Hi all,

It was a naughty journaey!! Leaving at 3pm meant that I couldn't sleep until around 9pm and due to stops every couple of hours, I hardly got any sleep. Needless to say, I was a bit of a wreck the following day! We arrived into Southern Cross Station, Melbourne at 5.15am and realising that hostels wouldn't yet be open, a two hour sleep followed, on the floor in the waiting room - proper tramp style. At 7am, we tried a few hostels but it wasn't looking hopeful. Everywhere was busy - that was until we found 'Urban Central'. On arrival, we were given towels, a welcome pack and told that breakfast, pasta and rice was all free! Not only that, but it was an ultra modern, ultra funky hostel and by far the best that I've found in Oz. Due to us both feeling like zombies, we made it St.Kilda on the tram to see the Sunday markets, which was quite cool - but it started to rain, so back to the hostel it was and I slept like a log until 6pm when I got up, had dinner, then went back to bed again.

A new day and the energy was back. A day to explore Melbourne. It only took about 15 minutes to get into the city and after strolling past Federation Square - apparently the highlight of Melbourne - it was clear that there wasn't tooo much to see and do, so a day was perfect. I spotted the Melbourne Cricket Ground across the bridge (yey my three ozzie cricket ground...) so we had a quick look there before heading to China Town for some lunch. In the afternoon, the sun was out and so we walked to the Botanical Gardens (which, to be fare, are the nicest ones I've seen yet - every city has them!!). After dinner, the 'must-do' of Melbourne was calling. Alice had told us all about the Crown Casino - apparently the second biggest to Las Vegas (when it was built). It was a monster...cinemas, bars, clubs, the casino itself, restaurants etc. Becki decided to put the $10 in her wallet, all on black on the roulette wheel.....She won! Sensibly deciding to pocket the original $10 and only play with my winnings she successfully doubled her money several times and ended up being $50 up.

The next morning, it was time for the 'real' holiday to start. We'd booked a camper van for 6 days to take us all the way along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide and back again. Although a bit of a mission to collect the thing, we got a train out of town to the industrial park, waited nearly three hours and finally got seen to. The good thing was, we actually got upgraded from a 2berth camper, to a 3berth one that was actually more like a caravan. We got a shower, toilet, kitchen, double berth and sofa seating area that turned into another bed. Living in travellers luxury! As all cars have to have a name, it was decided that it was a 'he' and that the obvious Ozzie name had to be Bruce. So there it was...meet Bruce!

Bye for now

Miffy x x x