Been getting a lot of requests for a photo - one of my friends has posted a photo of me on the night of the black moon party (see Facebook) with the blue hair dye. Can't put a photo of me with the earring up as I can't take out the stud thing til June (officially anyway)

Very relaxed past few days in Melbourne - been giving the liver a much needed rest before getting on what's nicknamed the "big green party bus" for my tour around nz.

After posting the blog I slept for a while before waking up and dressing up for the party. My awful green shorts were enough to get me a free bottle of cider, but was seriously outdone by some of the other guys who had gone for full dresses/skirts, wigs and makeup.

Very funny night, ended up staying up late and then couldn't get to sleep when I did go to bed, so went on the wifi again.

Woke up at 7 the next day, showered and dressed, the showers here are amazing, not like the dribble you get in other hostels. Then grabbed a quick breakfast (it's free!). Had signed up the day before to help out at a local national park doing conservation work. So got in the minibus at 8 and drove out the other side of Melbourne to the park.

The park is after reintroducing bandicoots into it's grounds. There are none left in the wild as they were being rapidly devoured by foxes, cats and other predators. They're pretty dumb animals, about the size of a small cat, and look like a big mouse.

A large section of the park has been fenced off, and all the feral animals have been removed. But lots of work needs doing before the area is ready for them to be reintroduced. The last group had been removing weeds and making sure the grass that the bandicoots feed on was undisturbed.

Our job was to remove some unnecessary fencing that had been put up in the 1950's for some other purpose. By removing just a few sections we could greatly increase the area that the bandicoots had to roam.

So we set out with wire cutters and started demolishing the fence. Basically picked a spot and cut straight down, then removed the thicker wires that held the fence up, and took out the knee high green nylon around the bottom of the fence. Then all worked together to literally yank it out the ground.

After this we rolled it up into a neat package ready for the park rangers to remove at a later time.

Got into a good rhythm, and had accomplished a lot before we took a break at around 11, managing to do 2 sections. Very nice cup of coffee, a mars bar and then demolished a big packet of cheesy doritos between us all. There were 7 in total - myself, the conservation leader, one of the staff from the hostel (on his day off!) a cool danish guy and 3 very funny Irish girls.

Back to work after a very nice break. Should mention at this point the amount of creepy crawlies we had seen. We had been briefed at the start on what to do if we see a snake, which was unlikely as it was too cold (still about 16 or so, still felt very nice in the sun). Saw some massive orb spiders - they make massive webs in-between trees, and were very long - about the size of 2 fingers put together. Nearly walked into a web twice, once by the fence, and once walking off to go to the loo. The 2nd time the web was just above head level, so would have seriously freaked out if it had landed on my head.

Saw a few huntsman spiders - also pretty big! Apparently they rarely bite, but when they do it could kill a small child, or make an adult very sick for a few days. Also spotted a few huge furry catapillars. Was very glad I had gloves and long trousers on as we were often crouched down digging bits of fence out.

On top off all the spiders etc... We saw lots of ants and other insects (we were digging into their home after all). Saw one which was absolutely huge - easily the length of my thumb, and apparently bites very hard, and a few with purple heads too.

Dug out another 3 sections and then stopped for lunch, a very nice pot of pasta, and another mars bar. Quickly drove to the park centre and back so the girls could use the loo. By which time the sun had properly come out, and was very pleasant with my hoody on.

Drove back and got to work. By now we had accomplished as much as the last group had done in the whole day, so any we did now was a bonus. The last few sections were very hard - someone back in the 50's had decided to do their job properly, so had to stop every foot or so when pulling the fence out to dig out large pegs that had been driven into the ground.

On top of this the area we were getting to was much grassier, so was much harder to pull the fence out as there were lots of roots grown into it. We also had to cut around a very spiky bush that had grown into the fence. Eventually got to a massive patch of grass that refused to be ripped out. Very annoying as we had so nearly reached the corner we had been aiming for.

Was forced to cut the fence straight up at the point we had reached and leave it. Felt good as we had a long walk back to where we started - just showing how much we had pulled out in one day.

Collapsed into the minibus shattered after a late night, early start and a long tiring day. Felt good helping the park out, and got a free lunch besides! Stripped off my sweaty, slightly muddy clothes and showered, then went on the internet for a bit before passing out in bed.

Woke up for 7pm, just in time for the free tacos the hostel was doing that night. Delicious having something other than noodles, and really enjoyed the salsa and salad.

Was still hungry after 2 so ended up having a bowl of noodles - felt good though as that was the 1st food I had actually paid for that day. Watched tv for a bit in the comfy tv lounge, was nearly drifting off on the sofa so headed to bed at about 11.

Woke up early at about 8 and had the free breakfast, then set out on a bit of an explore of st Kilda. Although I'm in Melbourne - the area I'm in is quite far from the centre (about 4 miles) and is actually classed as a separate town. It was much cheaper to stay here anyway as opposed to the city centre. It's only a short tram ride away.

Had a vague idea of a few things I needed - after getting some 3/4 shorts amongst other things. Couldn't find any despite trawling through countless stores. Gave up at about 2 and headed back for lunch. Ended up getting dramatically lost - thought i had done 3 lefts, but had only done 2. So ended up walking for ages along a road I thought went back in the direction to the hostel but actually went parallel to it. Managed to eventually find a tram stop and work out where I was from a map. Eventually got back starving at about half 3, and cooked up some noodles, was sick of sweet and sour so opted for satay sauce this week.

Turns out you need more satay sauce than sweet and sour to actually taste it, and it doesn't have any veg in it. Felt I was contributing to the nutrition a little bit as the sweet and sour has peppers, tomato and pineapple in it. Plus the satay was slightly more expensive.

Slept after eating then woke up for about 8:30 Was still hungry despite the late lunch, so cooked again and then sat down to watch tv. Saw a few episodes of the simpsons before 'I am
Legend' came on. Was undecided whether or not to watch it, as I knew i was probably going to freak myself out (it's a pretty scary film) but went along with it. Very good film, and wasn't half as gory as i thought.

Got to bed late again, slept well before waking up for breakfast again. Bit of a different routine than I'm used to - I usually sleep in and only eat 2 larger meals a day, then have a small snack in the evening. But am making the most of the free breakfast!

Set out again quite early on at about 9. Had seen a lot of interesting shopping on my walk back the day before, but had been trying to get home, so just noted where it was for another day.

Really interesting day out, spent it walking up and down just one main street (chapel st if you wanted to know) occasionally ducking down a few side streets. Again didn't have much of an itinerary, but kept my eye out for a few things. Found a huge bazaar shop that I must have easily spent an hour looking around, couldn't believe how many random things were in there - all from the 1920's to the 1980's.

Few more shops before finding a big food market. Lots of fresh produce, which was pretty useless to me, but interesting to see. Then found a lot of stalls with free samples, snacked on loads of things - pizza, falafel, bread, olives. All freshly made/harvested, which was really nice to have.

Walked back down the other side, getting more and more hungry at all the trendy cafes and restaurants. All completely out of price range, but the sushi was very tempting, lots of Thai food too, which I'm missing.

Only bought some more underwear today, basically I've bought more tshirts and another pair of trousers, so have more clothes than pants. So (being really technical and geeky) I was trying to eliminate the limiting factor. Meaning I can last longer between washes. Just need my 3/4 length pants now and I'll be perfectly balanced on outfits.

Probably too much information, and I can't believe I wrote a whole paragraph about buying underwear, but felt the need to explain it.

Long walk back, and cooked some more noodles, finishing off the satay sauce. Lots was stuck to the jar so poured boiling water in, went a bit over the top so ended up with a bit of a noodle satay broth soupy thing.

Couple of hours of tv and wifi before having my usual nap. Woke up and sat watching tv (spiderman 2!) before cooking dinner.

Last full day in Melbourne tomorrow, no idea what to do, but apparently there's a big market in the centre, and a few really good museums, so may have to get the tram in to have a look. Have to book my minibus to the airport, my flight to christchurch is at 8:45 in the morning.

All I can write for now,

Josh xx

Try to take photos of interesting things as i go along, but seriously ran out of things to photo, so here's a photo of my funky green shorts!