Hello!

So I arrived in Melbourne 2 days ago after travelling a day from Fiji. Unfortunately on my last night in Fiji I got bitten very badly by mosquitos ad the bites have been a bit of a problem, swelling up and all sorts but I'm alright now!

Mum's cousin Deb picked me up from the airport and I am staying with her, her husband John and her 2 sons James and Tim until Wednesday when I will be crashing on a sofa of 2 guys I met in San Fran!

The weather has been fabulous the pst 2 days, reaching 23 degrees today which is pretty impressive considering its only spring here! Yesterday Deb took me to Fitzory gardens, one of the many parks in Melbourne and we went to a little 18th century reconstructed house which belonged to Captain Cooks parents in Yorkshire and was shipped brick by brick over here and rebuilt in the park! It was really weird to see a 'yorkshire garden' and lots of descriptions of how people lived in 18th century yorkshire right in the middle of sunny Melbourne! There was also a miniature tudor village in the park which had been a gift from the people of Lambeth on London after Melbourne helped with food during the 2nd world war.

Today we went into the city so I could get my bearings. Deb and family live in Canterbury, a suburb of Melbourne and Kylie Minogue's native area! The city was beautiful, especially as the sky was clear blue today. We went to the war memorial which was very impressive and which also had a small museum bit about the australians at war.

Monday 29th Sept.

I went out on Friday night with Deb's son Tim who took me to the horse races with him and his friends! Had a great night and won $50 which is always a bonus! However, I did discover that Australian boys can't half drink and in trying to keep up with them I earned myself a blazing hangover on Saturday. This wasnt so bad however because it was the Grand Final of aussie football so I stayed in and lay on the sofa and watched it.Deb and Jon went to watch the game at the stadium and came back rather dissapointed as they had lost. Tomorrow I am going to see Aunty Sheila and the on Wednesday I am meeting up with some friends from San Fransisco who I will stay with for a week!

Friday 10th October

Since last week I visited Aunty Sheila which was lovely. The next day I met my friend Nick in town and stayed at his house for the next week. On the Thursday we drove 4 hours to Portland to stay with Ali and Josh, 2 of Nick's friends. Portland was very small but we did a lot of driving around to see some beautiful coastline. One night we saw a wallaby crossing the road! And another day there was a kookaburra sitting (not in an old gum tree) on an electric wire. Over the weekend we drove back to Melbourne where we had a picnic with lots of Nick's friends which involved drinking from 1pm (I was in bed by 11!). I cooked a Sunday roast for 5 aussies on the Sunday which went down very well!

On Monday and Tuesday the weather was not so brilliant so I spent time going to the cinema and wondering around town. On Wednesday I arrived in St Kilda (another suburb of Melbourne city) at a hostel that I have been in the past 2 nights.

Today I went into the city to check out the National Victoria Art Gallery which had some fantastic 16th-18th century European art in (my favourite!).

Tonight a big group of us are going on a night out in the city centre, being guided by Nick and his aussie mates which I'm sure I will be paying for tomorrow!

Anyway, only 3 and a half weeks til home....can't believe it! I'm off to Sydney on Sunday to meet my friend Lucy who is coming from Sheffield to spend the last 3 weeks with her before flying home!

Love and miss you all

xxx