Hi one and all - sorry for the lack of updates in Australia - we are still trying to adjust (not only to the fact that it is winter, but also the costs of this country after Asia!!). Internet is pretty expensive so we've been sticking to free mins here and there, so just a quick update of what we have been upto over here!

So we arrived in Melbourne after what was pretty much the most luxurious journey for us! Only about 10-11 hours in total on a plane, being fed, having toilets, watching movies - doesn't even compare to being cramped up in buses! Emily's cousin Tina was waiting for us off the plane and since then our first week in Australia was just unbelievable. Tina and her family have just been so so generous, from her husband right through to her brother and his family, and her parents. Everyone chipped in and took us for days out, fed us absolutely amazing meals, and just made the first week the best relaxing catch-up holiday from traveling that we could have imagined.

We have seen so much of Melbourne I feel like a local now! From the stunning bay at St Kilda, to the city centre at both day and night (we had a really great night out along the southbank of the Yarra river, watching the fireballs outside of the casino and finishing the night with some unreal slices of cake!!). We don't even have to worry about spotting all the Australian wildlife, as we have been through the stunning Yarra valley (with a quick FREE wine-tasting stop at the Vineyards along the way…) to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, an amazing place where we got up close and personal with koalas, kangaroos, possums, wombats, eagles, emus, snakes and all! We had a fantastic day out at the MCG (Melbourne cricket ground - sport heaven, and Sean was almost there…!) on a great tour of the stadium and the sports museum, even got a little chat with Shayne Waughn….the hologram version of course! Poor Peter had to drive us about a million miles (well, it was more like 700km, but that's still pretty impressive) down the Great Ocean Road - Victoria is stunning, and the ocean road is littered with beautiful cliff points, amazing surf beaches and the 'Twelve Apostles', some brilliant rocks in the water that made for a pretty impressive picture even in the rain! 13 hours later and we finally let our tour guide collapse! But not for long…we also got taken to Philip Island, another island in Victoria and after seeing our second grand prix track (Melbourne is literally FULL of sports stadiums, tennis stadiums, aussie rules nutters and grand prix circuits..) we parked up on a beach at sunset to wait for the return of the Penguins! This was fantastic - every night they pop out of the sea in their hundreds, run up the beach into the 'bush' and find their little burrow to go home. It was incredible to see this in action, we were so close we could touch the hilarious little things, and it was a real highlight of the trip!

We've already indulged in some serious Oz food (pies & souvlakis) as well as christening our stubby holders, but we cannot thank enough and be so grateful for how we were looked after. The whole family have fed us, looked after us and welcomed us into their family like they'd known us all their lives, and we literally couldn't have been blessed anymore! We've seen more of Melbourne than we ever could have dreamed off - a rare opportunity for backpackers who usually can't afford to head out the city nearly as far as we have, and to get the tours with locals has just been amazing!

Our last day in Melbourne was amazing - we went to Tina and Peter's church with Brooke, and then over to Pam and John's for an amazing Sunday lunch British style, with entertainment included! They have a pianola, me and Sean had a go (unsuccessfully) but it was worth a few laughs! After barely managing to pack our stuff, we set off with a huge goodie bag from Tina for the bus. It was really sad - like leaving our family again, and learning to rough it on our own all over again.

After the overnight bus we landed in Sydney to beautiful weather (its winter and we're in T-shirts - insane), and had a great day running round, despite being ripped off at the hostel (Boo..). We bought a train pass, and headed into the CBD to see some sights, and over to the ferry to Manly, a suburban ocean beach. Real taster of Aussie life, surfer competition going on and lots of families eating fish and chips (or more like fighting the seagulls off it!) on the beachfront. The ferry views were amazing of the Opera house and Harbour bridge, and we took a good look around the Harbour. We then had a good walk around the Rocks district and Darling Harbour - where we cheekily managhed to catch the last act of a free Jazz and Blues festival going on on the water - great setting and first night in Oz. After free hot dogs in the hostel (it does have a few perks..) we got ready for another good day at Bondi Beach. It was pretty freezing but beautiful at Bondi. I now understand why its called the beach for all the 'beautiful people' - it made you feel bad just being there! All the locals were doing their exercise on the weirdly freezing white sand whilst the surfers were chilling out (literally - I know, its bad…) in the sea. Got a taster of Sydney's shops on the way back on Oxford Steet (the names here are so English!) and around Kings Cross area where there are a few nice boutiques and cafes.

The last day in Sydney gave us a good slice of Sydney living - we checked out some of the suburbs - Glebe and Newtown - fun areas with lots of boutiques, cafes and interesting things going on. Me and Sean both bought a top in the op shops (charity shops) and I bought a pair of jeans with some of my birthday money - probably not that sensible but I couldn't resist it!! We also checked out the artwork going on down the harbour - they had a light show projected onto the Opera House and museum of Contemporary Art which was pretty impressive.

We then took the overnight bus to Byron Bay - a really beautiful coastal area on the most Eastern point of the Australian mainland. Beautiful bays, and cliff walks - we were in the lucky season to see whales migraiting up north, we actually saw loads of them, jumping out of the water and landing on their backs - it was simply incredible (one of those once in a lifetime moments!). We also saw lots of dolphins riding the surf into the bay - tricky to photograph but an amazing memory! Its meant to be the 'hippy area' of Oz, but still seems pretty surfy/'beautiful-people-esque' but really fun, the hostels are all kitted out with bars, pools, trips etc. Spent the whole time in Byron walking on the beaches and through the bush, whale-watching and dolphin-spotting, eating every free meal deal we could find - very relaxing and fun.

Surfers Paradise was our next stop along the coast - an ok beach with massive development. Think skyscrapers everywhere, designer shops all over the place, every chain of everything you can imagine. Not really my kind of place. Still, we walked along the beaches and managed to catch a 'rescue' race, speed-rafts - all very entertaining until one of the lifeguards was stretchered off to hospital on a spine board, not so nice. We checked out the main area, and made the most of all the free exercise we could do at our hostel - table tennis, normal tennis, jogging and skipping, as it was too expensive to even buy a drink! We did, however, have an amazing luxury day at Sea World (thanks to Tina and Peter - thanks so much!! So unreal and kind!). Fantastic day - we saw Polar Bears, Penguins feeding, sealions performing, dolphins jumping, and even stroked stingrays and manta-rays. The highlight was definitely 'shark reef', with an underwater viewing station that just blew us away, with huge sharks of all types swimming right up to you, as well as rays and millions of fish - incredible. We rode the rides and watched the 4D movie which was very entertaining (what you could hear of it through the toddlers tears - em even jumped when the snake came out of the screen...!) and just had an absolutely amazing day!

We're now in Brisbane - and deciding to take a 'day off' ( I know i know...we're not working, we're bums etc etc...) but we're pretty tired from full on day to day, so we're going to chill out and relax a bit today and check out the city tomorrow before moving on again - almost at Great Barrier Reef sea so getting very excited!