After saying some fond farewells to our friends we took a flight to Melbourne in the hope of seeing sunshine, more kangaroos and maybe even Harold Bishop! Unfortunately we only managed to see one of these and it was of the furry, mammal variety! We got into Melbourne and headed to our hostel which was called the nunnery due to the fact that before housing weary backpackers it was a convent. Turns out the nuns were clearly very dirty ladies as I left the hostel with many bites of the bed bug variety-nice! It was however set in a really nice area, being next to Brunswick street which was a huge street filled with bars and vintage shops. This was where me and Helen sadly spent the majority of our time in Melbourne, seeking refuge from the torrential floods by catching up on some blogging in a cheap internet cafe, how cultural! The downpours actually put English weather to shame and we spent most of our days here either being trapped in our hostel watching teenage flicks or sprinting across the city with all manners of items clasped over our heads to avoid the soakings!

On our second to last day though the rain held off and we booked ourselves onto a tour of Philip Island (aka penguin island the scene of an amazing documentary by rolph harris...in my words...not helens who repeatedly rolled her eyes everytime I mentioned my second favourite Aussie, Alf Stewart of course, being the first!) We jumped on board our tour bus for the day and got chatting to our friendly driver Steve who informed us that the Aussie weather portrayed in neighbours and home and away was actually a huge con and that it did indeed rain here all the time! All of our illusions were now shattered! On route to Philip Island we stopped by a lake for some snacks before heading to a wildlife park where we fed some gorgeous kangaroos and Helen fed some not so cute looking emu's! After this we arrived at Philip Island, home of the tiny penguins! Before it got dark (when the penguins make their appearance on the beach front) we had to kill some time so our tour guide took us on a walk through the forests....fast forward to me asking him and another aussie if we would cross paths with anything poisonous as I was wearing flip flops, 'oh no' they replied....fast forward another 2 minutes and hello giant poisonous snake slithering not 2 feet from me and Hel! Not a happy bunny at the thought of a set of fangs sinking into my big toe but we carried on regardless as nothing could take away our excitement at seeing the little penguins!

We settled down into our seats along the beach front, was told repeatedly not to take any snaps, boo hoo and waited for the guests to arrive! 5 minutes later in the darkness a tiny group of penguins crawled out of the sea to check if it was safe to cross the beach front, they had a quick scan before swimming back into the sea to get the rest of their friends. Then the penguins in groups of about 20 huddled backwards and forwards into the sea trying to avoid the greedy seagulls who were waiting to chow down on them! (Me and Helen were poised to retaliate...even with Helen's fear of all things birdlike!) Everyone sat around us were willing the penguins on as they inched forwards and then inched backwards for about an hour before they waddled quickly across the sand to reach their hungry, crying babies....amazing!!!! We then got to wander around watching the penguins find their little ones and feed them, before checking under the minibus for them before returning home, pausing to let penguins march across the road in front of us. Unfortunately we didn't think customs would let us introduce them to blighty so we had to leave them where they were without any snaps!

The next day proved to be another momentous day for us as we embarked on one of our most thrilling tours yet...the neighbours tour! While in Melbourne this had to be done so along with about 20 other poms we headed off towards the fake Ramsey Street, entertained along the way by old clips of neighbours and a sing along to the theme tune, classy! The set was loads smaller than we thought and people actually live in the houses that we were traipsing through to get some ultimate cheesey shots! We took plenty of snaps around the sets before hopping back into the bus to go and meet our mystery celebrity, which turned out to be Sky. (Blonde/blue hair, Harold's niece?!! Well only a true fan would know...!) She politely answered all of our neighbours related questions before a very awkward photo opportunity and then we were back to the hostel ready to depart again to Sydney!

Took an endless 16 hour greyhound bus to sydney overnight, stopping along the way as the aircon had broken and our driver had resigned! It could only happen to us! Arrived early morning and killed some time in our very dirty 30 dollar a night hostel before we could catch up on some sleep! Met up with Tom and walked up one of the towers on the harbour bridge together to get some birdseye views of the opera house which was fab before heading to a rooftop bar for a lovely cider! Wandered back with Tom to his hostel where we had some chocs while gazing out over the city from his hostel's amazing rooftop area, jealous or what! Couldn't comprehend leaving Australia without visiting something which had been a very important part of mine and Helen's life....so me, Tom and Helen took a bus down to Palm Beach aka Summer Bay!! Don't think me and Helen had ever been so excited! The beach was stunning and it was just like the programme! Unfortunately didn't spot my hero Alf but did get some bloody good snaps! The following morning my relatives got in touch to meet up for a long lunch at Sydney's Sailing Club. Me and Helen were in a slight panic over what to wear from our very small stash of backpacking clothes but we bundled something together! Got picked up by Claire and her mum Mary who was visiting and had a lovely catch up, was great to hear some more Yorkshire accents and get treated to lunch! Also really enjoyed tucking into the selection boxes that mum and dad had sent me and helen (chocolate in oz tastes gross due its antifreeze stuff!) After this we headed to Bondi beach for a gander which was stunning and packed up the backpacks ready for our flight to Singapore!! Said a very sad goodbye to our lovely friend Tom, vowing to see him again in a years time and took our bus to the airport! Goodbye Australia, you have robbed us of all our money but we still loved it here, you flaming gallah!! (Sorry, it had to be done!)