Christmas and New Year in Melbourne! We had a wonderful family Christmas in the sunshine. We opened presents in the morning, delighting in each other's gifts. Books, jewellery, yummy chocolates, smellies and plenty of cooking gear were unwrapped. Dad and I stole the show when we received proper Aussie hats from Vicky and Grant. Amazing! Check out the pictures. We had all forgotten about buying crackers so we decided to put an environmentally friendly spin on t...

After a night in Melbourne, we all set off for a week of adventures along the Great Ocean Road and north into the Grampians. Vicky and Grant had booked a circular route for us to drive, with a combination of camping and appartments accommodation. We headed out of the city and our first port of call was a koala spotting stop. We found some in trees really close to the path and I was able to get a fair few pictures of these cuties. Our first night's stop was Lorne...

What a fantastic week! Mum, Dad and I went to stay with some friends of theirs. Alison and Graham used to live in England and Mum tutored their three girls. The family now live on a beautiful 100-acre farm near Gembrook, a couple of hours drive outside Melbourne. They have a holiday cottage on their land which they kindly lent us for the week. They were incredibly kind and welcoming, leaving us everything we might possibly need for the week in the kitchen as wel...

Hooray! I've made it to Australia! And how wonderful to see Vicky and Grant after more than a year. They kindly collected me from the airport and took me to their beautiful little house in Surrey Hills. They have been looking after me (and feeding me!) ever since. A day later and who should turn up but Mum and Dad! A real Hill family reunion. They are here for nearly 6 weeks and it's going to be fantastic spending some time together in my year away, especially a...

After a fun night out in Auckland with people from the bus, I caught a different Stray bus north to the Bay of Islands. We were heading to the town of Paihia and first stop was Goat Island, so-called because historically it was one of the islands where seafarers would leave goats to ensure they had fresh food supplies whilst travelling up and down the coast to Auckland. They apparantly put pigs on there too, not realising the pigs could swim to shore, never to be...