As Matt stated in the last blog entry we spent the majority of the Indian Pacific journey to Adelaide in the lounge car which was nice. It made the journey more pleasant. We had one stop off in the Silver City - Broken Hill, which as stated in the title is well known for its production of silver, although is now more of a mining town. We only had an hour and a half to spend there so we went off to explore. At 6.30 in the morning it was very much a ghost town and we had a very nice stroll around.Not surprisingly this quiet mining town with a population of about 20 or so had a Subway which was open, so had treated ourselves to a breakfast sandwich. After our short walk we got back on the train and spent the rest of the journey talking to some Australians.

When we arrived in Adelaide we were greeted by 35oC sunshine. We were very happy after our couple of months of rain and cloudiness! As soon as we got to the hostel, Backpack Oz, we put on some sunscreen and walked to a suburb called Norwood as there was a Santos Down Under Cycling event on. We got there after 45 minutes of walking and found it to be very quiet. Australia is now a regular stop on the pro cycling tour with the Santos Tour Down Under, a 6-day road race taking in Adelaide and regional South Australia. In 2009 Lance Armstrong announced his comeback to professional cycling by competing in the Tour Down Under so the world's press and many cycling fans were in Adelaide at the time. After walking around the event we had a drink in an Irish bar and walked back to the hostel via a bakery. At least we got to see a different part of Adelaide!

The following day I was woken at 7.30am as Matt was excited about being back in a hostel and getting free breakfast. I refused to get up then so we had another hours sleep before rising. After breakfast we got ready and went for a walk around Adelaide. First stop was the central market which was lovely. It was very organised with nice food stalls. We then went to an antiques market with a free toy museum. We walked through the main shopping area - Rundle Mall, and onwards to the art galleries, museum and state library on North Terrace. We had a short rest on the grass outside the university then walked to the riverside which was pleasant. We returned to the hostel and booked on to a Barossa Wine tour. We got a free chocolate bar and drink for booking through the hostel and also received more when we agreed to let someone sleep in our spare bed when they returned from work and forgot to change rooms. It actually resulted that he didn't need to use our bed so we got free stuff for nothing, hehe!

We awoke with another glorious day so we decided to head for the beach in Glenelg. We spent the first couple of hours sunning ourselves and having a lovely swim in the nice warm water. Whilst we were sun-bathing, some promotional staff gave us free Walls ice lollies which we were overjoyed about, plus after 15 minutes another set of staff came by and we got another one each. We had a nice walk around the town, had some fish and chips then returned to sun bathing. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the hostel as the following day was the wine tour.

We were picked up at 9am by John (guide from Taste the Barossa). We made our way out of Adelaide towards the Adelaide Hills, which were very picturesque. Our first stop in the Barossa Valley was a dam which had amazing acoustics. John walked to the other side of the dam wall and you could still hear him talking clearly - It is known as the Whispering Wall. Our first winery was the Chateau Yaldara at the McGuigan cellar door. It was a structured tasting of whites (dry and sweet), reds and a port. We then drove through the Jacobs Creek region but did not stop as our next stop was Tanunda, this is the main town in the Barossa Valley. We had a short walk through the town, then on to the next winery - Peter Lehmann's winery. He is a baron in the valley due to his achievements in the area. He kept the region in work when it was about to collapse by continuing to buy grapes from local farmers and starting his own winery. We had another structured wine tasting followed by a platter lunch of cheese, meats, pickles, olives, relishes and fresh bread. It was very nice and in a lovely setting. After lunch we walked to the next winery past very old grape vines to have an unstructured tasting where you could pick from a list. I felt very full but Matt took full advantage of the tasting. Prior to our last winery we stopped to look at the views of the valley floor which were beautiful. The last winery was Murray Street Vineyard. This was another structured tasting but it was very relaxed and felt like we were sitting in someone's living room. The owners of this company have owned it for many generations. We then got back on the bus and headed back to Adelaide. When we returned to the hostel we relaxed for a while then went to Rundle Mall to visit a street market, however, when we got there it had finished. Unfortunately, because we spent the day on a wine tour we missed Lance and the rest of the tour coming through Adelaide :(

The following day we pottered around Adelaide as we were waiting to get the night bus to Melbourne. We arrived in Melbourne at 6.45am after a relatively good sleep on the Greyhound. We walked to our hostel, Flinders Station, and were greeted by drunken people who had been up all night. We were unable to check in until 10.30am so we left our bags in storage and went to McDonalds for a cup of tea. We checked in to our 4 bed dorm which was small but comfortable. Once we settled in we went to explore the city.

We walked to Federation Square, which in my opinion was not as impressive as suggested. It was opposite Flinders Station and St Paul's Cathedral which were both nice. We walked around the city with Matt looking in every CD/DVD shop that we came across on the way! At one point we walked through a shopping centre with a lovely glass steeple roof. In the afternoon we went to the ACMI (Academy of Moving Image). It had a Disney exhibition on, however, it was too expensive so we went to a free exhibit which had some film memorabilia from 'Mad Max' and a bullet time machine (system used to record 360 degree 'Matrix' style slow motion action). After this we went to a cheap Chinese restaurant for dinner.

The following day was Australia day. We went for a walk to King's Domain Park where they had an old fashion vintage car exhibit and various other happenings but nothing very exciting. At the hostel we were given a free drink voucher for the Turf bar. We expected it to be full of backpackers but it was not which was nice. It was a quaint little bar which we enjoyed a nice beer and glass of wine. After this we walked to Federation Square for the Australia Day fireworks which were good. It was also very nice not to have to spend half the day standing waiting for them!

It was an early rise with a trip to McDonald's to Skype Vic and Joanne which was a nice start to the morning. We decided that today we would explore Melbourne's laneways (small streets between main streets). We got a map the day before which suggested a walk which we followed. We walked through some lovely streets with nice cafés and through some very old arcades. We saw some street art (graffiti) which Melbourne is known for but we not impressed as most of the art had been graphitised over.

We went to an exhibition in the state library called 'The Changing Faces of Victoria' which included a section on Ned Kelly. They had his original armour from when he was captured. It was quite interesting!

We went to Queen Victoria markets which were very big but most stalls were the same. On the way back to collect our bags Matt found $20 on the ground which he was very happy about. We then moved hostels to Lord's Lodge in Prahran. We got on the tram for the first time and started off by going in the wrong direction. It was a very eventful move. When we arrived at Lord's Lodge we had a very friendly greeting from the owner Pat. He checked us in and talked to us about work plans etc. Within the first 10 minutes Matt had made arrangements to go to an interview in 3 days' time with some guys from the hostel. We settled in to an 8 bed dorm and went for a walk to Chapel Street which is the main shopping area in the suburb. It was a very long street with lots of shops and restaurants. We returned to the hostel and had a BBQ (sausages, salad and sangria) for $5. We chatted to Graham from Holland and talked to Pat about the hostel, whereby he informed us that it was once a headmaster's home then a brothel.

We spent over one month at this hostel. As we were staying longer Pat gave us small private room with a bunk bed in for the same price as a dorm. The hostel was great - it was an old Victorian building with high ceilings and nice little features like stain glass windows. There was a nice lounge and a small kitchen with a nice court yard outside which reminded us of a breakfast area we sat in every morning in Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Our time in Lord's lodge was mainly relaxing and chatting with the lovely people we met there. On two particularly nice days we went to St. Kilda beach and Sandringham beach on the other. The day we went to St Kilda there was a nice Sunday market on with small stalls. St Kilda town had lots of nice shops, restaurants and cake shops. The beach was okay but we have seen nicer ones in Australia. We spent a day at the botanic gardens having a picnic which was lovely. We spent a lot of time walking back and forth to Chapel Street, mainly to Coles for food shopping (Matt's favourite shop in Australia, especially the bakery section and bargains). There were also some nice antique shops which Matt was very fond of, one in particular was very large with all kinds of antiques. Matt found the vintage film poster section and was very content there - I practically had to drag him away!

We spent time at Lord's Lodge watching a few films which is always a nice way of relaxing whilst backpacking. We also watched the Australian Open Final and the American Super Bowl with people in the hostel. A fun night out was when we went to see actor/comedian Rob Schneider (star of such films as 'Deuce Bigalo: Male Gigolo', 'Big Daddy', most Adam Sandler films and the Sylvester Stallone classic 'Judge Dredd') at the Comedy Theatre which was very good and entertaining.

One particularly memorable day was when we went to the laundrette near Lord's Lodge and got caught in a heavy rain-storm with the rain coming up to our knees on the walk back to the hostel. It was classed as flash flooding and had been an after affect from Cyclone Yazi that had devastated Queensland a few days earlier and the cyclone that had bypassed the West Coast. Whilst we have been in Australia they have not had much luck in relation to natural disasters.

In relation to work, initially it was very slow. Matt had the interview for 'Harry the Hirers' but they were very indecisive about start dates etc. so he gave up on that. We spent days asking at restaurants but they always wanted CV's. Matt got one day's work moving antiques for a Frenchman which helped a little with rent, and I signed up for a carers agency which I had one 24 hour shift in a ladies home. After being at the hostel for over 2 weeks we felt very lost and unsure what to do, however, Pat told us about a week's work for a company who were doing a festival to the West of Sydney.

We were picked up at 4am for our week's adventure, we actually did not know much about what we would be doing apart from it was a stall selling burgers. Nathan (owner) drove the whole journey whilst Matt, Mel (Manchester girl we met at hostel) and I slept for the majority of the journey. We met Pete (co- owner) and Rubin (worker) on stops that we made on the way. The journey took 15 hours to get to Wisemans Ferry. We had to cross the Hawkesbury River via an electrical ferry which used a tow rope system to pull the ferry back and forth across the river. We arrived at Del Sol Resort where the 'Playground Weekender Festival' was being held. We found our spot and began to do some set up of tents etc. then spent the rest of the evening relaxing whilst Pete made us a BBQ of snags.

The next couple of days we didn't do much at all, we had a day and a half until the festival opened to the public. We went for a swim in the river which was nice but the current was very strong. Despite the current being strong, Matt still swam across and back! Matt and the others also went for a swim in the resort pool before it got horrible with everyone else using it (as it happened after day 2 of festival, the pool was black!).

Matt and I worked the Thursday night which was steady all night. We all got drunk which made it fun. It was the first time they had done this festival so they were unsure of what it would be like. It was pretty quiet for the whole of the festival but we had a good time with some nice people. We also had the opportunity to see a few bands - Kool and the Gang, Kate Nash and Lamb. Mel and I saw a band called the Beautiful Girls too. On the Saturday it was a fancy dress day and there were some amazing costumes, very imaginative and creative. The best one we saw was a guy in a cage held by a gorilla (see picture). Throughout the festival we ate a lot of baby burgers (don't know why it's named that but it certainly gets people attention), which were the best burgers we have ever tasted, mmm! We also did swaps with other venders so we got to have noodles, pizza, pastries and ice drinks. Put it this way, we ate very well! It makes my mouth water thinking about it!!

On the last day the public left at 12pm but we catered for the event staff so stayed open till 7pm, closing down in the process. Whilst I helped with serving to staff, the others went to the camp site to look for free stuff. Matt came back with around $15 in change, two tents, a sleeping bag and lots of sweets and goodies. Once we packed away we had a BBQ and ate our goodies before going to bed early as we were getting up early for the drive back to Melbourne. On our drive back we stopped at a service station and went to McDonalds for lunch, although we could not face having another burger so had a chicken wrap. Whilst in McDonalds we were made aware of the second major earthquake to hit Christchurch in New Zealand in the past year.

The weekend after Playground weekender, we worked the 'Soundwave Festival' at the Melbourne Showground. It was a one day metal festival and was completely different to the other festival. As soon as it opened at 11.45am we were busy non-stop until 9.30pm. The queues were huge all day but everyone was so polite and they didn't seem to mind waiting. Matt took some time off to see Thirty Seconds to Mars and some of Slash while the rest of us worked! At 9.30pm Matt and I went to see The Gaslight Anthem (for the 5th time!)which was really cool! Matt got himself a pick at the end too.

Even though we did not get any steady work whilst in Australia, we did well out of working the festivals and enjoyed them immensely. It was much better than working in a café. We had a lot of fun and made some nice friends in the process. We will definitely look back at our time working for baby burgers with fondness!

After working the festivals we thought it was about time to continue with our travels so we booked at flight to Bali. One thing that we had to do before leaving Melbourne was to go to St. Kilda on an evening to see the penguins which live in the rocks at the end of the jetty. When it begins to get dark the penguins that are still in their burrows come out to wait for their loved ones to return from their days swimming. We saw over a dozen penguins which was amazing to see.

The other thing that was left to do was the Great Ocean Road. We had talked about hiring a car and doing it since we arrived. We had planned to complete this with Graham when the weather picked up but we either had commitments, or Graham did. Anyway, we decided just to do it come rain or shine. We hired a car for two days and set off on our little adventure with Graham and Luke (English guy), taking our tent that we obtained at the Playground Weekender festival.

We managed to get out of Melbourne with little problem and made our way to Torquay, which is the start of the Great Ocean Road. We stopped in Torquay briefly to get some food from the supermarket then continued on. Our next stop was a lookout at a marine National Park, however, it was very windy so we didn't get to see any marine animals but there were lovely views. We stopped at a lighthouse that stated it was in the 'Mad Max' film. Then it was on to Lorne and Erkstine Falls. The falls were lovely and had a rainforest feel. Matt and Graham went on a small hike along the stream/ river. Matt found a dead snake so decided to have a play. Next was Apollo Bay which was a nice town with a lovely harbour and views of the surrounding hills. After having a stroll we moved on to Cape Otway in the Otway National Park to a lighthouse but it was very expensive so we decided not to go in. On the journey back to the main road we saw lots of wild Koalas and one walking across the road very slowly. After thoroughly enjoying seeing the wild koalas, we headed to Johanna beach to set up camp. It was very windy which made it very difficult, plus we didn't put it up correctly and broke it. After fighting with the tent we headed back to Apollo Bay for dinner. We chose a restaurant attached to a fish and chip shop. I had a kangaroo steak and Matt had chicken in a plum sauce, which were both amazing! After this we returned to camp and had an early night.

The next day we were up at 7.30am. First stop after looking at Johanna beach was the 'Twelve Apostles'. The weather was not the best but it was quiet and the views were still nice. Next we went to the Thunder Cave which was impressive with the ocean surging in. We stopped in Port Campbell for breakfast, then it was on to the London Bridge rock formation. It was then on to the 'Grotto' which had a large rock pool which would have been lovely to swim in had the weather been a bit nicer. Our last stop was Port Fairy where we had a lovely walk near the ocean. The water was so clear and we got to see a few swamp wallabies and a lovely lighthouse. We had fish and chips in the town then drove back to Melbourne. We had a lovely couple of days and the drive was amazing. The roads meandered next to the sea which was beautiful. It was a very nice end to our 6 months in Australia and definitely one of our highlights of Australia.

Emma :)

We both had an amazing time in Australia where we visited so many fantastic places and met some brilliant people. If we were to do it all over again we definitely would have spent much more time on the west-coast and spent maybe only a couple of weeks travelling the east. It's a shame that so many backpackers only spend their travelling time on the east and forget about the west. Coffs Harbour and the Blue Mountains were our favourite places on the east-coast. Everywhere else we thought seemed to be just too much like home which sort of defies the point of travelling.

The west-coast was exactly how we perceived Australia to be and was a much more rewarding experience. Our favourite place we visited was Karijini National Park with it's amazing gorges and waterfalls. In the northern territory we had loads of fun in Darwin and Kakadu National Park. The journey on the Ghan from Darwin to Alice Springs and our time spent in Alice Springs and Uluru were also very memorable.

Melbourne was the perfect destination to end our Australia travels as it turned out to be our favourite city, closely followed by Perth. Unlike Sydney which has all its major attractions in one area, Melbourne's attractions and things to do are a lot more subtle and spread out over the whole city. Melbourne also has some stunning architecture throughout the whole city.

Six months travelling Australia certainly made us appreciate the UK a lot more. As nice as some places in Australia are, we came to decide that the UK is far more beautiful.

Matthew and Emma :)