SPORT As I'm sure everyone knows, Melbourne is seen as the sports capital of Australia and we haven't been disappointed. On Friday 1st Feb we went to the Twenty20 Cricket between Australia and India at the MCG. Although it wasn't the best batting match due to the Aussies totally demolishing the Indians, the atmosphere was brilliant. Around 85,000 people there and lots of banter between the supporters. Had a few drinks, despite the queues and worked out that you...

Nearly everyone we spoke to who has been to Melbourne said we must must must go to St. Kilda. As suggested on many of the party post-its, we spent a fair bit of time selecting and consuming the wonderful cakes there. There are so many to choose from, and we convinced eachother that in order to do the place justice we had to try a few different ones. Brilliant! Also had a good wander along Fitzroy and Ackland Streets into lots of cool shops and cafes. A very bohe...

The Melbourne Cricket Ground was on the list of stuff to do as soon as we decided to come to Melbourne (for Nick anyway)! Whilst Zoe did some job-hunting, I managed to get away for a few hours and did the MCG tour. It was really good. Just an amazing ground which can hold around 100,000 people when full, and has held over 130,000 when it wasn't an all-seater. Saw all the backstage stuff like players changing rooms, warm-up areas, nets, media centre, members sec...

Ben and Hailey were our guides for the day, and we fitted in lots of touristy things... First up was a visit to the Yarra Valley, a region famous for it's large number of vinyards and wineries. In theory, a very nice idea. However, after a few 'bevies' the night before it was harder work than we anticipated. We went to a fantastic farmers market with masses of locally produced scrumptious food and organic meat, cheese, nibbles etc etc. Nick could barely contain ...

Wow! What a first week. Busy busy busy, so finally Nick got rewarded with a trip to the Aussie Open Tennis. Stinking hot day as usual and lots of sun-tan cream and hat-wearing. It was a really good day, with lots of decent players still on the outside courts. We got ground passes despite the fact that show court tickets were pretty cheap. Managed to see the Bryan Brothers (World Number 1 Mens doubles pair), the Williams Sisters playing doubles, Leyton and Roger ...