Hi Guys!
What a week and a half it’s been. Lots to catch up on so we will keep this one reasonably short (for your sakes and ours!!)
We got up Wednesday morning after our evening arrival and the first thing we saw whilst eating breakfast was pictures on the news of the South-west of England covered in snow!! Kind of hard for us to imagine as it was reaching 40 degrees where we were! We spent Wednesday and Thursday doing some sight seeing. We saw Federation Square, Parliament House, Flinders St. Station, the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) and Rod Laver Arena, where the Australian tennis Open was held the week before. We also went up the Sky Deck for some awesome views of the city, it’s the highest public viewing platform in the southern hemisphere. Melbourne was great, we loved it especially as the sight seeing transport was free. It has lovely small streets with retro and modern cafes, bars, bakeries and bistros. Lush designer shops that unfortunately, like the cafes, it was all too expensive for backpackers!! We definitely want to come back with more money!!
Friday we got the train to Mooroolbark to meet Leena as we were going to stay with her and Frank (Tom’s relatives) for the night. Their daughter Marina and her Husband Glen took us out for an afternoon ice-cream with their little daughter Hannah. In the evening we had a BBQ and met the rest of Frank and Leena’s family. Once we got there we felt really at home and they were so welcoming and accommodating that our 1 night turned into 10!!
Saturday it reached 47 degrees – unbearable. It was the hottest day on record for Victoria and was unfortunately partly the cause of all the devastation that you guys have heard all about. It was a really sad day and although it thankfully didn’t affect any of Leena’s family directly they knew some people that were affected.
Glen was off work after an operation so offered us his time (well, Marina offered us his time) for the rest of the week which was great so we spent the week doing the more sight seeing with our own personal tour guide. We had two days driving the Great Ocean Road where we saw the 12 Apostles, London Bridge and The Arch. We also took a tour around MCG one day and went to St. Kilda festival another. In between all of this we met more of Tom’s Dad’s cousins and caught up with our friend Heather who we met in South America.
At the weekend we went down to Phillip Island with Marina, Glen and Hannah and Tina (Frank and Leena’s other daughter) her husband Paul and their little son Emanuel. We went to the beach Saturday night and saw the penguins waddle in after their days fishing.
We are leaving today. Getting our flight up to Sydney tonight. We had another familt meal last night to say goodbye to everyone. It’s sad to leave everyone as we have and a great week with them all (and stocked up on good food and good sleep!!)

Speak to you in Sydney!

Love us x