Our blog is a bit like buses, nothing for ages and then two come along at once! The aim was to finish it while travelling and as that more or less ends tomorrow (noooo!) here it is. 

So after New Zealand we flew to Melbourne which we were both really excited about as we had heard lots of good things and it did not disappoint. The lovely Gunilla and Simon picked us up from the airport and gave us their apartment for a couple of days which was bliss after so many hotels and hostels. Real sweethearts! We ventured into Chinatown one night and met  Zoe and one of my mates Dina for dinner and Gunilla took us to a really cool bar called section  8 which is a converted container and a must visit. Funnily enough it had a cocktail called "Gaga scissors a large Punjabi". :) not sure what that was all about?  

We were driven to Gunilla's parents beach house in Anglesea with a stop off at Torquay (surfer central) for the weekend. Met loads of their lovely friends and BBQ'd and partied the night away with Gunilla's famous sangria. The next day we were taken up the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles. Amazingly scenic drive where you get to see wild koalas along the way (and the lighthouse from Round the Twist which means nothing to me, but had Shubs jumping around with excitement). The drive was on extremely windy roads though and a few stops were made for phantom spews that never quite made it!

We got back that eve and everyone was back on the sangria and Gunilla's friends had prepared a roast chicken dinner. Man these Aussies can cook! We had a great eve consisting of dancing       in the kitchen and Johny coming in and out of the Pantry with various gaga-esque outfits made from whatever was in there- Legend! He had us in stitches.

At this point I started to get twitchy as we had tried a couple of bars to see if they were showing the cricket world cup final and nothing. The tv was not airing it either until India were batting and so only half my attention was on the party and the other half on the live score board via the net. When it was time for India to bat I politely excused myself and sat glued to the tv in the lounge. What a great night, despite me being on Aussie time and watching it through until 4am. Worth every minute though!

We were re-united with the filling in our Gill sandwich later that week and were lucky enough to catch a Stephen K Amos show at the comedy festival followed by drinks at various rooftop bars in Melbourne. We also met up with other friends we had met travelling around Oz who had settled in Melbourne and had a great night out in St. Kilda.

All in all Melbourne was a blast, one of my favourite cities in the world by far. So much so that Shubs booked her flight to return there to work! Was sad saying bye to all, the best hosts ever and of course heart wrenching to finally say bye to Kate.