Happy Cup Eve as today is known in Melbourne as the Melbourne Cup excitement grows here. Today we went into the city to see the parade. There were local racing celebs, winning horses from previous years, marching bands, the works. Everyone seemed to be out for the parade. After a while we headed off into the CBD to enjoy some big beers and big burgers. Tomorrow (cup day) is a public holiday and lots of people took today off to make a 4 day weekend. The city was ...

After yesterday's animals of Australia, today we went for a different sort of natural delight (with a bit of help from the state of Victoria) the Great Ocean Road. We drove the surf coast from Torquay to Apollo Beach. It was all hairpin bends, sudden drops and breathtaking sea views with some weather braving surfers in each of the many bays. It's a very popular route and we came across 2 different Sunday markets and a band playing in 3 different towns. On the wa...

Actually this the the blog for the 1st Nov but we didn't write it until 2nd - wifi is much more difficult to find down under than Vietnam.Picked up the car around 11am and headed off in the direction of Phillip Island. As predicted the weather was not the best but nothing you can do there. On the tram to the hire car we debated if we should go back to the apartment to get our shorts and swim ware, then in the car office decided against it as we watched the hail a...

Happy Halloween from a country that takes this seriously. The weather lets them down though as instead of spooky mist and howling winds it's been glorious. We spent the day at the beach again and it got up to 34 degrees. We had the impression this was a summers day to the locals but not particularly unusual. After a drink / coffee then lunch and a walk in the sun it was too hot for us and we stretched out in the park under a tree and watched the parrots flying ov...

Lovely day, warm, sunny and relaxed. Walked along the pier and along the beach and found a great beach bar / restaurant. Sat for a couple of hours in deckchairs enjoying cold cider while trying to keep the local wet and sandy dogs off us. Fantastic Art Deco beach pavilion. Planning on a full day there tomorrow as the forecast is fantastic. Admired the cake shops again but this time gave in and split a cake. Splitting is how we are handling the massive size of the...