I arrived in Melbourne after a 12 hour bus which had flown by, I was beginning to feel better and so slept through most of journey without my throat hurting and waking me up.It was rush hour when I arrived into the city but I found my way to the hostel with ease due to the simple tram system which laces the city.Habitat hostel in St Kilda is lovely, clean, friendly and it has a great common area which after bunk in Brisbane (which had nothing of the sort) it was a refreshing change.

I checked in and dropped my stuff in my dorm and then quickly bumped into Josh (one of the lads from Brisbane) the rest of my day was spent with him and Aaron trying to find a recruitment agent which had promised him work.It turned out to be a funny day trip out to the suburbs I certainly got to see a different side to oz, the slightly inbred side haha we ended up in a town named after a foot where everyone seemed like they were in a zombie movie, everyone had skin conditions or a limp or was talking to them selves?? It was the weirdest little town and so busy that we couldn't avoid the insanity! Plus there was a blue horse! Aaron looked absolutely petrified by what he saw and couldn't have been happier to get on the bus out to the industrial estate.

That night when I got back I went to my dorm and it was busy with girls, I straight away met Alyse a lovely Canadian who seemed to think I was short? …. She was touching on 6ft so you can see why she considered me a midget, I was just worried she could see my roots! Haha anyway I clicked with Alyse straight (I just love Canadians!) and she told me her and some of the other girls were going to walk down to the beach at 9pm or 10pm to see the penguins.Oh yeah Australia has everything, including penguins! Some of the smallest penguins in the world and they have made a pile of rocks at the end of the pier in St Kilda their home. As we walked down the pier I didn't have high expectations really, I mean the concept of penguins in Australia just didn't make sense to me - bit like the polar bear in Lost - but I was wrong, there were loads of the smartly dressed birds! We walked along a path in the middle of the rocks and therefore in the middle of the penguins, they are adorable! And every time one waddled or jumped from rock to rock I squeeled with excitement over how cute they are!! Theres signs all over the place saying that camera flashes can blind the penguins and there for its forbidden well we were all doing well sticking by the rules until I turned my camera off and on again and the flash clicked on - I took a pic and then went into a state of panic running up to the girls says "ah! I flashed a penguin! I FLASHED a Penguin!!" they all found this funny, it wasn't until later when I calmed down that I got the joke.The night was cold but the penguins were worth the frost bite and husky voices, I asked if I could take one home but was told that that was out of the question, never mind, I shall just adore them from a distance instead.

Day two in Melbourne was spent with Alyse walking around the city, we hopped a tram after breakfast into the centre and grabbed a map from the tourist centre (the giant i ) and then proceeded to follow the map around seeing the sights of the city.Starting at federation square (flinders station) then walking to china town (a road which has lots of Asian restaurants but apart from that its not really Chinese at all) then seeing the Greek centre where we got sushi for lunch (very Greek) and then we walked up to the Victoria market.The Victoria market was great, its huge and I got to buy a souvenier, a boomerang! The man I bought it from polished it up for me and then after a chat about didgery doos decided to give me a lesson! Apparently to play the didgery doo you just need to blow like it's a trumpet? Well I have never played the trumpet but I gave it my best and he was impressed, Alyse and I thought my attempt sounded like an elephant farting but the stall owner said it was so good he could have sworn I was a black girl in a previous life (his words not mine)!

Then after testing Aylse's tall centre of gravity on a very small jerky tram which made her stumble all over the place we got off early and walked back to federation square where we sat to eat our oranges and made the seagulls go nuts by throwing peel at them - it sounds cruel but it was really funny, they get all protective of it until they realize they don't like the taste.

After a little rest we decided to walk through the botanical gardens, stopping at the war memorial on the way to see the beam of light display which meant we had to stand in a silent room and pay our respect to the dead soldiers who were represented in the form of a spot light? Im sure to many people it means a lot but it was all a bit much for me, if I want to pay my respects I will, I don't need to watch a big display every half hour.Anyway we carried on walking through the gardens until the sun was setting and it was time to catch the tram back for tea.That night me and the girls were tired from all the walking and decided we had burnt too many calories that day and we must level the field a bit so we went out for dessert or more specifically we went for Churros.A churro is a deep fried stick of a doughnut and it comes with melted chocolate to dip it in! Yum yum yum, we had found a voucher for buy one get one free so we got 2 plates between 3 of us and spent over an hour munching on the delicious treat and chatting away, by the end we were so full of sugar I was bouncing off of the walls, luckily the girls didn't mind and even better they didn't mind when I decided to wipe out the melted chocolate bowls, infact they joined in! haha girls will be girls!

My third day in Melbourne was spent in St Kilda with Alyse and our dutch room mate Ineke, we went to the Amuzement park on the sea front to see the rides and ended up taking funny pictures in the maze of mirrors rather than actually riding anything. St Kilda is lovely, its little and quaint, and from the pier it sits prettily next to the dominant city.I walked along the sand talking to the girls about any topic that popped into our minds from how Ineke dislikes jack russels to how much we all love sugar and I think that might be how we ended up in the café at the end of the pier sipping hot chocolate and eating muffins!

Melbourne is renouned for its variety of coffee shops and cafes, I think it must one of the few places in the world where they have more coffee shops than they do pubs! Josh told me he spent hours walking around the city one day looking for a pub only to find every possibility turning out to be a café.

The rest of my day was spent wondering around St Kilda looking in the little trinket shops and wishing I had more money.

It was a lovely day, followed by a funny night involving me being giddy drunk at 7pm, playing cards with Alyse and watching her swoon over a boy that was sat next to us, toast, spilling wine all over myself and Alyse whilst trying to play the spoons and Reilly showing up!

I love Melbourne, its got a great feel to it, I think I could live there! It has everything, a lovely city, a beach 10 mins away in St Kilda, a rubbish high street because everyone shops in vintage shops, boutiques and trinket shops making everyone look different and interesting. Melbourne feels small and big at the same time and I enjoyed every minute of it, which was great as it was my last stop in Australia.I realized the night before I left that I was now beginning my last month of travel! It makes me sad to think about going home but it also makes me sad to miss my friends and family.However Im not home yet, I still have an amazing 4 weeks ahead of me and as I packed my bag dressed in my new rain mac (provided by Alyse) looking like Mr Bean I got butterflies.New Zealand is a crazy land, the land scape of lord of the rings, with extreme sports, friendly people, cold weather and possible earthquakes and I was going to be travelling it!

And I left Melbourne and left Australia! I cant lie, Oz wasn't my fave country, infact it was my least fave but how was it ever going to beat india and SE Asia? I still had the time of my life, I dived on the great barrier reef, hung out with penguins, lived in Brisbane, partied on an island made of sand, chilled as a flash packer, climbed the Sydney harbor bridge and made amazing friends and memories for life!