The flight to Melbourne went nice and fast and Jo's cousin Julie picked us up from the airport just as it started raining. It's safe to say it was a lot colder in Melbourne then in Sydney!

We stayed with Lee and Julie, Jo's cousins, who kindly put us up for four nights… we even had our own rooms! Total traveller luxury. We arrived and after some tea and chats went for a walk to a nearby Indian restaurant which Lee kindly treated us too. A lot of the restaurants in Melbourne are bring your own bottle which is quite refreshing, especially how expensive everything in this country is. We then found a nice bar for some post dinner rums. Always a winner in my book.

The following day we both slept like teenagers and Lee and Julie took us out for an amazing brunch, we've soon learnt that coffee is an art in Australia and taken very seriously. It's also fair to say we might have had a few since being here… After brunch we got to grips with the tram system and went to the city centre. Melbourne reminded me of Brighton almost, quite quirky and a bit more arty than in Sydney. Lee and Julie showed us the sites, including trying chocolate frogs from a famous chocolatier (yummo as the aussies say)

We got the tram to the harbour and as the sun was now out had a beer in the sunshine which we soaked up as much of as possible. We also saw what would be one of four weddings we saw going on that day. Madness! We hopped back on the tram and went to Brunswick st which is a very cool area of Melbourne. We parked ourselves in a pub that had a band playing with banjos and a double bass and stuck into a few more rums. It was then time to head home via the bottle-o. For those not in the know, you can't buy alcohol in shops here, only in specific liquor stores that are called bottle-o's. The one we went to was actually a drive through one which as you can imagine Jo and I found rather amusing.

Once home we sat down with a glass of wine and were introduced to AFL (Australian football league) which we actually quite got into, all be it without really understanding what was happening. Julie cooked us the most amazing lamb, followed by homemade sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. I'm actually drooling just thinking about how good it was. Thanks Julie!!

The following day Jo and I missioned to town on our own and met Leah, a friend Jo made whilst travelling in America. We had a little walk around the city before getting on a tram and heading to St Kilda. Amazingly the sun came out and we had a walk along the beach checking out all the quirky stalls on the sea front. We then met up with Leah's mum and cousin and had a few drinks, before heading to another bar and having a few more. St Kilda is definitely the 'hip' area of Melbourne and it was fun to get to see any of it.

We had been told the burgers at the espy bar where the best around, so we headed there and they didn't disappoint. However we had such a food coma that any plans to keep drinking were quickly squashed and we got the tram home, in the pouring rain. The emergency umbrella we got in Sydney has been a life saver!

We met up with Leah again the following day, she picked us up and took us back to Brunswick St. We had bagels and coffee and then went and explored the many vintage shops they had there. One of them was so big you could have spent a week in there, madness. In the evening Jo and I took Lee and Julie out for dinner to say thank you and we went to a Vietnamese restaurant and the food was awesome. Preparing me for later in my travels I hope! We got home and had a few more drinks and played with Monty the dog for ages before it was time to bid farewell to Lee and Julie who were such wonderful hosts.

Our journey back to Sydney the next day consisted of a tram, bus, plane and another bus but we are now settled back here having more adventures which I will update you all on soon! And the sun has been shining!!!!!!

Love to everyone at home xx