G'day everyone... we're writing this message from sunny melbourne - well St Kilda to be precise!

We left off in Queenstown - which quite frankly Rhian and myself absolutely fell in love with, we spent most of a day just relaxing on a beach (getting very sunburnt in Rhians case) with a group of friends from our coach, and eating more McDonald than i care to mention... and yes...Rhian did get ANOTHER ferg Burger. Then we went out again in the evening to the same bars as the previous night, but this time were joined by Sandy - our last night meeting up with her again. More cocktails in teapots ensued...

Early start the next morning, both feeling thoroughly miserable that we were leaving the group and Queenstown behind...however our spirits were quickly lifted upon sight of our old bus driver Jono - who is a legend. He may not admit it - but we all knew that we were his favourites. Long, long drive that day to Christchurch, did stop off for some magnificent views of Mount Cook before a lunch stop at a small little town. In such a small little town it was a massive surprise to Rhian to bump into a friend, Louise, all the way from Cambridge! Arrived in Christchuch about 5pm and checked into our hostel where we had treated ourselves to a twin room after the horrors of sharing with the teenage boys the nights previous! Happy to say we did nothing but eat and watch tv that evening... certainly a crazy St Patricks night for us!

After a nice long sleep we packed up our bags in New Zealand for the last time and made our way to the airport allowing a quick wander around the town where we saw all we could have wanted to have seen in about 20 minutes. Flight was fine... absolute bliss after our hellish journey from the UK. Minor hiccup with our visas...(STAs fault!)...but all sorted. Strolled out of melbourne airport to a scene that could have been from England - nothing but dark miserable clouds. Where were the beautiful mountains and lakes and greenery we had become so used to?!?! I think we had hit the notorious third week slump - neither of us were impressed with melbourne upon arrival. Certainly not the Ramsay street we were expecting. To make it worse we were sharing a room with 2 very unfriendly guys!

Determined not to let our first impressions get us down we woke up the following morning to some gorgeous sunshine and ventured into the city. However we were quickly disheartened when we had to spend the majority of the morning running around hostels trying to find accommodation for the easter weekend - no easy task. Despite this, abusive motorists, and filthy old men in internet cafes - we managed to escape to a prettier part of the city, and spent the afternoon in a lovely park watching hundereds of joggers go by. Then came possibly the highlight of Australia so far - a chocolate bar. Not just a bar of choclate... oh no...an entire cafe dedicated to chocolate indulgence...chocolate waffles, fondue, cakes, sweets...even a chocolate pizza! (mum even you would have liked it - I had a white chocolate frapppuchino!) Spent the evening with a different indulgence - some good british cinema. Watched Run, Fat Boy Run :)

The following morning we were sad to say goodbye to our 'pleasant' male roomates, and caught a tram to St Kilda - a beachy district south of the City where we were staying for 2 nights. A much friendlier town full of cake shops and cafes. I learnt how quickly the weather can change after waking up from a snooze on the beach to find myself in a sand storm, storm clouds overhead. Meanwhile, Rhian strolled around the shops oblivious to my predicament!

Tomorrow we are looking forward to visiting Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade - will let you know how it goes!!