Hi guys, yet another entry to keep you updated. We are in a little bit of a hurry today as we are just about to go on another tour - this one being the great ocean road from Melbourne to Adelaide.

We arrived in Melbourne after a very early flight - 6am landing in Melbourne at 7:30am and it was already 25 degrees! The trains and trams are practically impossible to work out at first and we took about 3 hours to reach the hostel. By this time the weather was 35degrees with not a cloud in the sky it was beautiful. As it was such a nice day we decided to take a stroll to St. Kilda beach - which is a suburb on the outskirts of the city. It was a little bit strange as the beach was split into two parts - one for dog owners and one for general public. The sea was warm where the dog owners were and it was really cold where the general public were - no prizes for guessing what those dogs were up to!

We had a nice relaxing day at the beach before heading back to our hostel - which I'd like to add is on top of a british pub. It was quite a nice place as the drinks and food in the pub were discounted for hostel guests and we managed to have a couple of cheap meals which happened to be really nice too. The only drawback was that there wasnt any air con or even a fan in the room - which made it practically impossible to sleep!

The next day we ventured into the city to view some of the sights that melbourne had to offer we were a little surprised as everyone we had spoken to had said it was just like England - well I dont know where these people go in England but we certainly didnt feel like we were back home! The tram took us straight into the centre and to the weirdest place - called federation sqaure, where architecture is pretty much a case of do what you like!

We had a tour of the city via walking and a free city circle tram which took us to the racing hall of fame - which is all about the great horses, jokeys and trainers from the Melbourne Cup (Australias version of the grand national), further down the road was the Victorian arts centre - which resembles a giant white spire on top of a small building and houses some of Victorias art and culture, beside it was the NGV - National Gallery of Victoria, where we took a little look around until we found out it was an art gallery and got subsequently bored! Our next stop was the Ron Laver arena - home of the Australian tennis open which is due to start in about two weeks. Not far away was the MCG - Melbourne Cricket Ground where England took a spanking not so long ago. Our next stop took us Captain Cooks former house and is the only 18th century building in Melbourne and is probably the only English thing in Melbourne!

We took a nice stroll through the botanical gardens and headed to the Ministry and Parliament houses just for photo stops, the tram then took us to the Observation deck - a 300 metre high tower for some great views of the city. After looking at the views we watched a short video on Melbourne and listened to the worst soundtrack imaginable - it was like Melbournes own national anthem! From here we went to our final stop - Melbourne Gaol where Ned Kelly was hanged - unfortunately we got here too late and it was shut!

After seeing all the sights and taking plenty of pics we headed back to our hostel for a meal and some drinks - we watched the weirdest show I have ever witnessed in the pub - some bird who obviously thought she was a witch basically talked on a mic with her deadlocked husband behind playing some wild crap on his guitar.

All in all we thought Melbourne was a really pretty, clean city with plenty going on. Not at all like England though - I cant quite understand why people say that to be honest - well onward and upward to the great ocean road. Keep you posted of our further adventures, take it easy x x x Dan and Shell x x x