Hello there all! Roisin here. As many of you are aware, we had the wonderful Amy Key out to visit us in Australia for two weeks. Of course, following in Claire McGrory's footsteps, Amy joins us on here for a guest blog! Before I hand over to the voice of Amy, on behalf of James and I, we had an amazing time with Amy here - you can't really put into words how brilliant it is to see an old friend when you're so far from home, never mind see them in Australia. We had a ball, and although I suffered from severe sleep deprivation due to all the working and all the partying, I couldn't wait to get up each morning for more Amy adventures...

Hi all! I can only apologise for the delay on this (I knew I should have done it while I was there!).Anyways, I have recovered from the AMAZING trip with a bump back to reality and it feels like the whole thing was a dream!

Australia was the most amazing trip and it was AWESOME to see Rois and James in the flesh! So weird, as it felt so normal just minutes after arriving - like we had never been apart!! After arriving at Avalon airport (which, by the way is like a scout hut with a runway) James Mole picked me up and the awesomeness began!! Lunch with Rois and James, followed by a night of footie with the legendary Eoghan and Fiona!! Had to fight through the jet lag unfortunately but such a fantastic first night! Followed by a long lie-in thank goodness!Sat was spent in St Kilda - chilling and seeing where Eoghan and Fiona work and live. Even saw two penguins! While James stayed out to watch the football, Rois and I headed back for some dinner and a relaxing evening in front of the tv! Sunday was spent pottering around Victoria Market and then we headed to the Drunken Poet for Rois to play barmaid for the night!

During the week James and Rois were back to work so I pottered round Melbourne seeing the sights and generally doing the tourist bit - Old Melbourne Gaol, Immigration Museum, shopping, and more importantly visiting MAG NATION!! It was like Amy heaven - every magazine you could think of, tea and comfy seats!! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! Met Rois for lunch most days and experienced so many of the culinary delights Melbourne has to offer!!

Monday night was Neighbours night - as you can imagine a particular highlight of the trip! Managed to come fourth in the quiz and met Michelle Scully and of course Dr Karl - whilst Declan was Rubbish with a capital R. Two thumbs down to Declan. Photos will be around soon - I'd like to point out the love that is clear between Dr Karl and myself.

Tues was quiz night and I managed to get a question right all by myself - YAY!! Obviously not a clever question - it was to do with the Wizard of Oz but point is I contributed!! Unfortunately we didn't win but by that time I was in hayfever hell anyway! Toasties and some excellent jukebox action made the night a winner (not Gabrielle though).

Wed was roo steak night - courtesy of James Mole! Also introduced me to 24 - still haven't decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing! Then Thursday was free night out with Rois' work!! After a couple of hitches we finally arrived at Burnley!! (Still in Australia by the way). Free dinner and free drinks (which we didn't even have to go to the bar for!) and great company all night. Rois discovered I CAN be funny (very occasionally I admit) and she had to spent a lot of the night translating as her Australian colleagues didn't understand me and I didn't understand them!! But we got there in the end. Quite a few characters (including the fruit loop that was Shannon), great night!!

Friday Rois and I spent a few hours in the boardroom at work with the lovely Tom, drinking, eating crisps (or chips!) and listening to the best of U2 and the Corrs!! Followed by a lovely dinner at James' restaurant and a comedy night at a club in Brunswick called 'The Night Cat'. Great for people watching and having a little dance!

Sat morning was an early start - heading down to the Neighbours office to do the Neighbours tour! Ramsay St, the school (which was a bit of a disappointment!), Lassiters, the bandstand, etc! Great day and I hate to admit that James and I had a tear in our eyes as we pulled up in Ramsay St! Awesome day - well worth the money!! Finished in St Kilda where we popped to Greasy Joe's for a bit of brunch - excellent! Then Rois and I carried on to the highest tower in Melbourne (the highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere don't you know!) to get a wicked view of the city. Then home for a power nap before Eoghan and Fiona arrived for fajita time! Great dinner, then off to an Irish pub/bar/club for a night of drinking games, computer games and a bit of banter with the bouncers! What with meeting drunk James, having arguments with silly bouncers and again brilliant people watching - my last night in Melbourne was a good one! Eventually got home for an hour or so of sleep before Rois and I headed for the Great Ocean Road trip!! One of the highlights of the trip - just an amazing day and so great to spend it with Rois. We saw Koalas in the wild, walked through a rainforest, had noodles in Colac and saw some amazing views. A day I'll never forget.

So then to Sydney!! After eventually finding the hostel, we headed out for some lunch and then on for a bit of sightseeing for the rest of the day! As soon as we got there I was sure that the guy who checked us in used to be in Neighbours - and sure enough after consulting with the Neighbours book - he was!! Again confirming the fact that Australians really don't care about Neighbours! After a bottle of wine and some pizza we were all whacked so went back to the hostel for a good nights sleep before our main day. HOWEVER, we woke up to rubbish weather so spent most of the day in this amazing city soaking wet! Started off at the Aquarium which was just great - well done James Mole for suggesting that. How did we ever think about skipping it??!! Saw Nemo and his Dad, sharks and all the rest! Great morning. Then had some lunch and went on to Bondi. Bit disappointing after all the hype that surrounds it but may have been because of the weather. James and I managed to get soaked by a massive wave which resulted in me buying $10 trousers to travel back in! Then back for a power nap before heading out to meet Gus and friends up the road for $5 steak and lots of drinks! Carried on to an Irish bar in town (after the Cheers bar wouldn't let us in!!) for what was our last night together. Wed was a massive hangover day so we spent it wandering around Sydney taking in the sights with the much better weather!

So sad to leave Rois and James at the airport but 'no worries' as it really isn't long until we see each other again. We've just got to get Eoghan and Fiona over here too!!

It really was the trip of a lifetime and I'd like to thank Claire and Oonagh for making me see sense! xx