To break up the long journey back to Melbourne, we stopped at Port Fairy and took a short walk to Griffiths Island Reserve.. a beach walk which led up to a small lighthouse - really good to stretch our legs though. The drive up to Melbourne was a long slog.. we saw a bushfire on the way which was pretty crazy. It actually looked like a huge puffy cloud, but since it was so low, it didnt move and only grew in size we eventaully caught on it was a bushfire! Strange to actually see one, and horrible to think whose lives and land it would have damaged!! After getting lost for ages in Melbourne trying to find the Spaceship car rental place and calling the firm 4 times we eventually got there!! and luckily everything went well and we handed the keys back without any charges (not like we did anything wrong to the car, but renting it makes you feel paranoid that theyre going to charge you for some stupid scratch or something!) We then joined Paula and James in their campervan.. and baught a small, cheap tent to camp in for the rest of the journey on the south coast.. which just did the trick!! It was probably the worst tent ever and if it had rained we would have been screwed but it managed to look after us for the next 6 days. It was about 10 pounds so you can imagine the quality. You could actually see through the seams and there was only one lining, no outer tent covering whatsoever, brilliant!

Since there was no camping in Melbourne, we had to drive to a place called Broadmeadow in order to camp so we could get back into the city the next day for a look around. When we arrived at a small place to camp just outside Melbourne, Broadmeadow, we baught a huge family pack of fish and chips to eat - which we sure did indulge!! Then camped up at a strange campsite - full of small basic camphomes, and with an elvis impersonator next door!!haha.

The next day we caught a train into Melbourne after some miscommunication with the accomodation courtesy bus. We arrived into the iconic Flinders Street Station opposite Federation Square, which lies along the Yarra River. Walking over the bridge of the Yarra river we saw the infamous Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is a sports persons dream to play at. It is actually Melbourne that holds the reputation of being the sporting capital of Australia.. and luckily for us the Formula 1 was taking place in Melbourne this weekend. Since Federation Square has a huge screen we decided that we would join in on the atmosphere and watch it there. The square has a real good atmosphere, with modern buildings and filled with cafe's/restaurants. we sat outside at a bar and watched the screen from there. After Paula and I had done a little retail therapy we came back to the square to find it filled with people sat with drinks on the floor watching the big screen (Chris and James joining them!). It was a really good atmosphere and really did epitomise Melbournes reputation as the sporting capital. It was great because while watching it on the big screen you could here the racing cars going around the track in the distance. It also showed the new Quantas jumbo Aeroplane setting of which we could see from the sqaure. Before all these sporting shinanigans we had a picnic in Queen Victoria Gardens, which was really pretty - filled with palm trees running parallel along the Yarra River. After a walk along the river we set off to do the self guided walking tour of the city. It went a little wrong but we did manage to see st pauls Cathedral, Melbournes parliament house and took a trip past so really old automobiles, as well as passing through China town. We even saw the original clothing used in the new film Australia to celebrate the 1st April release of the film on Dvd and Blue Ray, which was cool to see the actual costumes that Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman wore! After the Formula 1 had finished it was time to make tracks and head on down to Wilsons promontory... a long road trip ahead!!!