Melbourne began with a night out with the bus crew! I arrived at about 9pm at my hostel where most people were already downstairs having a few drinks. It's a lot bigger than the Adelaide hostel and Im staying in a 10 bed dorm this time rather than 5. Its also mixed which is a bit of a challenge when it comes to changing but ive gotten by so far!

I had to rush to get ready to go out as everyone in the city were meeting at 8.30 at the central hostel. I stupidly had picked a hostel on the outskirts of the city to stay in so had to get a tram into the centre! Liz had already head up but there was a tram stop right outside the hostel we were meeting at so I got on the tram just after her. Luckily enough it was free!! Unluckily enough I got off at a different train station to them! So then began the challenge of working out how they got to me as I was not looking around a strange city alone. There were enough weirdos just outside the train station; one talking about frogs! Thankfully they were only a street away so we met up fairly quickly.

Suzanne had a club underneath her hostel which was fairly cheap for drinks and free to get in. I didn't drink anything because even the cheap drinks here are far too expensive for me! I was so eager to dance though as we had been cut off from civilisation for a few days so I couldn't dance then. Eventually I got Nicki to come up with me and gradually everyone else. I tell you what though Melbourne is full of strange and persistent men! I know how to handle them now though but was especially shocked when a chinese man easily in his 40s asked me my name, shook my hand and then attempted to take my hand in order to dance. I simply said no I have a boyfriend and walked off…what a weirdo!

I did talk to a group of locals though who were pretty hot! They invited our group to a club they were going to next but I said I had to wait for everyone else to finish their drinks so Id meet them there…i forgot the name of the bar though "/so didn't meet them! They came back later and asked why I hadn't come down. I said sorry I forgot. But this was a great start to my Melbourne stay! A cheap night out, all I had to pay for was the $3.50 bus back to St Kilda. I struggled to stay awake on it though which was a bit scary as I didn't want to miss the stop. Thankfully I didn't and got home finally! Danielle and Rachel came in later with a group of people from the hostel but I must have been so tired that I literally heard them for a split second and fell back to sleep.

Everyone didn't get up the next day until 1pm but it was ok because I sat and updated my photos, blog and emails. We went over to Aldi where I spent $12 and bought a bottle of wine, sun lotion, a 5 pack of noodles, half a pack of kiwi fruits and a big bottle of water!! Bargain!! Later I went down to the beach with Rachel where we just sat and relaxed for a while, it was lovely after a few days of being active! That was the day until we were getting ready to go out for the night.

We began the night by sitting in the hostel garden having a drink with everyone which was great as Danielle and Rachel already new a group of people so I just joined their group! Everyone is really nice and I actually found 3 people from Northampton! I cant believe ive come half way across the world and met so many people who live close by! We then all got the tram together up to the city and went to an irish bar where everyone else had a few drinks...once again I was good and didn't have anything because I cant afford it!!

A lad from the hostel said he was coming down to meet us later so he would give me a ring. He took his time and it was a nightmare trying to keep the group around there for long enough for him to get there. I was trying to delay them in any way possible but it didn't quite work so I had to wait with another lad whilst the others got a taxi to the casino. Once they had all showed up we just walked there which was nice as we got to go over the bridge and the city looked amazing at night!

The Casino was immense! It's the biggest in the southern hemisphere apparently and just seemed to go on and on. We found them at the roulette tables and then went to the bar where Rachel and I discovered that a casino is a great place to get free drinks. People are generally so happy that they have won that they buy everyone a drink, so if you stand by the bar they tend to offer you one to. I was hoping all night to be able to go to a nightclub and the guys had said we would be going to one that is attached to the casino. We were pestering them all night to go and Rachel had even found three Russian lads to take us out. I don't know what it was about them though but I thought they were weird, it's probably because they were Russian so sound like the baddies from the movies, so we didn't go out with them.

We couldn't get everyone to come to out as they were all too excited as they had won loads of money. Austin and Chris had one a few hundred dollars each. Rachel and I decided we really wanted to dance so made our wayto the nightclubs upstairs. Turned out though that we had to pay $15 to get in!! Since there was only about an hour left of it being open, there was no way I was paying that much so we went down to the food court instead where I bought a 50c ice cream from McDonalds and Rachel had a meal from KFC. I was asked whilst in the queue what I thought of the ashes and its quite embarrassing really when I don't even know who's winning at the moment. Australians seem to expect all English to be huge fans. The same people came over to our table a little later and one said can he have my number and whispered "you don't have to give me your real one if you don't want to" so Im guessing his mates had said he wouldn't be able to get it. I just thought ahh what the hell ill be nice, its not like Im going to be around here anymore for him to bug me.

We met up with the others at the taxi rank where there was a huge queue. So we stood at the otherside of the road trying to wave one down but for some reason none of them wanted to take us to St Kilda. Thankfully we got one in the end and I just got back to the hostel and crashed out in bed.

The next morning we weren't up until late but all went and got breakfast together at this restaurant which was really busy. I think it took them a good hour atleast to bring the food out, I was getting very restless. It did cost $11 which was a bit over my budget of food for each day but since I hadn't spent much before I decided just to have a good meal. Once it did come out it was really nice, and since I was so hungry by this time it made it even better! We went down to the park later to sit in the sun and I bought another 50c ice cream from mcdonalds. When I got back from getting that we all went down to the beach and sat on the little pier. The water was disgusting, it looked like people were swimming in coke! The lads were all jumping in which I was shocked about.

We sat there for a while and I was looking out for sharks as I didn't want them to bite my feet. There is a helicopter that circles the bay looking out for them but I don't understand how they can see them through the dark water. I went up with Rachel earlier than everyone else as apparently I was going pink. Thankfully though it was just from being hot and I haven't burnt at all which is amazing! Since I was back earlier than expected I had time before I went out to speak to my mum and sister J They showed me the Christmas tree which was quite upsetting! I then got ready to go out and we sat in the hostel garden with everyone. We planned to go down to Luna Park, which is a seaside theme park, and then go and see the penguins at the beach. Once we got down there though the park was shut so we carried on walking to the beach. Most people didn't think the penguins would be out still so they just went and sat in a bar. I had faith and went to the end of the pier and there they were!!! They are soo cute and really tame. They hop about the rocks and waddle along everywhere,I love them! We weren't allowed to use flash on our cameras so it was quite difficult to take pictures, the volunteers there though shone red lights onto them so we could just about make them out.

After that we walked back to the bars where we saw some of the lads having a meal. I wasn't with the girls at this point just Dan, who is from Northampton, and some of the other lads. One of them called Johnny is Canadian and reminds me a lot of Justin Timberlake. When they had finished their meal we all walked back up to the hostel and sat outside for a bit. We sat and had a chat for a while, but I hadn't been feeling too well for a while so went upstairs to bed. I text mum saying that I could go online now as it would have been the middle of the day back home. It was great going on Skype I could talk to Gran, Uncle Jeff and Peter as well!! It was lovely seeing them but strange to think that I couldn't be there when they were all together. Its times like that that make me a bit homesick! I went to bed straight after that as I was so tired.

I woke up through the night being really hot, thankfully it turned out the air con had been turned off so it wasn't that I was really ill or anything. I still feel as though I have a bit of a thick head but am going to look for a hat and try to drink loads of water!! Right now were waiting for Rachel to get up as she had a heavy night last night. We are thinking of going to the aquarium today but we will see if that actually happens…