I arrived in Melbourne after a VERY long coach journey and made my way by tram to St Kilda where I've been staying. Considering how long I've been here I haven't really done that much stuff, but what I have done has been BRILLIANT. I've loved every minute of being in Melbourne and I've met some amazing people here. I can see why everyone stays in St Kilda for so long!

On my first day after having a much needed shower after the coach journey I went exploring in the city with Iris, one of the gals in the dorm. For the first night I was staying in a Sanctuary dorm, or The Nunnery if you like, as it's all girls. On the plus side you do get free champagne for an hour at night, on the downside the champagne tastes like ass!

For the next few days I just enjoyed bumming around and generally being lazy hanging out with the guys. Oh, and there was the odd day recovering from the night before! Any weight that I'd managed to lose before I got here seems to have been put back on again through all the drinking and laziness! When the weather finally decided to cheer itself up I managed to spend a few days at the beach topping up the tan. Luckily, no burning this time! On the 40 degree day I only managed about 2 hours on the beach, it was just way WAY too hot! Tina kept spraying herself with suntan lotion every half an hour to make sure she didn't burn! I've been into the city a few times, and as part of my tour that I booked I got free entry into the skydeck and 'The Edge'. The skydeck is the tallest building in Melbourne and has amazing views over the city. The Edge is a glass box which pushes out from the side of the building so you're 200ft above the ground with a bit of glass keeping you from becoming human jam! You can see the picture when my box of stuff arrives as I've sent it home so it doesn't get squashed in my bag!

After a few days of lazing around and sunbathing I went on a 2 day trip along The Great Ocean Road and across to Phillip Island to see the penguins! It was a really good trip, even if it did pour it down on the first day. You can see from my pictures, umbrella and all, that it was a pretty miserable day. Unfortunately it was pouring it down a bit too much to go down to Loch Ard Gorge when we got there, so that was a bit disappointing. That night we stayed in Apollo Bay, in a house, and I had the best nights sleep I've had in a long time! There was only 4 of us on the tour so we just had a quite night in after a BBQ and an early night. The next day we headed out, in the sunshine this time, to finish the rest of The Great Ocean Road and then we caught the ferry across to Sorrento and drove down across to Phillip Island. After a drive around to see some of the spots we went into Cowes for our dinner where we had croc-a-roo pizza. It's suprisingly tasty - well the kangaroo at any rate! After the pizza we went down to the beach to watch the Penguin Parade. This is where the little penguins come put of the sea at dusk and head back to their nests. It is so cute! There were hundreds of penguins waddling up the beach past the stands where we were sitting and making their way back to their nests. Little penguins are only about 30 cms tall so in my pictures it isn't baby penguins you're seeing, thats them at full size!

After the tour I've been back in Melbourne for another few days before I get my coach back up to Sydney. After a heavy night out on Saturday for the P-Party (why they picked the letter P for fancy dress I don't know!) where Tina and I dressed as Paratroopers its been another few lazy days with the odd shopping trip thrown in. Well, it was an attempted shopping trip, I couldn't find the dress I wanted to buy!

That's pretty much it for Melbourne. Sorry its not a more exciting read! I've had a brilliant time since I've been here, as you'll be able to see from the pictures, and I haven't minded not doing very much. It's been nice to be in one place for so long and not be rushing around doing things every day. I can start all that again when I head up the coast after Xmas. I'm sad to be leaving Melbourne but on the other side really excited because I'm meeting up with Ciara and Ryan tomorrow for Christmas in the Blue Mountains!!!