Hi all,

So it's been a long while since we blogged about our travels and that's mainly because we've been working flat out for the past 3 months. When we got to Melbourne, it took us a while to find jobs so we were happy to work as many hours as we could get and we really landed on our feet with the restaurant we both worked at. We managed to both get jobs through a friend waitressing in a restaurant called Watermark. It was a really great place to work, all the staff were easy to get on with and you got fed and free drink after work, so we saved a fortune in feeding ourselves; though when it came to our days off we couldn't be bothered making anything bigger than toast as we actually had to cook for ourselves then!!

We were really lucky to get full-time work there, we ended up as 2 of the 4 main full-timers because the owner loved the Irish and thinks we work harder than other nationalities!! We weren't complaining, we got full-time work out of it!! So really the only major break we had during our time working there was Christmas, when we went up to Sydney to spend Christmas and New Year's with Louise, my sister (free digs!) She was actually living with a guy I worked in Derry with, who I managed to hook her and Keith up with when they were looking a room! (small world!)

Sydney was a great place to see and we did as much as we could cram in while we were there. We started off by going up the Sydney tower, where you got a 360 view of the ocean and city, you could see everything from up there!! I only got a few photos though because my battery died and I forgot to pack my charger!! And this was one of the first days so it's a shame I couldn't take pictures of everything we seen and done. Next we went to the aquarium and safari park, which were both sort of kids attractions so not overly impressive but still worth seeing!!

We also went to the Imax here, the biggest cinema screen in the world, and boy was it big!! 8 stories tall!! It was huge! We went to see Mission Impossible 4, which is probably the best film we could have seen on this screen! We managed to get a decent seat toward the back, as otherwise our necks would have been broke trying to watch it! There was one part in the film when he was climbing the tallest building in the world, in Dubai, with only sticky gloves and one of them malfunctioned and he fell; everybodys stomach dropped and you could hear people gasping because it was so real looking! Defo worth seeing a picture here if any of you ever make it!!

Of course, we spent Christmas in Sydney too!! We did the typical tourist thing and went to Bondi Beach on Christmas day, it was ram packed with people in red swimsuits and Santa hats!! Was probably the most festive we felt over the whole Christmas period!! The waves on Bondi were amazing too, the biggest we'd seen so after lying about in the sun we decided to brave them and there were crowds in the water jumping the waves all day! The water was absolutely freezing!! As soon as we got in far enough, the waves just rocked you. They went right over your head and knocked you clean over! I got bowled over by one big wave and it took me a second to even orientate myself to try to stand up out of the water, and when I finally managed to, Matt's standing killing himself laughing!! He said the wave had been so strong, it pulled at my bikini bottoms so while I was busy trying to find out what way up I was, there was a big white arse floating round on the surface!! I also lost my sunglasses to that wave, so safe to say I gave up after that!!

And of course, there was the Sydney opera house and Harbour Bridge!! They were brilliant to see, one of the biggest icons of Australia and we were there!! It was such an impressive building, architecturally as well as in appearance. It was built in the shape it is to get the best acoustics for sound inside, which apparently it has!! It actually looked a little different than I imagined as the shape changes depending which angle you stand at and the giant white shell-looking roofs are actually lots of little white plates and tiles, not just a smooth white surface! We sat and had a drink in a restaurant just beside the opera house and it was some sight, one of those moments when you think, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm actually here!'

Then came New Year's Eve!! I was really looking forward to spending my birthday watching the biggest set of fireworks in the world!! We knew that if we wanted a good spot to see the fireworks, we would have to get to Botanic Gardens early, so we went down about 1pm, and it was nearly packed then!! So we found ourselves a spot just off-centre of Harbour Bridge and sat down to wait for the show 11 hours away!! We had to take it in turns to sit in the spot because it was so warm that you couldn't sit there for very long but after waiting very patiently, the clock struck 12!!! And what a show!!! It was absolutely cracking!! The fireworks didn't just go off at the bridge but all over the city and from the highest buildings, which we could see too, the show lasted for around 12 minutes and it was definately worth the wait!! At the end of the show, these fireworks went off all the length of the bridge like a giant gold waterfall, it was spectacular and we were so glad we got to see it!!!

All good things come to an end though, and it was back to work in Melbourne again!! Things were very quiet for the next few weeks as we wanted to try to save a bit of money; we had overspent in Sydney so thought we would lay low for a while!! We managed to get a good few nights out though with the people we wanted to see before we left Melbourne as our time was running out! We made some really good friends in our work and had some crazy nights out with them all; it was great working somewhere with people from all over the world. We had Aussies, English, American, Irish of course, South Korean, Italian, German and Chinese so it was very diverse but definately kept things interesting!! And we think the door has been left open for us if we were to go back to Melbourne on our second year visa!!

So then it was back to the nightmare of packing up our lives again!lol We sent home a parcel of clothes and stuff we didn't need, 9kg and it still didn't make much of a dent in the weight!! Though one last thing we had to look forward to before we left Melbourne behind was The Great Ocean Road!!!! We rented a car for 2 days and both of us and my friend Maeve kicked off our road trip in wee Betsey (our Micra). Possibly the best thing we have done since we got to Melbourne, it was amazing!! The first day didn't have very good weather, which didn't make for great photos but let me tell you, the sights we seen were second to none!! The Great Ocean Road was actually built by surviving soldiers of World War 1 in memory of their fallen comrades, so it was really cool to know that it actually had a meaning behind it and not just another tourist attraction!! Although, we very nearly didn't get going at all as when we rented the car and started our journey the car kept beeping and we couldn't figure out what it was so we called the company and they told us to come back. Half-way back to the centre we realised the handbrake was still on and that's what the beeping was!!

We decided to break up the trip by staying overnight in Apollo Bay. Our hostel was really nice and we got our own room, so made the stopover much more relaxing. After we had dinner, we went for a drive and came across a really nice beach and had a big long walk before we called it a night. It was so relaxing after the craziness of the previous few weeks in work and the perfect way to kick start the next month off!!

On our second day we got to the 12 apostles, which made the trip for us, it was amazing looking!!! Have a look at the pics and see what we mean, it was sensational and the photos don't do it justice!! We also managed to get a really good day for it too so the photos are much better and seeing them first-hand was just unreal!! It was the perfect end to Melbourne and while we will miss parts of it, we were ready to move on!! Onto Surfer's Paradise and Byron Bay!!! We are so glad to be back on the road again and intend to enjoy every minute of it before we have to start trying to get fruit-picking work!!

Another good thing is that now we have finished working and are back travelling, the blogs will be coming thick and fast again!! Horray!!! And they won't be the length of a book either, hopefully you enjoyed reading on what we have been up to and are looking forward to the next one, which we promise will be following soon!!!

Lots of love

Nicola and Matt xx