The time had come to leave melbourne (we so easily could have stayed - such a relaxed way of life!) So it came that on tueday morning at 7:00am we were standing outside Base Hostel waiting for the OZ Experience bus to arrive. Met Tom for the first time, and stuart. First impressions had to be ignored as we were all still asleep and the conversation consisted of grunting (although our mothers will probably claim thats what we're like most of the time! - its not true though) Once on the bus headed straight to the back, as everybody knows thats where the cool kids sit! Had to wait there for a long time however, as Aky, Nick and Rob decided they would have a lie in! Lucky first impressions werent counting that morning! So by 900am we were off, on the road to sydney! Our Bus Driver was Aussie bloke called Scooter (or Scot to his Mum). He attempted to instill a bit of life into us, but to no avail. Must of us hadnt seen this side of lunch time in a good while. Attempted to play a few 'get to know each other' games - which consisted of us swopping seats and going though the worn out backpacker routine, which for those who dont know, goes something like this. "Hi, U alrite? Good. Where have you come from? cool. Where are you going next? (as we were all on the same bus - even less excitin than usual) And lastly - where you from back home? Where? You say thats in the UK? Followed by a smile, then the awkward silence. I swear backpackers dont know how to communicate without beer! We drove to Foster, where we would be spending the night (sadly not home to the cheap water like beer we hate, yet buy back home.) On arrival we found ourselves the youngest people around by about 50 years. Once we had set upon the local supermarket; doublin their annual turnover in the an instant, we set about finding the local public house. Once inside we decided this was a bad idea, as we were stared at by the local coffin dodgers propping up the bar. After a swift exit, we were back on the bus once more, now slightly more awake and slightly more willing to participate in Scooters plans. We drove to Mt Bishop for a 2 1/2 hr hike. It was pretty demanding, and as a result the group was quickly united by the pain that spread across out unfit bodies. Conversation began to flow. Turned out one of our group, a bloke named Paul came from a small town called Redhill - and he had been to the Embassy! Also we found out that he went to Oxted School, and his fellow classmate was a fella named John Harris (Andy's Boss). It really is a small world! The view at the top of the hill was pretty spectacular, spoiled slightly by the knowledge that we still had to walk all the way down. Once at the bottom we drove through Wilson's Prom National Park ( the most southern point of mainland OZ) The park had been devastated by a massive forst fire, and all there was to see for miles and miles was charred trees and scrubland (ironically the fire was started by the park wardens themselves, after a routine burn got out of hand). The only tree to survive was the Grass tree, which Scooter informed us (he used to be a tree surgeon) can withstand heat up to 500 degrees C, after that they explode, literally. From here we drove down to Squeaky Beach, so named because of its extraordinarily white sand, that squeaks really loud when you walk over it. Very Strange! Played a game of football with the lads, which further helped break the ice. That night we stayed in very nice mobile homes, with a TV and my very own double bed! After a steak BBQ, we all setlled down for drinking games (a great game called circle of fire) Nick, Aky and Rob played us all some tunes. This was our first introduction the wonders of SoulVendor! (their band) The next day we got up early (our only complaint about the whole tour) Drove down to 90 mile beach for obvious reasons (the australians love to keep things simple) Played some more football before heading on to the highlight of the day - A Wine Tasting Session! Was quite interesting; tried a selection of white and red wines, and finished off with some ports. Couldn't tell much about them, except what I did and didn't like. But it was great fun talking 'Bull' the whole afternoon! Got back on the bus feeling slightly worse for wear and headed to out base for that a evening - a hippy commune! We were all slight dubious about this, especialy when we found out we would have to be vegetarians throughout our stay. Our concerns were unfounded however - the rooms were lovely (even if we were ordered to take our shoes off by a stange boy/girl - who took a shine to Nick), and the food even nicer, and there was plenty of it! Ended the night with a good ol' fashioned sing song round the fire. On the penultimate day of our tour, we woke up to be greeted by the wam and sumptious smelll of.. pancakes!! After a hearty breakfast we were off to our last stopover, which we had been promised would be the best! We were not disappointed (we rarely were on the trip) Not only were the rooms lovely, equipped with tv, balcony etc; but there was also a swimming pool and sauna! This did however prove to be the undoing of Scooters plans; for days we had be psyching ourselves up for the 15km hike up Mt Kosciusko when we arrived here. However on the discovery of the facilities and that the hike was of course optional, the group was split (The Men and the Mice) Whilst the majority of us boarded the bus to complete the challenge together, certain individuals, not mentioning any names (Aky, Welsh Andy, Helen, Jo, Katherine, Nick and Rob!!!) chickened out, and let the 'family' down! Not to be perturbed by their cowardice the rest of us ploughed on, some even running to the top (Not Andy and I, I hasten to add; we're not stupid!) A good time was had by all! (even if we didnt see any spiders which Scooter had promised us he would dig out) Once back on the bus, sweaty yet feeling good, we celebrated with a crate of VB. Once back, we stripped off and were straight in the pool, before relaxing and unwinding in the Sauna. Once we were dressed, we headed off to 'Chicken Schnitzel' night! (a big chicken nugget - all the town appear to gather together to eat this 'delicacy' every thursday!) After another big meal, the pool competition commenced, winner stays on! Andy and I enjoyed a good reign at the top, before losing unfortunately to Team canada. All the lads then came back to our room, where the party continued into the early hours. I will never forget our rendition to 'Put your hands up!' Good times. Boarded to the bus the next day, on the final leg as a 'family'. A long day of driving followed. Stopped for a bit in Canberra (the Capital!) Here we saw the war memorial mile (looks exactly like Pall Mall), then checked out the Houses of Parliament. Not a lot to see there! Lastly went to the war museum, which was very well done and informative! We all had lunch in Pizza Hut, before boarding once more; this time however on the Party Bus. It was Katherine's Bday, and also didnt want the good time to end, so I and some of the others bought some balloons, streamers and party whistles! After ages of just contentadly blowing the whistles (it does gettin borin eventually!) the games started. Picture this - musical chairs on a bus, going at 100km down the motorway! It was just as cool as it sounds. This was followed by charades and some name games! Arrived in Sydney late evening; Tom, Andy and Myself checked into a 6 bed dorm, and waited to see what good looking girls would be joining us. As it was, we got Katherine, Helen and Jo! (only kiddin) We did manage to get the bottom bunks for the lads aswell! Sydney postcard coming soon, hope all is well everyone! Matt (and andy)