Hello friends, family and anyone else who reads our blog.

Again, apologies for taking so long to update the blog, we have been pre occupied in other things. Like working and living in Melbourne. It seems strange writing this as so much has happened in such a short period of time. Anyway go and get yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy the latest instalment….


After returning home (Melbourne) following a fantastic New Year it was back to work for me the next day. And therefore Jamie's job to try and find us some accommodation, so that we could give K.C and Neil a little break. They had put up with us for 5 weeks after all.
On Friday 4th January when I went to work Jamie started the flat hunting, that night Jamie had hooked up a few viewings, the first flat we went to see was quality in a very nice area but as we only had 2-3 months left in Melbourne the owner of the flat said he was looking for someone to stay a bit longer. The 2nd flat we went to see was a total dive, the kitchen was outside, floor covered in dirt, and the one flatmate we met was a very very strange man…so that one was out the window. Jamie was disappointed come the end of the day as she had called several places to no avail. It wasn't looking good.

Saturday 5th January was a scorcher, it was 40 degrees and we decided to get the tram to St Kilda to do more flat searching. St Kilda is out of the city and is home to many backpackers. Following another disappointing trip we decided to get back on the net and search the infamous GUMTREE. Newly posted was a flat in the C.B.D (Central Business District), which was for rent so we phoned the number, and booked a time to go and see the room. At 5.30pm we were both tired, fed up, hot, sweaty and giving up all hope of ever finding anything. However we picked our selves up and proceeded to meet a lovely Irish girl (Sandra) who was renting our her room. Sandra greeted us at Southern Cross Station and led us to the apartment.

It was in the old railway building on Spencer Street. They have transformed it into a Hotel and Apartments. Half is the beautiful 5* "Grand Hotel" and the other half is the Grand Central Apartments. As we entered we were shocked, the entrance hall was amazing, huge high ceilings, red carpets, chandeliers, and the most grand staircase either of us have ever seen. WOW WOW WOW, that's about all we said for 10 mins. Sandra took us upstairs showed us the room and the rest of the flat which was really nice, then downstairs to the pool, gym, sauna, hot tub and the bbq area which was fantastic. Marc and I were totally gob smacked, I was getting all excited but at the same time nervous as Sandra had told us that she had seen 5 other couples that day and so had to make a choice as to who she felt should have the room. Oh God, my stomach was in knots and as we had just experienced another s***ty day of flat hunting I was slowly loosing hope….
After the tour she said if we wanted it then it was ours so with no hesitation we accepted. I jumped up and hugged her, infact I hugged her several times before we left, but we left still all sweaty but with massive cheesy grins!!
We probably couldn't have found a better place in a better location. So this all happened on Saturday the 5th of January the same day the Mo Trio arrived in Melbourne so needless to say there was a night out to be had. We met the Mo trio, Jamie, Neil and myself then we headed to a few hotspots. Laura wasn't feeling too well so retired home early while the rest of us drank until I fell asleep in Cherry! I think this was due to Neil feeding me whisky.

On the Sunday 6th January we jumped on the train and went to Brighton beach, famous for its colourful beach huts, which now feature on the start of "Neighbours". Not sure if it will feature yet in the UK but it will shortly. Now that we had a flat that we were moving into on the Friday all we needed was Jamie to get a job.

So on Monday 7th January Jamie was out and about in the city looking for work. Jamie had decided to go and check out the Nursing scene and had arranged an appointment with an agency in Melbourne. It appeared that there were heaps of backpackers looking for pub jobs, and also Jamie didn't want to lie and say to people that she was going to be here for 6 months when she clearly wasn't!! Although Jamie never wanted to do nursing we decided that it was easy and well paid.
However, On the way back from the Nursing Agency Jamie was walking past a bar in the city close to where our new flat was gonna and states that "something" was telling her to go in….
So I (Jamie) walked down the stairs into the pub, which was in a Basement style building and enquired if there were any jobs available?? I was greeted by two lovely people, who proceeded to inform me that they were in actual fact looking for someone. The pub was lovely, it had a cosy feel which reminded me of the Osnaburg, and I instantly felt comfortable and at home!! I offered to do a trial and so they asked me to come in on the Thursday for a few hours.

On Thursday 10th January JMC and Neil moved our stuff into the new flat then Jamie went for the trial…. needless to say was offered the job. Although she was nervous I knew she would bag it. The bar is on Collins Street and is called "The Sherlock Holmes." Jamie instantly fell in love with the place and all of the people aswell. It's a nice little pub with excellent food and a great atmosphere. One of the best things we found out in Jamie's first week that she would not have to work any weekends as due to the CBD location of the Sherlock Holmes it was closed.

Friday the 11th January, I went to meet Carolanne! She was over visiting her family over xmas and New Year. It was brilliant to see her at the other side of the world and I also got the chance so see her Beautiful Niece and Nephew. We had some lunch in Balaclava and caught up with everything. Thanks Carolanne was great seeing you. Following an emotional fairwell it was back to work for me. Boo Hoo....

On Saturday 12th January it was national robot day so we all dressed as robots and walked around Melbourne in a mechanical mossshon. We never really done that we actually met Emma Whyte from Forfar and went on a pub-crawl. Then in the afternoon we met the mo trio, KC and Neil then went to our new pad to test out the BBQ area. A rather good night had by all.

With both of us now on the pay roll and in our own flat Melbourne really was feeling more and more like home. Not much midweek antics to report on apart from another trip to "Spleen" bar to see our mate who we met on the St Kilda tram the first week we were in Melbourne. He told us to come to spleen on Tuesday nights to an open mic night where he played but once again he wasn't there, although there are some very good artists that play. After a weeks work we headed to St Kilda for a night out with Mickey and Claire who we met in Thailand. It was quality night; both Claire and Mickey are off their rockers…we love you guys!

On the Sunday 20th January Jamie, KC, Neil and myself went to the Australian open tennis where we spent most of the day drinking piss in the beer tent with the boys. Things only got better when we met the fantastic Ian Spence from Brechin at the tennis. Some great tennis was played as we watched a few matches, one of which was Jamie Murray in the mixed doubles as you can see from the photos. He signed my ball and let us take a few cheesy shots!!

On Wed 23rd January a couple of people from Brechin were coming over…. Woo hoo… Mr Barry John Dean and Miss Leanne Georgie Work. So I took a half-day off my work. They arrived in Melbourne at around 1 o'clock, after dropping off their bags we headed out to the rooftop bar for a beer then to Jamie's work for the Wednesday special pint and Parma for $16. The BEST Parma's in town. After a munch at the "Sherlock Holmes" we waited on Jamie finishing her shift before we went on a pub crawl with Ed, Worko, the Mo trio, KC and Neil. We started off in the pond (a recycled pub down a few alley ways), which has a nice roof deck, and then from there it was to Saint Jerome's which was one of Melbourne's first laneway bars. You have to go down a lane to get to it aswell but once in the bar, if you go through the back there is more lanes out the where there's tables and chairs, hard to explain but very cool. After that it was section 8 which was an old car park, someone bought a shipping container filled it with drink and opened it as a bar, all the seats were made from stacked crates. Also a very cool bar. After section 8 it was to the Red hummingbird another rooftop venue. From there we moved onto the Carlton hotel, which is probably Jamie's favourite bar in Melbourne. Its pretty smart inside has a stuffed giraffe emus and a few other animals with wild flak wallpaper. From there it was to the Croft Institute another one of Melbourne's famous lane way bars which inside is like a science lab. Not a bad pub-crawl if you ask me.

On Thursday 24th we took Ed and Worko to Bimbos which is on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, it's a kind of funky Retro Street. Bimbos is a pub, which does $4 pizzas Monday-Thursday. £1.75 for a quality pizza its unreal!!!

Burns Night Friday the 25th Of January- We decorated the flat with Scottish flags invited KC, Neil, Gibby, Ed, Worko, The Mo trio and our other flatmates Margarita, Lauren and Ben. Everyone made a massive effort and wore something Tartan. Jamie was a busy Bee as she made Haggis, pumpkin (as no neeps), Tatties and a massive pot of Stovies…yum yum. She also downloaded some Scottish tunes and we all enjoyed a very traditional Scottish evening. Kirsteen and Laura did some sword dancing whilst I played the guitar and we all joined in with Auld Lang Syne! Nothing beats it.


Saturday 26th January the most important day on the International calendar. (Quote-Paul Thomas)
Slightly hangover we went to the Belgium beer café on St Kilda road to partake in some Australia day activities.
All the people who were at the burns night were with us and we met a few boys from my work there. There was live music on all day and a few competitions to keep the punters amused such as "The Great Australian Mussel Eating Competition" and a bike ride competition. We all know how Jamie is partial to a Mussel or two so she decided to put her name forward for the Mussel Eating Competition. The competition consisted of 2 heats, which had 10 contestants in each heat; they were set up on a table in the middle of the beer garden. Just like you imagine it during an American Pie Eating Competition.
Jamie's name was called for the first heat, the only girl in the competition!! She was up against stiff competitors, the raining champ and the runner up from the year before were also called in Jamie's heat. The name of the game was to eat 1 Kilo of muscles (roughly 40 Mussels), which you had to shell and drink the 100ml of white wine & garlic sauce as fast as you could.

The first heat got under way and Jamie was riveting, the crowd were going wild and in the end she managed to scoff the lot in an amazing 72 seconds. She came 3rd in the heat, beating the winner from 2007..... We all had to eagerly await the second heat to see if she would be participating in the final. An hour of so later the second heat was called and got under way, Jamie was sitting in 4th place so had booked her spot in the final.

The crowds by this time were huge, people from all over the globe gathered in one place for this fantastically massive annual event in Melbourne. The horn sounded and the final was under way, Jamie got off to a great start and continued to de-shell and eat the muscles at mind blowing pace it was poetry in motion, the crowds were going uncontrollably mental as it was neck in neck there were 3 of the contestants with the buckets at there mouths downing the sauce, it was unbelievable Jamie had come third in the competition as you will see from the video footage, however it was so close that the judge gave 3rd to last years winner, FIX FIX FIX we all shouted! Never mind she had done amazingly well. It turned out that there was still a special prize to be one?? For the very first time in the competitions 50-year history the new title and special prize was "PEOPLES CHAMPION" voted by the crowd. To win this prize the judge (cheat) would call out all the contestants names and the crowd would let out a roar, the contestant with the biggest roar would then be crowned "THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN MUSSEL EATING PEOPLE'S CHAMPION" When Jamie's name was called it was deafening, it was like Manchester United scoring the winner in the FA cup final.
Jamie Craig crowned the champion…woo hoo we all went wild; It was the proudest moment certainly in my life. $100 dollar voucher in the bank for the Belgian Beer Garden and a free tee shirt that she wore like a bib during her feast. We sat the rest of the day in the beer garden drinking Stella before making our way to Fed Square for the fireworks.

It was a public holiday on the Monday 27th January and I had an RDO on the Tuesday so on the Monday night we went to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow in St Kilda which hosts the world famous Neighbours night. So Jamie, myself, the Mo trio, Ed and Worko headed to St Kilda. It started at half 7. There are 3 Neighbours' stars normally and every now and again Dr Karl's band plays. The stars that were there were Max Hoyland, Stuie Parker, Paul Robinsons New bit of stuff and Dr Karl and the band were there. It was a quality night; there was a quiz then the band played.
Ed and I thought that we were at a Kings of Leon gig, he had me on his shoulders singing along to Dr Karl's band, in no time The bouncers hauled me off Ed's shoulders, took me outside and gave me a strict talking to then let me back in. On a power trip if you ask me. Not used to our Scottish ways at gigs.

A short week at work for both of us and before we knew it, it was the weekend again. On Friday 1st February Jamie and I were invited to the grand opening of Jo's new shop and factory! If you can remember Jo is whom Jamie used to make candles for. "A Little Light" is the name of her company. So she has bought some property which is soon to be a shop etc, so we all celebrated at her champagne reception. It was lovely to catch up with her and see where the candles are going to be made, and sold. It's in a perfect location in Westgarth on the High Street.

Satarday the 2nd of Febuary we met Eddie and Leanne at Southern cross train station and headed to Ballarat, where there is an early 19th centuary mining town called souverign hill. There was a river where you could pan for gold, Ed found a huge nugget. There was a tour of an old mine, old shops and even a bowling alley, woo hoo. It was very interesting to see. We went into Ballarat for tea before catching the train back to Melbourne.

Sunday 3nd February was the start of the weeklong St Kilda festival. I had been invited go along with the most wonderful chef in the world…Roshan! Roshan is the Chef at the Sherlock Holmes. He is a very handsome man who makes working a pleasure; however unfortunately for most women out there he is Gay and has a husband. Sorry girls! Leanne and I met Roshan and Steven whilst the boys did there usual and hit the high spots of St Kilda…mainly the pubs. It turned out to be a brilliant day and night. We all ended up having a groove in the Espy with a heap of people including some of Marc's work mates and Claire.

The start of another week and Monday the 3rd of February was a MANIC MONDAY, when I woke up I thought it was Sunday, which for a start is never good, then realised I was still drunk which was even worse!! Thankfully it was an easy day mowing fairways ahead. It was an early night for both of us on Monday night.
On Tuesday 5th February I took Barry to the open mic night at "Spleen" to see a few of the locals Dima Shffro, good old Tim and guess who was there Able, the boy from the St Kilda tram. Another late night bed at half 2 and up at 5 don't mix. Whilst I was out Jamie sat up with Mel (owner from Sherlock Holmes) and had a few wines. On Wednesday we all ventured out to bimbos for a farewell tea for Eddie and Leanne. It was great spending time with our Brechin Buddies but unfortunately then needed to move on to Sydney and we needed to get our heads down and get saving some more pennies for the next leg of out journey....

Thats all for now Folks. We will give you all our news from the Great Ocean Road etc before we leave Melbourne. Its gonna be a tuff week, as neither of us want to leave. Saying good-bye is not going to be easy.... Anyway watch this space for another update very very soon....

Take Care, Love

Jamie and Marc xxx