After an amazing few months exploring Asia and having a wonderful introduction to Australia, it was finally time to make our way down the east coast of Australia to Melbourne. With no time to waste we spent our first 4 days flat hunting which consisted of setting up camp in a local coffee shop and scouring the Internet trying to make as many appointments as possible - a genius strategy we thought. Aussie estate agents however are as unreliable, smarmy and shady as they come which, combined with a few too many espressos, proved to be rather interesting. Having limited knowledge of Melbourne we dashed from one end of the city to the next relentlessly and ended up seeing close to 30 apartments whilst quickly realising what a s***ty transport system really is. Trains come every 25 mins, trams sit in traffic and take forever and taxis are so scarce that for the first time ever I actually wished I could be back on the blessed London Underground (can't believe I said that).

We eventually found the perfect pad situated in Prahran which has proved to be one of the best locations we could have chosen. It's a short journey into the CBD, close to the pretty Albert Park and walking distance to the buzzy Chapel Street which is a 2km stretch full of lovely shops and restaurants. The flat itself is inside an old heritage-listed building that used to be an old school but had recently been converted into lovely little apartments. We moved ourselves in (i.e. put our backpacks down), hired a van and spent the next 2 days picking up furniture and random junk that might help to make the place homely. Luke had lots of fun trying to get various white goods up the stairs and when it came to the the fridge/freezer had to resort to paying a stranger in the street 5 bucks to give him a hand. Meanwhile I went about painting random bits of furniture and writing us an Ikea list as tall as me.

We finally got our flat into shape just in time for the arrival of Shireen who joined us in Melbourne for 2 weeks to help us settle in and explore our new home. We had so much fun finding lovely spots to visit and enjoying the last of our freedom before having to start work and I'm so glad Shiz was here to do it all with us. It was terribly hard to say goodbye when she left.