A big THANKYOU to our blog guest Nelstrom!! (cheers Neil)

Apologies again for taking so long to write about Melbourne.

This is gonna be a long blog!!!

Our 2nd day ( Thursday 29th November) was spent trying to get our bearings, we had a wander round Brunswick street ( which is a MUST See area) very "hippy" feel with lots of cool shops and cafes. Coffee is a big deal in Melbourne. Later that evening we met Gallus who is a long time friend from the Isle of Wight Festivals. We had a few jars with her and her boyfriend Ben before going to "Manchester Lane" for a Breast Cancer Charity event.Manchester Lane is a Jazz Club which that evening was showing live performances from some of Melbourne's very talented young ladies.Excellent music and great company.

Its day 3 in Melbourne and after a couple of boozy nights we took it easy knowing that that night we were having a "St Andrews" night come "welcome to Melbourne" party hosted by our new flatmates Kirsteen and Neil. During the day we cruised around the flat chilling out, it was just nice to be back in a comfy flat after staying in a hostel in Adelaide. We had a wonder down Lygon St in Carlton, which is the Italian quarter of Melbourne. Jamie bought the ingredients to make Stovies, although obtaining the "oat cakes" proved difficult.Then we went home to prepare the Scottish meal for St Andrews day. KC and Neil returned home from work and shortly after that some of the guests started to arrive. Some Auzzies, Scots, English, Italians and a Kiwi. The guests that weren't Scottish seemed to quite enjoy the Stovies although there were a few funny looks. It was a good night until M A double D Rankin pulled out the whisky.As you can imagine it was lights out after that, but a good night had by all.

The next day feeling slightly hung-over, Kc went to work and after Jamie chundered, Neil took us to the fantastic "rooftop bar" before we headed to St. Kilda (beach area) for a stroll along the beach. We went to the infamous Prince Bar then the Espy for a few jugs in the sunshine. Awesome!!KC came and met us in the Espy and the plan was that the four of us would go back to the city.We jumped on the first available tram….Problem being that neither Neil nor myself had purchased tickets for the tram, which means if a tram inspector comes on it's a fine of $100.After a few stops Neil freaked out and thought he saw a tram inspector so he jumped off the tram and I followed suit.The two of us were stranded in St Kilda so done the logical thing and went to the pub to get blind! OBVIOUSLY!We met Neil's "friend Alan" and his brother in law disco Dave in the Gunn Island then went to the Celtic Club to watch the footie.Unfortunately I was too drunk and had to retreat. We didn't want to get on the wrong side of our ladies as we both knew that the following day was also gonna be a big one!We knew that we had to be up early to go and see Lionel Ritchie in a Vineyard.This was our early Christmas gift from KC and Neil.

After a spot of sushi in the morning we boarded the bus with many other Lionel Ritchie fans!! I proudly wore my "Hello is it me your looking for" tee-shirt and as we boarded the bus Kirsteen and I were very excited…the boys however whined a bit on the bus, am sure they were both hung-over but didn't want to admit it.The concert was about a half hour journey into the "Yarra Valley" region.The winery itself was called "The Rockford winery".We all agreed that the set up was fantastic.It had a capacity of around 3,000 people and obviously as much local wine as you wanted. Marc was feeling slightly rough after a few days of drinking and had a job interview the next day so he decided to take it easy, however myself, KC and Neil were in fine form. There were two support acts one of which was Marsha Hines who is a judge on the Aussie X-Factor.

Lionel was in fine form and was possibly the cheesiest man alive although very funny and entertaining throughout the whole show."Garnier" (as in the hair & beauty products) were sponsoring Lionel, which meant that you could queue at their tent to receive a free facial, massage or Hairstyle!Also included was a goodie bag of Garnier products worth $75. It would have been rude not to go to the tent so Kirsteen and I went…TWICE! Ha Ha.Thankfully the staff did not recognise us the 2nd time round. We were both rather chuffed about the 4 goodie bags between the 2 of us.Bobby Bingo!!(Garnier is also sponsoring the Open in Melbourne so we are hoping to get some more; I love the moisturiser and sunscreen)

Anyway after a great day in the vineyard we boarded our Lionel bus back to the city and went out to for a late dinner to Neil's favourite restaurant "GAYLORD". Neil seemed to really like his chicken until he went red in the face, then slightly blue?? We all thought that he was about to be sick…He proceeded to stand up and grab the blanket we had taken to lie on while watching Lionel, oh no…we all thought at this point he was away to vomit in the blanket in front of us all and the entire restaurant, then we realised he was actually choking.A piece of chicken the size of a small plum came shooting our of Neil's mouth and into the blanket, Yuck… or as Marc would say "Nice work my friend".

Monday the 3rd of December - it was an early rise for me as I had a job interview at "The Royal Melbourne Golf Club" at 8.30 in the morning. I got a tram from the house to the train station then a train to Sandringham then a taxi to the golf club, so it took me about an hour to get there. The interview lasted around an hour and then I was asked if I would take the job. I obviously said yes, I was then was introduced to most of the 30 green keepers then shown round both the West golf course and the East.Royal Melbourne has hosted the last 4 Heineken Classics and the Presidents cup in 1998 and has got it again in 2011. They play the big tournaments on the composite course, a combination of 12 holes from the west and 6 from the east, which is regularly voted in the top 10 golf courses in the world, last year it was 6th best. After been shown around it was back home to tell Jamie the good news. The rest of the day was spent chilling out until Jamie went to her new Pilate's class at a gym along the road.

Day 7 in Melbourne and its Jamie's turn to find some work. We met Gallus (our Isle of Wight buddy) and went to do some vet work on a horse!Then Gallus drove us to her friend Jo's house.Jo runs a business from her parent's house and garden…she makes candles, and her business is called "A Little Light".As you can imagine Jamie LOVED it! The whole idea of being around some chilled musicians, making candles appealed greatly to Jamie.So the job was hers, first day of work to be the Friday.

Wed the 5th of December was my first day of work. As the nerves kicked in a little I struggled to sleep the previous night.By the end of my first day I wondered why I had been so nervous as I thoroughly enjoyed my first day of work at Royal Melbourne.My first week back at work went really well, I was introduced to both courses, the staff & machines etc. Jamie started her first day at work on Friday 7th December and really enjoyed it. Both back to reality working again but we both knew that it was going to be worth it just to see the bank account stop dropping….and give us some extra pennies for Christmas.

The weekend of December the 8th, and it was time for some birthday celebrations… We got all got our Glad Rags on. It was a beautifully sunny day as we went into the city centre for a beer before going to the Sofitel. The Sofitel is a posh hotel in Melbourne. Kirsteen was treating us to High Tea for Jamie's birthday. (Thanks KC) It was a beautiful swish hotel. We feasted in there for a while and Neil and myself bought Jamie a bottle of champagne.

After the Sofitel we continued our pub crawl, Carlton hotel was next on the list, a really cool pub with a stuffed Giraffe and Emus, lots of flock on the walls, very OTT but in a kind of tasteful way.The boys left the girls sipping on some cocktails. It was time for Neil to take me to my first soccer game in Melbourne. It was at the Telstra Dome, which has a bar with massive glass windows where you can watch the footie with a beer. Melbourne drew 2, each which was good for us boys as we had a bet on. We met back up with the girls and the drinks were on us following our big win!!

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Jamie Happy Birthday to You!!!!Sunday the 9th of December was Jamie's Birthday… Considering we had a boozy night the previous evening we were all up relatively early. After Jamie opened her presents we headed out for breakfast on Lygon St.The bacon rolls sorted us all out for the day ahead.Jamie and KC did the girly thing and went Christmas shopping as us boys went on another adventure, this was the day we discovered "The pond", a new pub where EVERYTHING has been recycled.The pond is probably one of my favourite pubs in the world so far, if not for its coolness, but for how difficult it is to find. Melbourne is renowned for its laneway pubs.You have to go down a lane with bins, down another lane into a shady door to find the most amazing pub. Anyway after the boozer we went and bought a gas canister as we thought it would be a great idea to have a Birthday BBQ for Jamie. Unfortunately we got home to find that there was no gas in it!! Never mind, so Jamie's birthday tea was cooked under the grill instead of on the BBQ. Still it was a great meal, and most importantly Jamie enjoyed her Birthday.

Life is kind of back to normal, both back into the working world. On the Wednesday it was my works day out, we played golf, which my team won, then we went back to the clubhouse for free drink. Over the next few weeks there's not to much to report on we were just living the normal life working during the day and out at nights and the weekend.Has He been ?????

It's now the 25th of December, Christmas day. It was very strange to say the least, waking up in the sunshine to open all our presents. We woke up early as we had had a quiet crimbo eve.

While we were sleeping one of Santa's little helpers (Jamie) had visited and decorated the apartment then put everyone's presents into bundles. We all took turns opening presents. The highlight being me getting Nestle Banana milkshake powder from Santa.

After presents and brekkie Jamie, KC and Neil went to church for the Christmas Mass.Then to Starbucks for a coffee on the way home. Jamie was amazed as to how many places were open on Christmas Day - I guess another difference from back home. We all got ready and headed to St. Kilda on the tram; this is where Alan and Kirstin live (Neil and Kirsteen's friends originally from Edinburgh) for our Christmas Day lunch.

It was a very un-Scottish Christmas Day, 35 degree heat, sunny all day, as well as shrimps on a Barbie…Not exactly Mum's cooking.After a lot of drinking and partying we got a tram home (or so I'm told) and then crashed out.

On Boxing Day we woke with the customary hangover, so we went for a walk along the Yarra River to an area called Richmond. We went for lunch at a place called The Corner Hotel; it had a good view back to the city. After lunch and drinks we decided that more hair of the dog was the only answer to our hangover cure!!On the 27th Jamie, KC and Neil had a day at the cricket. Every year Australia play at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test which goes for 5 days. Neil's mate Stuey had managed to get tickets for the member's section so while I went to work those guys went and got drunk. I met them in Transport later on and by the looks of them they hadn't seen much cricket and spent most of the day in the bar. After the pub we went back to the flat where Jamie managed to burn dinner - cooking and drinking don't mix….

On Friday we woke up with slight hangovers - nothing a bacon roll can't sort out though. Just as well as we had a flight to Sydney ahead of us……….

More about Sydney to follow!

We hope that all of our family and friends had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Thanks to everyone who managed to send Christmas cards etc, they really helped with the homesickness over the festive period!

So folks Here's to 2008…….MJWG and JMC xxx