Its my second day in Melbourne and already my Geordie influence is starting to spread over the city. More on that later....

After finishing up yesterday I checked into my hostel and set about getting the lay of the land. I walked up and down Elizabeth St about 6 times in total. The street basically runs right through the centre of Melbourne CBD.

I got myself sorted with a new aussie phone number, an aussie bank account and some essentials for out here. Strangely enough I had a real pain in the ass finding anywhere that sold bath towels, it took me ages. Also, giffgaff could make a fortune out here, the cost of mobile data plans are rediculous.

The weather in Melbourne yesterday was a bit crazy. At one point just before check-in it broke out in thunder and lightning, which was quickly followed by glorious sunshine, then really strong wind and horizontal rain. Definitely four seasons in one day. More on this later though....

After walking so much my feet bled, I decided it was time to wind down for the day. I had been up since 4am and by 8pm I was completely shattered. I spent a bit of time on facebook with the family before crashing out. Thankfully I slept right through till about 8am this morning - so for those interested here is a tip -

If you are flying long haul to Austrlia work out your landing time. Then make sure that as you are flying you stay awake at the correct time and go to sleep at the correct time to match. For example, my landing time was 6 am. So I spent almost 3/4 of my flight forcing myself to stay awake, so that for the last 7 hours from Singapore I was asleep and meant that when I landed would roughly be a sane time to be awake. I realise this wont work for everybody, but it has definitely helped me. The only downside was this means for a good portion of the flight you are wrecked and worse, you are fighting the airlines sheduled "nap time". But if you can do it, you will be far more productive your first day.

After miscalculating the time difference between the UK and Oz I crawled out of bed and raced to a quiet place to dive on skype and talk to the family this morning. 8am Melbourne time is 9pm in Newcastle, but I thought it was 7pm Newcaslte. I looked horrific sitting on skype with everyone in the area clearly thinking it was as close to a homeless person as they would get.

After sorting myself out I headed out to find some breakfast - and ended up at a place called Jaspers. The full english was great and the service was superb. Thoroughly recommend the place - they even had newspapers for the public to read as they eat. As I was reading the paper I stumbled upon an article about yesterdays weather. Turns out it was so bad in one place it actually snowed. Snowed - in summer - in Melbourne. Anyway if you're ever in Melbourne and fancy a good fry up try this place - the only thing missing is free wifi.

After breakfast I headed out to explore and pick up a few remaining supplies from a supermarket. On the way I stumbled upon flagstaff park, a lovely little park right in the centre of the city. Check out my photos for a panoramic of the park.

After getting the shopping in, I headed out to the office of Inspire 9 - www.inspire9.com.au - as I have been looking for a quiet place with internet access that would be great to use as an office. On the way I got talking to an Aussie (he was laughing at my complete lack of understanding for the Tram ticketing system). He was saying that yesterday he was visiting the Melbourne Cricket Ground (just around the corner from Inspire 9) and he couldnt see the grass for the hailstone covering it. Anyway, Inspire 9 looks fantastic, with friendly people and it will definitely become my new adopted office.

And it is from that office that I write this blog, so I will catch you all again tomorrow.

Ian.