After Australia day's antics, getting in and crashing out rather late, I woke up late and was fairly disoriented. I talked to the family on skype and then had to head back to sleep to catch up on some much needed shut eye. I did not wake again until 12pm, before forcing myself to get out of bed. Today was wash day number 2.

I got my washing together and headed down to Claremont's wash room. Although far smaller than those at Melbourne Metro, both the washing machines and dryers are much better than those at Melbourne Metro. I loaded up and passed the 2 hours by watching a few scrubs episodes in the laundry room.

Although I have watched very little TV since I arrived in Melbourne, I am really glad I completely filled my iPad with media for me to watch before I left England. With the internet being either very expensive or completely capped out here, there is no way I could get that media on to my iPad now.

After my washing was complete, I headed back to my room to be greeted by a new guy named David, who had just arrived in Australia the previous night. It turns out he is a fellow Geordie, from a town just past Rowlands Gill.

We got chatting, and being his first day in Oz, he had the same tasks I had when I arrived to complete - ie. sort out an Australian phone number, set up a bank account etc. As I had completed my task for the day I suggested we head into the CBD for him to get things sorted.

We grabbed a subway lunch before walking into town, following the same route I had taken earlier in the week through the botanical gardens and along the Yarra river. An hour later we arrived at flinders street, and began checking items off of his to-do list.

Once this was complete, we headed back to the hostel so Dave could pack his stuff before we both went to watch the Murray / Djokovic final at Fed Square. The game was the longest and most exciting I have seen at the Aussie Open, eventually going to Djokovic after almost 4 and a half hours play.

By that time, the trains in melbourne had stopped, so we both walked back to South Yarra, following the river and walking straight past the Rod Laver arena where the game we had just watched was faught. We collapsed in our beds at almost 2:30.

Ian.