The bus journey (12hours) overnight wasn't the greatest experience! Nevertheless it saved wasting daylight hours and accommodation costs. I met up with Dan and Ali late morning and we headed for Sydney harbour to see the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, of which I took numerous photos. Then a ferry across to Manly. We were lucky with the weather and although there was a cool breeze it was a beautiful day. So we laid down by the beach and fell...

I had hoped to go to St Kilda on my last day in Melbourne but the weather forecast wasn't too great. Instead I took the train out of the city to meet my friend Lauren from high school. It was great to see her after all this time, I hadn't seen her since year 13! She took me up to the Dandenong ranges; areas if Victorian rainforest for some walks and a great catchup. Pots of tea and a chocolate eclair (couldn't resist) and then lunch. Unfortunately the weather di...

After moving all my luggage across town to another hostel, due to bookings, I took a quick walk around the Queen Victoria market and then got picked up just before 2pm. It was time to take a trip to Phillip Island and see the Penguins!! First stop was a wildlife sanctuary that held a collection of Australia's native wildlife including birds, koalas, kangaroos and wallabies. I got to feed both kangaroos and wallabies (wallabies are much cuter). Only to find, when...

I had little sleep before I had to get up to get to the airport for my flight to Melbourne. By the time I arrived in Australia (before 8am local time) I was exhausted. We had a slight delay getting of the plane, due to a gentleman being taken ill during the flight. The paramedics were ready and waiting when we arrived, luckily it was nothing serious. I took the shuttle from the airport into central Melbourne, finding my hostel by 10am I was annoyed to find I cou...

After a big night out in Queenstown, getting up to catch the bus for 8am was not a particularly nice experience. Nevertheless I took the long drive as an opportunity to sleep as much as I could. The hostel in Christchurch, named the Jailhouse, is in fact the last remaining part of a jail, closed in the early 90s. It was a little weird staying there and definitely something different to the norm, but made a welcome change. We took a bus to Sumner, a nice area on ...