We flew into Melbourne from Sydney with all our luggage (the trolley is starting to look like a celebrities). It was quite warm and sunny even though everyone had told us how cold it was! We checked into our hostel in St Kilda (a suburb), we are staying in the same hostel as Dans friend who has flown out from England and he had brought me chocolate!!! Yay.

We didn't really have any plans in Melbourne so on our first day we walked around the lake in Albert Park, we didn't realise how big it was until we got going. (I'm blaming Dan for this) Luckily it was a nice day, we saw our first black swans (like white ones but black) and found the F1 race track (well the pit lane).

In the evening penguins come into St Kilda pier to nest so just before sunset we walked along and saw a couple on the rocks but there was so many people it was hard to see and once it was dark you couldn't see anything. At least we got to see a couple.

On the Sunday we moved to a new hostel in the centre of Melbourne, from here we wandered up to the Queen Victoria Market, which is a massive undercover market and it was really busy but we got a few bits and pieces. Then we went to Federation Square, which normally has street performers at the weekend and is quite popular. We watched on man perform then saw a stage being set up (we thought for a band) so we sat and waited, there was just 1 lady and lots of microphones, which we thought was odd but we still waited. Then a man said over the microphone that 1200 people were on their way as part of a rally against the government! Whoops! We decided it was best to leave so went for a walk along the river unfortunately the only way back was through the rally. The man wasnt lying there was hundreds of people in the square all with banners and shouting. We made it through only to find lots of police and the road shut, they were well prepared. We survived and it was all quite peaceful.

We had booked a 2 day tour of the Great Ocean Road (GOR) so up early on Monday to check out and go to get the bus. It was a small tour group just 9 of us, which was nice. The first part of the drive was really long as we started at the far end of the road in Warrnambool, we stopped at Logan's beach, which apparently is good for whale spotting at the right time of the year (not May though grrrrrr). Then we to Tower Hill Volcano for a walk, it was really good there was a couple of Emus walking around the picnic area and some 2 koalas up the trees!!!! Then we walked to the top of the volcano and saw 2 wallabies, it was so good.

Once we actually reached the GOR, which is broken up into 3 sections the surf coast, the green coast and the shipwreck coast (this was our first section) we stopped at the 'Bay of Islands', the 'Bay of Martyrs', the 'Grotto' and 'London Bridge'. This area is famous for its shipwrecks (hence the name) and the limestone rocks which make up the coast line. We headed to the 12 Apostles for a very cloudy and cold sunset. We spent the night in Port Campbell, a small fishing town.

Up bright and early to complete our trip, the first stop was 'Loch Ard Gorge' a beach cove, which is famous for a British shipwreck where only 2 people survived. The weather was a bit pants in the morning so we didn't hang around long. We stopped at 'Gibsons Steps' but it was chucking it down so a quick picture and back on the bus.

Our next stop is on the 'Green coast' at Maits Rest, which is a rainforest (not a tropical one but I can't remember what she said now!). After our wet walk, we stopped at Apollo Bay for lunch. This is the end of the 'Green coast' part. The weather improved a bit, which is lucky as we stopped at a caravan park to feed some wild birds. The Crimson Rosellas landed on us and were eating out of our hands but the highlight for me was the koala which was in a really low tree and he was awake eating!!! Close enough to touch but we didn't, although got some great pics. We stopped at 'Split Point lighthouse' famous for a TV show called 'Round the Twist' which only Dan and I could remember out of everyone on the bus. (Awkward) the final stop of the trip was at 'Bells Beach' which is a popular and famous surf spot we were told (no waves when we arrived or surfers more action in Cornwall) but we did get to see some wild kangaroos having their dinner in a field. The it was back to Melbourne.

On our last day we went to the aquarium, which was good but full of kids so not great as it was nice to just sit in the aquarium looking at all the fish. They had some stingrays which were 4 metres in length, a nurse shark and a couple of others it was amazing to just sit and watch. There was also king penguins and gentoo penguins (Dan now wants a pet penguin!) our flight to New Zealand wasn't until late so we wandered through the parks to South Yarra to meet my friend then headed to the airport to start the last part of our trip.