Flew out from the Gold Coast at about 9 am; I was happy to be leaving because it was raining for like the 5th day in a row and the rain was supposed to continue. I had checked the weather in Melbourne and it said sun the whole weekend. Our flight was supposed to take 2 hours, but it ended up taking 4. We had to circle Melbourne for over an hour waiting for permission to land; we had to wait because there was a really bad thunderstorm with lights of lightning passing through the city. When they finally did allow us to land it was a rough landing and we then had to wait on the tarmac for another hour because they wouldn't allow the ground crew out because of the lightning. It was quite frustrating, especially since we were missing a walking tour of the city of Melbourne. When wee got off the plan we called the rest of the group and found out the tour had been cancelled anyway, so we didn't miss anything. Then we took a taxi to our hostel right in the middle of the city. We got checked in and then just walked around for a bit. We found this really huge marketplace that had all kinds of stuff but it was closing so we walked down and did a bit of shopping in the city. After that we met the rest of the group for dinner at this family style Thai restaurant. The food was pretty good but it was weird to share it with everyone at the table. After that we walked around the city a bit more and went back to the hostel to go to bed. The next morning we got up early and went on the walking tour. We saw Federation Square, Flinders Street Station, and the Parliament House. Matt, our tour guide (who is from Iowa) also taught us about how everything that is "hip" is down the little side street alleyways. He said if you don't walk past trash, down a dark unmarked alley, or up some creepy stairs its not worth going to. He also took us to the Block Arcade where we stopped and had coffee and toast with jam. It was really neat. Also while we were on our walk we saw the protestors at the Parliament House; they were protesting about a certain terrorist organization that Australia did not codemn. After the walking tour ended we headed back to the market place where we did a bit more shopping and then got ready to go to the Aussie Footy Game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. An Aussie Footy game is a big deal in Australia and it is a cross between rugby, soccer, and football; you must see it in order to understand it. We walked from the hostel to the arena and on the way we saw the stadium and warm up area for the Australian Open tennis classic. It was pretty neat. The footy game was really rough and people were getting hurt like crazy, but it ended up being a blowout game. I was happy that I fully understood the game by the end; it's much more fast pace than football. After the footy game we went back to the hostel and got dressed up and ready for the comedy festival. We went to see an Australian comedy named Adam Hill; he was really quite funny and made jokes of everything from The Special Olympics(which I guess is ok since he only has one foot?) to making the statement that Jon Bon Jovi songs will bring about world peace?! It was hilarious. The next morning we had to get up super early to leave on the bus for the Great Ocean Road, which is one of the most scenic drives in the world. We left and the whole way was gorgeous and right along the ocean with cliffs and rocks. We stopped a few times on the way, but we mostly took pitcures from the bus especially since it was sort of rainy and cold. We did stop on the side of the road though and take a picture of a wild koala in a tree. We drove all the way through to the twelve apostles, where we stopped to take pictures. The twelve apostles are pieces of land that are now in the middle of the ocean that once were connected to the mainland but have eroded over the years; in fact now there are really only 8 apostles because every couple of years one falls down. We climbed down to the beach and took some pictures in the Southern Ocean with one of the apostles in the background.We first stopped at a lookout where you could only see two and we thought that's it I thought there were 8, but then we drove on and could see them all. Once we made it to the better lookout area you could see all 8 of the apostles and it was really neat but a little scary that that much land had eroded away within a hundred years or so. After this we returned to the hostel and went out for dinner that night. After dinner I went back to the hostel to go to bed. In our room we met some guys from England, luckily they too were leaving at 3 am for their flight the next morning so we all got up together and walked to the bus station to catch our flights. My flight left Melbourne on time but again had to circle around the Gold Coast before landing due to storms. I didn't land until 8.45 am and I had to be at a exam at 9. Of course, I was about a half hour late, especially since I believe my taxi driver took the longest way from the airport to Bond. I made it to school though and got my test out of the way. It was a little bit of a stressul ending to a great weekend and I was definitely exhausted once I was finished with my classes on Monday!