us, Mike was kind enough to lend us 'kids' the car while he was at work so we could get around - parents fear not, you don't have to have insurance over here so we weren't doing anything illegal!!!

That week me and Paula made all the meals, homemade lasagna, yum, as a thank you to the boys…it was so nice to be in a house!It felt great looking at food bronzing in the oven!!!Chris played on the xbox360 and also says how nice it was to be in a house, especially a boy's house.We used our time well though and got up early every morning to house hunt and job seek!By the end of the week, after a lot of bad navigating by me, bad driving by Paula, and bad moods from Chris (I'm kidding) we found a house!

Can I just say that Melbourne is well smart! They have trams!!!Almost got stuck in the tram lane at one point though, crazy roads - go in the left lane to turn right, and wait in the yellow box in front of a line of traffic. What!!!

The House

Our 'house' is in Saint Kilda, 20min tram ride South-East of the City.Apparently it's the backpackers area, but it's like a little village and full of very rich people!!!There's five of us in a unit at the top of Acland Street, the major place to live word has it, and we only pay 70quid each rent as it's quiet season, sweet!!The roomies are good ol' Paula (Ireland) Stephan (New Zealand) and Alexis (Canada) who is more hilarious than Paula at times may I add! It's great!Bloody cold down under though!!!!

The Jobs.

Why are we back in the real world already?! We have to go to work and everything! Chris has really excelled himself this time, if you thought living in a tent and working at a call centre was rough, wait till you hear what he does……SELLS WATER IN A CAN!!!!!!! Ha!!!No really, shouldn't laugh, it's a very sophisticated sales position that requires dedication, motivation and determination.Sell that wax/polish/water can to the people in the petrol station Chris so they can make their cars sparkle all year round!!

To be fair, he does bloody long hours and only gets a wage if he sells!Up at 5.45 to catch 2trams to get to work for 7am….then gets home at 7.30pm!!I give him all my support despite the jokes and make sure his food/laundry/sandwiches are done for him.What a good wife!He's getting really good at the mo, came 12th in Oz for sales on this product and earnt 100 quiddies before 3.30pm on Friday …and on the other end of the scale, I do buggur all! Hehe!!

I managed to get work in a really posh deli/coffee shop where rich people pay a tenner for two slices of imported Italian cheese, apparently Nicholas Cage walked past a few Sundays ago, and Robbie Williams got the hairdresser from across the road to go to his hotel and cut his hair!It's only 3mins from the house (epic) and despite the snobby boss, an anal Italian, it's pretty decent.Do 9-7 and the days fly by (even though we don't get any breaks, erm, ILLEGAL!!)Only problem is I have to do Sundays and the business is doing poop so I get Tuesday & Wednesday mornings off….as well as all day Thursday….so I've got it pretty easy!Manage an average English wage though so no worries.So mum, stop with the sympathy, I don't do six 10hour days like I said weeks ago! Hehe!

Is this blog really boring?

Okay, what've we done?Went for a cheap Chinese in China Town with a few of Stephan's friends, delicious!!!First proper Chinese since last September!There is a god.Bring your own beer as well! Paula wasn't happy though as she's vegetarian and had to pay twice as much to not have meat - THAT'S irish!

What else?Oh, we've been on family walks down the river in the centre of Melbourne one Saturday afternoon - watched these kids in a theatre group do aboriginal stuff on stage, was nice.Us girls visited Victoria markets one Saturday morning to check out the local didgeridoo and boomerang gear.And the fruit and veg section felt like being back in Thailand! "wan dollor mister!"

We've been to watch an Aussie Rules 'Football' game one Friday evening, supported St Kilda of course, and we played Cori's team and lost!The atmosphere wasn't the same as our 'soccer' and so I shall say no more - was bored to tears after the first quatre! COME ON YOU SAAAAINTS!!!!!

Had a few weekends getting wrecked off Goon with Mike, Cori, the roomies, and Jess & Kat- fellow travellers from Thailand who've now moved to Melbourne and lived on our settee for 2 weeks till they found a house! We've all gone for walks along St Kilda beach and the pier, not yet managed to see the penguins at sunset who live near us, shall do that once we've bought a good warm coat……oh and we've signed upto the local library!Do have a life, u get free internet and film rentals so don't laugh!

The rest of the time we buy food on special offer, try to find Chris a new work shirt that

fits (50% of Aussies are obese, can you believe that?! They are very American in some ways though).Generally life involves us roomies sitting in and watching Gordan Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, Australia's Got Talent, Family Guy, and Planet Earth!!! Getting quite sad that the five of us know exactly what's on TV every night and rush home from work at 7 all excited, oh - that reminds me, Top Gears on over here next Monday! Yeah!!!!It's the best way to save I suppose!

This weekend it's the Queen's Birthday, and seeing as every other sod apart from England celebrates it, it's a bank holiday!!!! Yeah….more time out of work!!!This is the life!!! Think the ten of us are going to Mike's parents holiday home 3hours from Melbourne for a long weekend, should be fun!And next FRIDAY THE 13TH (spooky) it's Chris' birthday so we're going to have a meal and go out on the toon!!!

And I think that's it!Pretty average this time I'm afraid.No snakes.No Monkeys.No bizarre road trips.No random adventures.Can't wait to get back on the road!!!!7weeks to go!

Seriously, still having a ball though!Hope u lot are all good, and that you finally get your summer (send us a bit over in the post please) and that's it!

Love u all squillions and miss you all dearly,

Debs and absent Chris

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