Hello!!

Sorry its been so long since the last blog but we have just been so busy (well busy sunning ourselves in the park anyway). We realise that maybe in the last blog it seemed like we weren't really that keen on Australia but that has all changed - Melbourne is ace!! Its a really beautiful city and we really can't walk more than two streets without landing in a huge park.

We have been incredibly cultured so far in Melbourne, mainly because thats the stuff that is free. We are now officially fans of the orchestra having attended no less than two performances of the melbourne symphony orchestra (or the mso as us boffs call it) at an outdoor music hall in the Royal botantic gardens at sunset. It was really cool to watch, they were amazing - and it was free! In fact there are another two concerts to go so all in all we would have seen the orchestra four times (this in no way makes us losers - we are becoming sophisticated ladies). Unfortunately (and not suprisingly) most other people at the orchestra were over fifty and whilst they were very friendly, with all of them chatting to us (they all seemed to have been to Wales and one guy had emigrated from Caerphilly!) and even offering us their picnics (we had underestimated just how seriously they take picnicing over here and turning up with beaten up sandwiches and drinking warm wine from stolen paper coffee cups just doesnt cut the mustard) these wasnt exactly the kind of people we had been hoping to befriend during our travels!

Our days here havent exactly been action packed because its so hot here (around 34C most days) we are melting and just want to sleep in the park all day (we have been doing quite alot of this). We have been going to some museums though and today we went to the national gallery and saw paintings by Monet, Picasso, Rembrant, Turner and Constable so we felt very intellectual after that. The city museum was really cool although Claire did spent most of the time photographing the dead spiders ready to compare the photos with any potentially lethal little critters we happen to stumble across (in fact the bathrooms of the hostel we are staying in are actually portacabins on the roof so we are expecting to meet something 8 legged before too long).

Last night we went to the worlds largest short film festival, again outdoors in the botanical gardens. It wasnt actually happening in Melbourne, but it was broadcasted from Sydney to each city and the presenters in Melbourne we think were kind of their version of Ant and Dec and seemed pretty famous judging by the girls flocking around them to have their photos taken but we didnt have a clue who the hell they were. There were thousands of people at the festival though and it was really good although we did feel quite out of place dressed like gypos when everone else was very cool and fashionable but never mind!

Laura is very excited about tomorrow because we are going on the Neighbours tour yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We met a guy a few days ago who had been on the tour and had met Susan!!!!!!! So Laura is very much hoping we get to meet here tomorrow as it would be amazing (email me Laura if you want to know whats going on in neighbours at the mo - its very good but also v sad!).

OK I think thats all our news for now, we promise photos will be making an appearance soon its just that we keeping forgetting to bring our camera leads with us!

Hope you are all fine and dandy and not freezing to death/getting blown away by wind and rain xxx