Well. Its been a whole two weeks since I left Adelaide and I'm still alive!

The weekend before I left, I travelled into Adelaide to meet up with a girl called Lexi from the UK and a lad called Ben from Belgium whom were looking to travel to Melbourne. So we sat down over a cup of tea and hatched a plan. The next day we hired a car and were on our way. Saying good bye to Uncle, Aunty, Nar and the two girls was hard - I had spend two and a half lovely months with them but was ready to move on. The trip we planned would take 3 days and we would travel via the Grampians and the Great Ocean Road. I had already done this but I made the decision that I would rather do it again and arrive in Melbourne with people I knew than to catch a direct bus and arrive not knowing anyone. The trip turned out to be very different anyway - we were travelling in the oposite direction to before and spent more time exploring different things. We all got on swimmingly which was fortunate seeing as we were going to be stuck together in a car for the next 3 days. The drive from Adelaide to the Grampians seemed endless, the road was long and the scenery the same for miles upon miles. I think I managed to exhaust every possible source of conversation by the time we reached the Grampians but I got to know them alot better. Lexi is 23 and Ben is 25 and both been travelling in Australia for a few months. It was nice listening to their experiences, it gave me a chance to pick up a few ideas about what to do on my own travels.

We arrived in the Grampians mid-afternoon and made ourway to our hostel for the night. Tim's Place was a fantastic hostel and set in a superb location. He even had mountain bikes we could use for free; so after making our way to view the Balconies we took a ride around Halls Gap to see all the Kangaroos. The next morning we woke up early and made our way along a steep 2.1 Km track to the pinicle. An advantage point looking out over the planes around the Grampians. It was hard walk but well worth it. We then went down to McKenzie falls; a spectacular set of waterfalls which suprisingly still had a fair amount of water in them! We left Halls Gap about midday and headed towards the Great Ocean Road. Our plan was to make it all the way to Lorne (at the other end of the Great Ocean Road) by the end of the day. Unfortunately that plan meant that we had to rush it slightly but we had perfect weather and I had luckily spent a decent amount of time at the main sights already so I was happy. Lorne was lovely, reminded me a lot of Aberdyfi - so I felt quite at home. We even treated ourselves to fish and chips and had a good nights sleep in cabins before heading off again the next morning. We were due to arrive in Melbourne by midday to drop off the rental car. The car had been good to us; it was a little Hyundai Getz and its lucky there were no more than three of us because our luggage took up most of the space. We got there safe an sound, and said our fairwells to each other.

I thought Adelaide was big, but my jaw dropped as we came into Melbourne. For a little country girl like myself, arriving in such a vast city as Melbourne was a bit daughnting. To be honest I felt completely and utterly lost and wanted to go back to Lorne. I had ended up, luckily, in a really nice hostel in the middle of the city and that only happened because my planning was so bad. It came to the morning of my arrival in the city and I still had no accomodation beacause the place I had been trying to get a hold of for the past 2 days wasn't picking up the phone. So, sat in a cafe in Torqay, I went through my rough guide and started ringing every hostel in the list. Everywhere was full, except one, they had just enough room for me and it turned out to be one of the nicest hostels in the city, The Greenhouse Backpackers. I managed to meet up with Lexi for for coffee and started to feel a little more at home.

From then on it just got better an better. I have made some fantastic friends and have had a brilliant time. The day after I arrived I managed to wangle myself a free ticket to go to the Australian Open. I am not a big tennis fan but I was in Melbourne and the Open was on so I thought why not. I ended up goint to see the Aussie No.2 Peter Luczack V an Argentinian whose name I cannot pronounce. Watching tennis played at that standard was amazing but one match was enough for me. The weekend following was miserable, Melbourne is famous for its unpredictable weather - Crowded House sang a song called 'Four Seasons in a Day' and it is apparently based on Melbourne. I still managed to make the most of it though; I visited Parliment House, St Patcricks Cathedral and wondered the streets to get to know the city a little better. The higlight of my weekend though was taking a train ride a half an hour out of the city to meet another set of Aussie Family. My Mum's Cousin, Helen, lives in a loveley neck of the woods with her family; husband Rob and two sons - Matthew and Daniel. Another of Mum's cousins, Robyn, was also staying with her family from Perth - Warren, Amy and Elise - so the house was full to the brim. We had a great afternoon of walking followed by an amazing roast dinner and for any backpacker that really is a real treat. I haven't starved myself yet but my cooking does leave a little to be desired.

Monday was amazing. Lexi and I were off on the 'Neighbours' tour. A bus picked us up at 8.30 am and took us down to Ramsey St which was suprisingly small; they use wide angle lenses to film everything so it all appers so much bigger than it actually is. I had my pic taken outside Harold and Lou's house. The real treat was when we were at the studio set of Carpenter's Mechanics and Grease Monkeys - Karl Kennedy came out to greet us. Karl has been in Neighbours for as long as I can remember and I had my photo taken with him as well as an autograph! Cheesy grins all round. The day only got better because that evening Lexi and I caught a tram to the suburb of St Kilda and sat and ate far too much cake (for which St Kilda is famous) before heading out to The Elephant and Wheelbarrow, an English pub. 350 people squeezed themselves into a bar and before long the Neighbours night was on a role. Out of the 350 people that were there, only half a dozen were Aussies - the rest were Brits. Although Neighbours is an Australian soap, only a million Australians watch it compared to the five million from the UK! I had a great night - there was a big trivia quiz and I recon our team should have one a prize just for our name - 'Casseroles NeighBAAs'. We also got to meet the Actors who played Rachel Kinski, Hannah Martin (that was blast from the past), Steve Parker and Adam Rhodes who is played by Bejamin Hart an ex Hollyoaks actor so Bev you are bound to know him! Definitly a night to remember!

The rest of the week that followed was good too. I was settleing in properley by now and ended up exploring the Aquarium, Melbourne Museum and the Victoria Night Market with a lovely girl called Sarah whom I met at the neighbours night. I also found myself a job in a cafe just a few doors down from the hostel which was convenient. I went for my trial on the Friday and they said YES. So I am now employed for 5 days a week making sandwiches, wraps, serving food and drink. All very much like the past two jobs I had at home, the staff are great to work with and I have the weekends off to party. Hehe. I have been out in Melbourne twice since I have been here with the group from the Hostel. There are fair few more pubs and clubs to chose from than in Aberystwyth and we ended up in some funky places. I have also been out to the cinema a fair few times with the same group. I expected there to be a lot more people my age travelleing but everyone I have met and am friends with are all in their mid-twenties. They don't mind having little young me in the group though.

My plans are not definate but I may end up staying here a while longer than I though. My boss would like me to stay a while and I have settled in here so well, with a great bunch of friends. Melbourne is a fantastic city to be in with an amazing atmosphere. So I shall stay, earn some money then spend the last 4 months doing a non stop trip around the rest of Australia without having to stop and work again. The plan may change in a week knowing me, but whilst I am here I plan to enjoy myself (on a budget).

Hope everyone is well and I hope to write again soon. xXx

Miss you all dearly xXx