What a fantastic 2 weeks! Olly arrived on Sunday morning, tired and very hungry (guess who forgot to order a vegetarian meal for the plane...) but luckily we had been on a pie mission the day before to the Mornington Peninsula so he didn't starve.. Olly and I spent the first few days Melbourne. We discovered a fantastic record shop which stocked every brilliant band we could think of, including the obscurest of the obscure (plus a heap we'd never heard of) and w...

After a month on the farm, I was very happy to get back to the luxury of Vicky and Grant's house in Melbourne. It was wonderful to see them both, as well as have a long shower and a room to myself and a sofa! Ahhhh bliss. :) They also fed me up with delicious food, making up for my month of pasta and tomato sauce. The Easter weekend was quite action packed and of course filled with delicious chocolate. Even Vicky managed some as Grant and I had found her some da...

My first job in Australia - picking hops! I had no idea what to expect when I hopped on the train in Melbourne, heading for "the bush" to work at Rostrevor Hops Garden for 4 weeks. On the 9th March I travelled four hours into rural Victoria, to the "High Country" on the Great Alpine Road. The farm lies in a spectacularly beautiful valley called Ovens Valley, and it backs onto the Mount Buffalo National Park. We were incredibly lucky with the ...

You may remember me finishing off my last blog with an indication I would be starting to look for work. Unfortunately for me I had picked the worst time of year as all the uni and school students took the casual jobs in December! So there really wasn't much going. I also knew I was going away again at the end of January so was only looking for a couple of weeks. Hence, no job. Hopefully, though, when I get back from my next trip I will be able to pick something u...

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...