We arrived late last night into a hot and sweaty Australia. The flight from NZ was fine... short at 2:45 and Jetstar were functional....not elaborate, just functional.

Immigration / customs etc were uneventful and we jumped into a taxi for a £50 journey to our accommodation. We dropped Simon and Shelley off (reluctantly) at the coffee palace backpackers and then went on to find our apartment. A lovely room with a kitchenette and washing machine and internet...at last.

Thursday 5 April

Up at 7am and the kids were soon knocking on the door. We walked a short distance and found a fabulous breakfast place. Shelley had the largest bowl of porridge ….didn't manage to eat it. We then went to buy a travel ticket. Matt had passed onto us a pair of Myki tickets - Myki are the equivalent to the UK oyster card. 1 ticket had $49 on it and the other had a deficit of $3 !!!! the lady told us not to use that one for fear of arrest !

Simon walked us to the Albert park to show us the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit….still being dismantled despite the GP finishing 3 weeks previously. We then caught the tram into town stopping at the casino. Simon then showed us a lovely walk along the river bank all the way along the southbank - the weather was stunningly gorgeous…superb sunshine and we stopped half way along for an ice cream and then stopped at the end at a place called federation square for a beer.

I had arranged to meet up with Sharon's son, Luke who is now living in Australia and after a few text messages we met in a bar called "The Treasury" …a great hour catching up.

We then caught a further tam to Melbourne port and had a walk along the esplanade and looked up at the flat Matt and Rosie used to live in….I bet the flat had stunning views.

We then grabbed a taxi back to St Kida and had a super meal at Laus family Kitchen…a recommended Chinese restaurant just around the corner - super day