The evening of Tuesday 22nd April 2008 we arrived (after a pricey taxi ride) in St Kilda, Melbourne. The city looked very nice on the way in and the lads were about 15 minute tram ride outside of the centre. Big hugs all round when Luke and Chris were reunited with Matt. How are we going to let the big man go?? Chucked our bags in and decided to have a catch up over some beers. To our delight there was a quiz on (the Wet Bandits specialist activity). Teaming up with some supposedly soon to be Oxford educated ladies we set about tearing the quiz apart. Suffice to say we didn't win the quiz with are only victory coming in the bonus round when we were first up with a pair of knickers, a bra, a condom, some soap and Matt wearing womans lip stick. We don't win those easy Micky Mouse rounds!!! After a reasonable night we decided to retire early. We were in for a busy few days!

Wednesday morning and we were awoken by the Devon lads (Andy and Jack) rolling into our room. They had kindly asked reception what room we were in, removed the two ladies who were supposed to be in and taken their beds. We now how two snoring steam trains to get used to! Great to see them though. As they only had two days with us we decided to hit the city. After a quick duck into the Information Centre we decided to hit the cricket ground. There we did what turned out to be an amazing tour of the ground (it's 100,000 seater and rips Wembley) with none other than the hunk Ray leading us round. Afterwards we hit a sports museum which was packed with loads of stuff to do and see. Good times. After that it was back to the hostel to sort a car for tomorrow and get ready for the evenings activities. That night we cruised out looking for bars. Found plenty of random places where some random drinks were sunk. A reasonably quiet night for a usual standards but we had an early start in the morning.

Thursday we were up at 07:30 and off to the 12 Apostles. First stop was Avis to pick up the hog we were renting. As Jack and Andy are two big units it was a toss up between them to who would drive and be co-pilot. It turned out it was to be Andy 'Slab Foot' Rossiter behind the wheel with Jack 'luckily we've got a sat nav' Howden by his side. The ride turned out to be a flash Mitsubishi packing on the looks and (what we'd eventually find out) the power front. However with no instructions from the the car place Andy determined that it was an automatic. We pulled out the car park and then proceeded to scream down Melbourne City Centre in first gear for the first ten minutes. Pulling over and scratching our heads at what looked to be an automatic gearbox (the car only had an accellorater and a brake) we come to the conclusion it was a flashy tiptronic gearbox (i.e. no clutch just foot off the accellorater and flick the gear stick up or down). Convinced that Andy knew what he was doing we set off down the road and we attempted our first gear change. Now he's not called Slab Foot for nothing because he's cunningly forgotten he hasn't got a clutch, gone for a gear change and planted his left foot hard down onto the brake and knocked it up a gear. An emergency stop is not quite the word as anyone who has left foot braked will know, and if we hadn't been wearing seat belts we would have chowed done some glass. Also a good job we had no one behind us! Neck braces on we finally set off. Caution was key and after a shakey start we blasted onto the motorway and out the city at a lightning 55mph. Off to Great Ocean road. We had a quick stop at some surf shops to exercise our credit cards. Back on the road it was a very scenic drive if not a long and windy one and after 4 plus hours we were at the Apostles. Great to see them (even after all the Ayres Rock based action) and got plenty more snaps. After some mincing around we decided we needed to get back for a night out. Slab Foot had found the accellorater so we were home in a couple of hours. Got the legendary goon in and warmed up in our room with team Ireland (3 Irish girls in our room). After some games it was off downstairs to the hostel bar which was absolutely rammed. A complete random night then followed with all sorts of activities going down. Banter a plenty for the morning but an absolute stormer of an evening.

Friday there was a few sore heads in the morning. Andy and Jack had to take the car back (bit naughty) and somehow got lost with a sat nav. When questioned why they were late at the car place they had no reasonable excuse. A big morning in bed then it was up for an afternoon of fun. General funniness about the evening before and we hit the local theme park (it's no Alton Towers). Some chilling at the beach and a Nando's it time to say goodbye to the Devon lads who were back off to Sydney. Not to fear it had been confirmed we'd now be a six in NZ with these two and James! Watch out! That evening and still a little tired from the previous night Matt rallied the troops and got the booze in. Two nights left in Oz and we had to make the most of them! Hit a numerous amounts of bars that night with Luke 'Depth Charge' Purchase leading the way. A good night despite the rain. Seemed to be setting in that this was the penultimate in OZ.

Sat and it was our final day in Melbourne. Melbourne had turned out to be a really nice city (probably even better than Sydney!) and it was a shame we didn't have a few more days there. Decided to go into the centre for some shopping and to meet a friend of Matt's - Victoria - for an upmarket cup of coffee. Nice! Matt couldn't understand why Luke and Chris were drooling. Afterwards it was back to the hostel to get our bags packed. Our final night we decided to treat ourselves. Hit a steady Italian for a meal and then after a few wine gums it was off to the Casino! Amazed at the sheer size of it and the amount games they had it felt as though we were in Vegas. Being the gambling professionals the lads stuck to the only game they know and hit the bar! Pricey. After that it was off to an Irish pub for a sing song before moving onto a fancy night club. It was safe to say we went out in style.

27th April and it was time to leave Oz. Australia has been f***ing amazing. We've seen some incredible sights, met some wicked people, cried our way round with laughter, partied our arses off and done simply everything we wanted to. There's rumours that NZ is better but it's gonna have to go some to match this place. Yet another chapter done. Another tick in the box. We came, we saw, we smashed it!!!!!!!!!!!