Well we made it to the aquarium! I can't believe we actually did something it's incredible. After finishing writing the last blog we were bombarded by everyone in our room so then it was decided we were going so Rachel had to get up. We all decided to meet downstairs at 2.30 and get the tram into the city. I got up and dressed and all the usual bits. Went downstairs and had any of my food that I could find, but Rachel let me have some of her bread since she had loads left over and we were leaving the next day. We found the free food shelf which had jam on it so decided to make some jam sandwiches to take with us, what a healthy packed lunch!

Of course we still had to wait for people at 2.30 but we made it out by about three I think. It was the normal tram journey up to the city centre, getting off at Flinders Street Station and Federation Square stop. We then went to get on another tram going the other way but weren't completely sure on which one to get on so Danielle went on first to ask a policeman, with me getting on just behind her not realising they didn't know which way we were going. Funnily enough, as trams do, the doors shut and we pulled off without everyone else there!! Was hilarious but we just got off at the next stop which they walked down too and it turned out in the end we could have just walked to the aquarium the whole way rather than waiting for ages at a tram stop!

It was really hot outside so walking into the aquarium doors everyone had the same instant reaction…..ahhhhhhh (it was nice and cold). I managed to get in with a student ticket which saved me about $10 which Im very pleased with. We walked around all of the fish like normal, to be honest once you've seen one aquarium you've pretty much seen them all! Although I did actually hold a starfish at this one since Chris made me, and this trip is all about facing my fears… so I did it. It felt gross!!!! You could feel it moving about underneath so as soon as the picture was taken I dropped it straight back into the water! At the end of the aquarium was the penguins which of course was my favourite part!! There was one that came running up to the glass when we got there and was tapping on it with its beak. Was really funny bless it but when we tried to get a picture of us with it it ran off!! Must be camera shy.

After leaving the aquarium we crossed the Yarra river and went for a drink in an English style pub, I once again didn't have anything to drink but not only because of the price but because I was desperately trying to rehydrate myself after having a bit of heat stroke. It was a really nice pub though and I found out they do Sunday Lunch which is incredible as nowhere does Sunday lunch in Australia!! Was absolutely gutted though as it was Monday and they only do them on Sundays.

We had decided to all have a BBQ that night so head to Coles afterwards back in St Kilda. When we got back I went straight up to the room whilst Rachel cooked her chicken nuggets and chips instead of a lovely BBQ!! The lads were cooking for us, which was awesome, and said they would call us when it was ready. As it was our last night all together in Melbourne we decided to get dressed up, however, since we were eating first Danielle and I thought it wasn't too much of a good idea to wear nice clothes to the BBQ so Danielle head down in her PJs and I was in shorts and a strappy top (wannabe PJs). People knew we were planning on dressing up nicely so obviously we had the typical comments of how lovely and dressed up we looked!

Oh my the BBQ was amazing! Those lads can cook!! I even tried Kangaroo which I can officially say is now my new favourite meat, although I think it has to be cooked right as a lot of people have said they found it very chewy whereas it wasn't when I had it. It was such a nice relaxed atmosphere as Will was playing the guitar and everyone was singing along; he's actually really good!

Once Danielle and I had come down again from changing into our proper clothes a lot more people were in the garden. I sat having a chat with the new lads in our dorm, Russell and Greg from Essex. Oh my Greg is fit! They gave me a bit of their Goon which I was advised to mix with Sprite since it was awful apparently, it wasn't too bad then really. After that we head up to the tram once again where we all had a big group picture for one last time!

At the casino I thought I would give it a little go. My plan was to spend $10, if I won I would keep the $10 and only use my winnings and if I didn't win I wouldn't spend anymore. Well since I didn't have any idea what I was doing Greg said he would give me a little tutorial so we put $20 down joint between us on the roulette table. I put the first half on black, red came up. I put the second half on evens, it was odd. I gave up. Turns out I have very bad luck when it comes to roulette as Greg carried on playing and was on a winning streak, until he asked me which to put it on and he lost. Therefore the moral of the story is…Lucy should not gamble and never ask Lucy for help when gambling! I didn't spend anymore that night and don't plan on doing again. Unless of course I go to Vegas.

I just watched everyone else for the night and had a bit of a chat, but my back started to really ache then. I don't know why but a pain suddenly came on on the bottom right hand side of my back. Danielle tried to massage it out but that didn't work and it just seemed to get worse and worse throughout the night. Rachel had decided she was on a mission to find somewhere to dance, even though it was Monday night. I was kind of wishing that we wouldn't find anywhere, as when we were walking out of the club I had to push a certain part of my back to make me be able to walk without a horrible pain. Thankfully there was nowhere in the city so we got a big taxi back to St Kilda, at least that way if it got really really bad I knew I would be able to get back to the hostel easily. Thankfully nowhere was open so we just went back to the hostel where I went straight to bed and crashed out.

The next morning was an early start as we were all checking out. I got up at 8.30 and checked out at 9.30 ready to get the tram straight up to the city to meet Suzanne and Nicki for the day. I left my case in the locked cupboard in the hostel which was handy. I met them on Elizabeth Street and went straight to Coles to get a bite to eat, since I hadn't had breakfast, which turned into just being a bottle of water. We didn't know what to do that day but just knew it had to be either free or really cheap so we head to Federation square Tourist information where we found out about a free shuttle bus that circles the city and has various stops.

The first bus was a nightmare!! Loads of foreign people with about 4 buggies blocking us in. One of them even elbowed me in the head but didn't apologise, I gave her the benefit of the doubt at first thinking maybe she couldn't speak English but it turned out later on that she did! We managed to make our way off the bus past them when we got to the sports complex in Adelaide which is made up of about 5 stadiums so is huge!! One for cricket, one for football, one Athletics one, a Tennis one and another which we didn't know about. We walked around them for a while and tried to look for a museum/tour that we thought might be free but it turned out not to be. So we head back to the bus.

The next stop was the exhibition centre and Carlton Gardens. We had a walk around them and came across the Melbourne museum which turned out to have free entry with our 'student' cards!! Bonus!! We had a look in the café first because we were all hungry but a sandwich was $8!! So we skipped that and went straight to the Aboriginal section first. There were a few different sections to the museum; aboriginal, forest, evolution, the human body, the human mind and creatures (or something like that). The highlights were seeing a huugee spider by accident and turning around straight away so that I didn't see it anymore…but there were more!! Going into the puberty section just at the wrong time as there was a group of school children going in then as well who were a bit grossed out by the naked pictures. I also liked the mind part because a lot of it related back to the psychology days…really it was reminding me of just how much I have forgotten!

Thankfully though whilst being in the museum we missed a huge down poor of rain and it was only trickling now. So we set out to search for some food. Turned out we were a bit further out from the city centre than we thought because, whereas normally there are more food outlets than you could ever wish for, we struggled to find anything!! Suzanne and Nicki went to get sushi, which I would have tried but the price was ridiculous, especially for something I wasn't sure I would like. That was when I noticed the text and missed call from Carol. She wanted to catch a train that was at 3.40 (it was then about 3). I called her back and we organised a later train time as I had to get back to St Kilda to get my bags and then get back up to the city.

Then began the mad dash back! We were quite far away from the tram stop that I needed, and typically there were no trams where I was walking from (even though they seem to be everywhere else in the city!). So it took me a while to get to the tram stop and even then I wasn't entirely sure which tram to get as I had only ever gotten one back in the day and that only involved following everyone else. I overheard someone say it was the 16 which I thought it was so got on the next one of those, but it was the long way around!! It took longer than expected to get back so by this time I was in a mad rush to get to the hostel, get my suitcase out and get back up to the tram!!

Once in the hostel I went to the cupboard to find my (heavy!!) bag surrounded by others. Thankfully Dan and his mate showed up (they are from Northampton can you believe!!) and they got my case out for me, which even they found really heavy. I thanked them, wished them a good trip and ran!!! When crossing the road to the tram I was waiting for the green man to come on but there were no cars moving as they must have had to be stopped for someone else, so I thought I may as well cross since I was in a rush. Just my luck they turned to green half way across and all started beeping at me. To be honest I thought that was pretty impatient, I wasn't holding them up that much!!! I managed to get there just in time for a tram, but in a lovely sweaty state! Getting onto the tram was the challenging part though. I tried lifting it up the stairs and in the process scraped my leg and got pulled back down by the case so whacked my head on a pole. Probably knocked some sense into me…for something.

I was just thankful to be on the tram, but unfortunately my leg had started bleeding which was great! Oh, Ive just remembered about my back…it had stopped hurting on the lower right hand side of my back but in the morning had moved to the lower left hand side of my back…weird!! It wasn't as painful and didn't last too long thankfully. Anyway, I got off the tram at the train station, went to the ticket desk asap and hurried to the lift (which was thankfully there as I really didn't fancy all those stairs). It would have been a much easier journey without the case I tell you!! I literally ran onto the train as the doors were beeping to close.

I text Carol to let her know I had got on as she was meeting me a few stops down. Apparently though all the signs had been changing and getting confused so she didn't know which train was correct, got on one and couldn't see me so got off at the next stop. It turned out to be the right train but she just got the next one. I then met her at the platform where we got off so it all worked out OK in the end and I was so glad the mad rush was finished with.

We had to catch an earlier train back than expected as Carol had to get Glenn from a music production at school (for the year 7 open day) to a lake to help out Russell with the cubs canoeing. We got there early in the end though even though we had got a much later train than she first planned. The performance hadn't started yet and Glenn wasn't even there yet. We sat and watched him play the Tuber with a group of other people playing different instruments. They were actually really good I was impressed! I was asked by a teacher of some sort whether or not I was nervous. It confused me a bit, I had no idea what she was talking about as I knew she couldn't have been mistaking me for a new year 7! She had meant was I nervous for my family member starting a new school. It took her a while to understand that they weren't starting a new school, she wasn't too bright for a teacher to be honest.

Anyway, once that was over we head to the lake where the canoes were almost all set up. We watched the cubs be briefed and head into the water. This was when I was invited in. I thought they were joking at first but then Russell got some waterproof boots for me so it looked from then on that I was heading in!! I went in Russells boat which was quite nice as I had no idea what I was doing so he steered and I just paddled straight. We were the rescue boat though which was a bit unnerving as the kids had to use our boat to help them climb back into theirs if they fell out or capsized. I took my phone out of my pocket ready to hold above the water. Thankfully we didn't fall in and I was so relieved once I had made it back onto dry land!!

The cubs were having their moving up ceremony to become scouts so some of them had to go off in Canoes to the other side of the lake as a sort of symbolic going away guesture. Once they had done that though they were all jumping into the lake where one of the older lads was trying to get a girl with the lake water in a cup. He doesn't have great aim as he managed to get me…I was drenched!! I was about to go and get him back, my plan was to splash him, but to be honest he was doing enough of that to himself so I had no backup plan. Carol and I then decidedto head back to the house before everyone started packing up so we did a sneaky get away.

I was introduced to my room which has only one bed!!! It also has a sofa, chair, wardrobe, TV and DVD player. It's lovely! I plonked my bag down, got a quick change of clothing and went for a house tour before Carol made us a really nice pasta dish with bacon and veg in it. It felt amazing to have a proper meal again. The boys came home half way through dinner and Russell set up my laptop on the wireless network so that I could Skype my mum, which is exactly what I did next. It was late by the time I had finished that so I went to bed with the plan of catching up with a Desperate Housewives each night on 4OD but it turns out that's not available in Australia!! So I watched American Dad instead. I have never been so excited about getting into a bed before though… I even did a little excited shake before getting in.

The morning was strange, waking up with no one else in the room. I decided to get some exercise done whilst I have free space and time so did that before jumping in the shower and having breakfast. Russell was at home because the rain had caused a tree to fall on the power line so there was no electricity at work. Glenn had managed to get a day off school since it's the end of his year and Stuart had already finished so it was only Carol out of the house. It was raining too much to go and have a look around the garden which was a shame so I sat in and did a bit of research on options for New Zealand. It was great just having a relaxed time, not having to be social, not having to do a thing!! Although I did go to the Supermarket with Russell to see some of the place and possibly get some bits that I would like, but I just said I wasn't really fussy and would have anything I was given.

Stuart Glenn and I decided to take Rosie out for a walk when the rain had stopped. Rosie is one of their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and she is absolutely gorgeous!! She loves a fuss and will keep pestering you for one until she has had enough. Even when you're on the computer she will sit on your arm so that she is in front of the screen. Pup is the other dog but he is much older and has arthritis in the hips bless him so struggles to walk properly. If he is lying down he can't get back up by himself so tends to get stuck a lot. It's such a shame; Carol says it is getting close to decision time.

We walked through the national park which is basically what they live in. Its called the Dandenong Ranges and is a large hill made up of loads of national parks. It's really pretty, they're very lucky to live here, although my ears do keep popping which is annoying. And I have no signal. It started to rain half way through the walk so I was thankful I took my coat and didn't wear flip flops!!! It wasn't a long walk but we ended up in Sassafras centre which is very small and made of tourist gift shops, antique shops and coffee shops. We went to have a look at Glenn and Stuarts Primary School where they had plaques with their names and years of attending the school on the fence. We went to see their old playground which as amazing compared to our flat concrete squares at home!! They had a full on playground with monkey bars and slides!! It looked like good fun. We went into one of the shops on the way back (where I bought a postcard for Lauren but don't tell her as I put on it that I bought it on my first day here!!).

When we got back Carol was home from work. Russell made us all dinner and then head off for his dinner out. Straight after dinner Carol had to take Glenn and Stuart to a Piano lesson so I was left in the house alone for 2 hours. It was strange but also great to be alone for the first time properly in 2 weeks. I got some washing done, spoke to mum on Skype and watched a bit of Sherlock Holmes, the new series. When they got back I was still watching Sherlock Holmes so Glenn joined me even though he had already watched them three times he said. I went to bed straight after that because it had really tired me out not doing much!!

I must have been tired because I didn't wake up until 11.20 the next day!!! I had nothing planned again so it looked like another chilled day for me. I did some more research on New Zealand and since I had found a billy bargain I thought 'I don't want to regret not doing it' so closed my eyes and clicked book. So now its done…Im going to New Zealand!! It only cost £350 for a bus trip around the whole of both islands and the flights should only be around the same price. So with that, accommodation, food and activities I have budgeted around £1500 for the New Zealand part of the trip which isn't bad really. My insurance covers it all still and I will just fly home from there instead of Australia so that will cost about the same too. Later on, Glenn and I went on a proper walk through the national parks. I had my first glimpse of the garden as we walked down the path to the back gate…it looks big!!! Im not sure where we went but I know it wasn't a path used very often as it was so overgrown. There were also a lot of spider webs, with spiders on them, across the path which I didn't enjoy much at all, especially when a big yellow one went on me!! The girly scream and dance came on Im afraid. I was so relieved when we got out of there…but then came a super steep hill which will have toned my calves a hell of a lot!! The rest of the paths weren't too bad, just a bit muddy from the rain before. We walked down to a small waterfall which was quite nice but then because of the rain a path had been closed that we needed to use. We went up to the road where Glenn called his dad to come and get us otherwise we would have been another 40 minutes (we had already been out for about 1 and a half hours ish by this point) and probably missed dinner.

It was such a relief when we got in and we had dinner and watched some Australian TV shows which were quite good. I was very tired again for some reason and since I was getting up early to go into the city the next morning I ended up going to bed at about 10. It wasn't a bad thing though I fell asleep pretty sharpish.

The next morning the alarm went off and I didn't want to get up still!! Its not right to be getting up at 7am whilst on holiday!! I was getting a lift with Russell when he took Glenn to school so that I could catch a train to the city. They let me use their equivalent to an Oyster card which was really good of them so I didn't need to pay for the train. I was trying not to sniffle too much from my hayfever which was really bad today and I woke up to find myself sounding like a man and having a severely runny nose every so often. Nothing seemed to help either…I blew it but it came back a while later. I know this is exactly what is meant to go into my travel blog…all about my runny nose!!

Moving on… I met Suzanne outside the train station and we head into the city for a bit of good old shopping!! The clothes over here are very expensive unless you look hard enough and you can find a great bargain. I made sure I didn't buy anything I don't need and nothing too expensive since I now have New Zealand to consider in my budget plan! I got a jumper for $9.99 which is only about £6, a top for $2, some denim shorts for $19.99, some black shorts for $14 and a nice evening top for $9. So all in all a successful trip except I did want some trousers that are quite flexible…but there is still time for that!! We also went to the harbour to do some shopping and that was a really nice area too. By this time though I had gotten to the stage where I had become completely worn out from shopping so we started to head back on the tram (which was free!! Yey!!) towards the train station.

It was the long way back because it does a whole circle of the city so I was struggling to stay awake. We therefore decided to get off and walk the rest of the way once we knew where we were to make sure I didn't fall asleep. We got back to the train station in plenty of time and I knew exactly where I was going this time, now being an expert on Melbourne trains! I managed to stay awake the whole way back and met Russell at the station. Once we were back I decided to start writing this until we had dinner. It has turned out to take a lot longer than I expected and I think I have been doing it for a good few hours now!! Rosie is sitting next to me snoring and dreaming bless her and I am now nicely full from dinner and ice creamJ Oh I forgot as well… I had a tour around the garden yesterday evening and it is absolutely huge!! I would have loved one like it when I was younger with all the different sections to play and hide in J Anyway I shall stop being unsocial now and join everyone else in the living room. Will update you all soon on the happenings of the weekend during which I am going to watch carol singers (as in Christmas not Carol) and we are all of the Phillip Island on Sunday for the day which should be good fun! Bye for now xx