We left Sydney in the evening of day 61, and caught the bus down to Melbourne. The journey was about 12 hours long all together and we booked it overnight so that we could save on a nights accomodation and so we may be able to sleep to pass the time. In the end it was completely impossible to sleep as it was so uncomfortable and it was way too long to be sat down in one postiton. In the end I gave up and just sat there awake. The trip was even longer than our first flight to Thailand. I am not looking forward to the return journey at all now! I did manage to see some koalas in the trees by the road though which excited me. When we eventually arrived in Melbourne we went straight to the hostel to check in, and then after breakfast we went straight to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.

After our nap we got up to explore some of the city. We went to the Melbourne Gaol to have a look around as it was right near our hostel, and that was quite interesting actually. It was very creepy to be in the old prison and cells, and there were the death masks of all of the prisoners in the cells which was a bit horrible. Just in case you don't know what they are, they are wax masks made from the prisoners heads just after they are hung! It was also the jail where Ned Kelly was killed, so that was quite interesting too. After seeing the old jail we went on tour of the police station and the cells where they would hold criminals after they had been arrested. This was quite new and had only stopped being used a few years ago. The whole point of this bit was to give you an experience as if you had been arrested, so there was a lady pretending to be a prison officer who was really scary and kept shouting at us! It wasn't very nice in there either, but quite fun really. After that we just went to a park near our hostel and relaxed for a bit. We spent the night in the hostel as we were still really tired and just had a couple of drinks in the bar there and watched the same film that we seen for Justin's birthday a few days before. I could have saved some money on that after all! The hostel we are staying in first in Melbourne is actually quite nice compared to where we had been staying in Sydney. They have two bars, a cafe, a cinema and lifts! The lifts are good, but they keep getting stuck when we are inside them and no one comes when you ring the alarm. It's not nice being back in dorm rooms again, especially as girls usually stay in female only dorms so the ones I have to stay in are always full of stinking men! I'm sure we will get back into the swing of it soon enough though. Also the bathrooms and showers here are really nice and big, and very clean compared to our last hostel.

The next day after our free breakfast (it's only tea and toast but it's better than nothing!) we went to explore a bit more of the city. We took a look at some of the more major streets, like Elizabeth, Swanson and Collins Streets, and also went to look at the Rialto Towers which are some of the tallest buildings in Melbourne. We looked in Block Arcade and Block Place too, which are tiny old streets that have loads of nice shops and cafes. We also went down to the Yarra river and walked along there to see what it was like. The river is quite a big thing in Melbourne and there is a lot to do along it. After that we went to Federation Square to have a look around and get some lunch. It's quite a big focal point in the city apparantly, and is really modern with a few restaurants, museums and galleries to look around. There is also a massive screen which plays music or sport, and there are normally buskers or street entertainers there too. We went into one of the museums mainly because it was free, and we will do anything if we don't have to pay pretty much, but it was a film museum so it did turnout to be quite interesting. There we loads of booths there where you could sit and watch short films. We spent ages watching one about an Australian old lady who lost her frog, which was completely random but funny! We also went for an ice cream to the park which was right near the square, but it had the strangest name ever; Birurang Marr?! I have no idea what all that was about. That night we went to the moolight cinema in the Botanical Gardens, so we packed up a picnic and caught the tram there. It was a bit of a trek to get there, especially with all the food but it was well worth it. The film that was playing was Pan's Labyrinth, and it was quite busy but luckily we got a good spot near the front. We arrived at about 7 but the film didn't start until 9, obviously as we had to wait until it got dark. I really enjoyed the night except for one thing - it was freezing! The day had been really hot and nice so we didn't expect it to get that cold. I had two jumpers and a scarf on and was still sat there shivering all night. Some people bought a duvet and pillows so I will have to remember that for next time!

The following day we weren't really up for doing much or being busy as we had late night the night before, so we packed another picnic using our leftovers from the outdoor cinema and went to the park. We walked down to the Treasury Gardens and then through to Fitzroy Gardens. It was hot, so we just chilled out and sunbathed for most of the day. There were a couple of nice fountains and lakes to look at, and we also went a saw Captain Cook's cottage which had been moved to the park from England. Justin was really brave that day as he let me give him his first haircut since we have been away. I obviously have never cut anyones hair before, so we had a deal that if I messed it up he could shave it all off. Luckily it turned out really well and I was very impressed with myself I must admit! I should start charging. We cooked our own dinner at the hostel that night. The kitchen was loads better than when we tried to attempt to cook in Sydney, but I still think it's too much of a hassle to bother and would rather just eat out until we stay somewhere properly. I did manage to get through the whole day wothout spending any money on food though which was impressive. We went back down to southbank for drinks in the evening which is near the river, and found somewhere fairly cheap. It's really nice there at night and has great views of ther river and city skyline. It's also well know for having good buskers, and there was a really good guitarist that we sat and lsitened to.

We (well, mainly me) were very excited the next day as we were going on the Ramsay Street Neighbours tour. It didn't leave until 5ish so we had most of the day to spare first. This was lucky in the end as that Thursday was HOT! It was just as bad as Perth over christmas, and was 41 degress C. We went up to Brunswick Street, sticking to the shadows as we went, and had a look around the shops. All along the street there are loads of really cool clothes shops and vintage stores. Even though we don't have much money they were good just to look around, mainly as they all had air-con. We had to stop every now in then to sit in a cafe and get a cold drink as the heat was unbearable at times. After going back to get chnaged and have some food, we made our way to the Neighbour's shop to start the tour. They had one member of the cast come so we could have pictures taken and autographs. Everyone was hoping it would be Dr Karl, but it was a rubbish character in the end. After that we got on the bus and headed off to Erinsborough High, watching Neighbours episodes on the bus on the way. The woman giving the tour was completely clinically insane, and her entire life revolved around the program I think. No one was really a huge fan and were just there for a laugh, but she hated it if anyone didn't know the answer to a question or made a joke about anything. We stopped at the school first and had a walk around, but it was still way too hot even at that time. After that we drove past the studios and sets, and then went to the famous street itself. We obviously took pictures of the houses and had our picture with the Ramsay Street sign and all of that. I must admit I do feel a bit sorry for all the people that actually live in the road, especially as they do three tours everyday as well as they filming, but they get paid for it. It was fun anyway, but the road was tiny, so much smaller than it looks on TV. That night we had free tickets for a night at one of the clubs in town, so we pretty much went straight there after changing. It tooks ages to find as it was in dodgy place down an alley and in a basement that you would never know was there, but it was good fun and served cheap drinks. It was aimed at backpackers more as it played all English indie music, and it was a good night. I had the worst nights sleep of my life though, as the room was unbearably hot. We got in at 4, but I was up at 6.30 because I just couldn't stand being in the room with all the sweaty men urgh!

The following day was our last whole day staying in the city centre. I went back to sleep when it had cooled down a bit in the room then we went for a fry-up and a wander around. It was even hotter than the day before but at least there was a bit of wind blowing. It was just like wall of heat that hit you when you walked outside. We went back to Federation Square to walk around a (free) gallery to get out of the heat for a bit. We had to go back to the hostel after though as it was too hot to walk around for long. That night we had some more free tickets, this time to a comedy night. There were cheap drinks and free pizza, and quite a few comedians performing. They were all really funny, but the last act who was headlining was hilarious and had us all in tears. There was also the obligitatory crazy man in the corner laughing really loudly at all the wrong places and heckling all the performers. It was another good night though. That was our last night in that hostel, and we checked out the next morning. We decided we would move to St. Kilda for the remainder of our time. It is a suburb right near the beach and has really good nightlife apparantly. Unfortunatley when we went to get our food and wine from the kitchen some idiot had moved our bag to the free food fridge and everyone had eaten all of our food and drink so we were a bit annoyed about that. We caught the tram to the beach and onto our next hostel, which we were hoping wasn't as much of a dive as everone had told us it was!