Hi everyone,

So Saturday was Australia Day. We left the hostel just before lunch and wandered down to Federation Square to watch the women's final of the tennis. It was very warm (over 30C) so we found a spot in the shade to watch it from!

After that we caught a tram down to the Docklands and there was a countdown of the top 100 Aussie tunes from the last year. We chilled there for a bit then watched a Showboat (booze cruise!) come in - entertaining as lots of the people just decided to jump off the boat into the water!

We went back to the hostel to meet our roomate Heidi then we all went out of a meal. We found a nicce little Italian with a vibrant atmosphere, and being in Melbourne, we sat outside. As we were paying the bill the celebration fireworks started in Federation Square so we ran down to catch them. They were really good but we didnt have the best view of them. Afterwards we sampled Melbourne's nightlife till 4am!!

Sunday was a day of rest!

Monday morning was spent planning our Great Ocean Road trip starting next week. It was another sunny day (we've not seen a cloud in the sky all day) so we decided to head down to the Yarra River to do a cruise along it. We ended up doing two cruises. The first was down to the Docklands where we got fabulous views of the CBD from the boat. The second we travelled south down the Yarra and passed lots of parks, botanical gardens and all the sports complexes in Melbourne.

Tomorrow we're going to finalise our plans for the Great Ocean Road trip and then we're leaving the city for St Kilda on Thursday.

Lots of love,

Hayley & Rose xxx