On arrival at the airport in Melbourne I was met by Jordan, Lucy's friend from uni. I was getting my head down here for a couple of nights before Lucy and Nikki arrived from home for their three week trip in Oz. Around 20 people lived in this house along with the owner and the landlord. I slept opposite Jordan and her boyfriend Cal in someones bed who had gone away for the weekend. As I made my way around the house I stumbled over many people sharing beds, sleeping on mattresses and in cupboards. It was literally like one massive uni house in Australia, full of many nationalities including Irish, German, English and Italian. After a long nap I caught up with Andrew on my first night who i'd previously met on our teams4U trip in Uganda back in September. He took me to Southbank, in the centre of Melbourne and was keen to tell me about Oz and Melbourne.
Saturday back in Jordan's house we had a pirate/ninja party so i created a make shift last minute ninja suit. The next morning I packed up after a few hours sleep and headed off to the airport to pick up my sister Lucy and Nikki. On arrival we were all pretty excited and were greeted by Nikki's uncle Chris and his children who were putting us up for a few days. The house was amazing, with swimming pool. We were greeted by Michelle, Chris's wife, Bonnie the dog and later the three children, Thomas, Michael and Anna. I couldn't stop talking about everything, even once we were napping I kept on, I'm sure the same will happen once I'm home too. Lucy and Nikki updated me on the goings on in Chester over the past seven months.This  evening we went out into St Kilda, it was also paddys day and the grand prix weekend meaning it was packed. After being asked for ID I don't remember how many times at nearly 26, we finally got into a pub and enjoyed copious jugs of cider. 

The next morning we headed out into the city of Melbourne and went up the Eureka tower, 900ft above the ground. The views were amazing,  covering the skyline of the city. After taking many a photo we went off back to Jordan's place so Lucy and Nikki could see her. 
Tuesday morning Michelle dropped us off at the beach, where we ate and caught up, but sunbathing was out of the question due to the weather. Once Chris was home from work this evening he took the three of us for a drink and to watch the sunset. 
Wednesday was time to move on, Nikki's other uncle Niall picked us up which is where were to stay for the next few nights. Niall lived further out from the city, in a more rural area of Melbourne. Once we'd dumped all of our bags and  met Jodie, Niall's wife, who kindly washed the majority of my smelly rucksack we went off to a winery. We ate and drank wine, obviously. The past few days were very flash packer not my usual back packing standards. Niall took us to a sanctuary in the afternoon which included petting and feeding the kangaroos. We fed them and forced them to stand for many a photo. Niall picked us up, took us for a cider and we headed back where we were met with more wine and a large piece of lamb on the barby. Now it really felt like we were in Australia, the barby on, wine was flowing, sat outside in front of the pool with all different types of Australian wildlife popping up every so often. We spent tonight planning, booked a flight to Sydney and spent a while chatting to Niall and Jodie about our trip, as they'd not long come off a 10 week trip of the east coast in a camper van. The following day we were up at 5am and off into the city to be picked up for the trip down the great ocean road. This was beautiful, the views and scenery even on a cloudy day were literally breathtaking. Nikki was on the video camera any chance she could get. At one stop we spotted koalas and parrots chilling in the trees. We bought a huge bag of seeds, hoping to entice them down. They soon took a liking to Lucy's new ginger locks and were clinging on to her head. She looked in pain but Nikki and I were hysterical. I decided to scatter her whole body in nuts and seeds, they loved it, she didn't. We stopped off at many places along the way finally reaching the famous twelve apostles, limestone rocks scattered in one area of the sea. 
Friday morning we had another early start and a race to the airport with Niall. After a long drive and Niall giving the tom tom woman 'Elizabeth' much abuse, we ran into the airport just making the flight.