G'day all.

So after some fun times in Sydney we had a VERY early start to our day with the bus for our three day trip picking us up at 6am. We decided rather than take an overnight bus down to Melbourne that we would see a bit more and take a three day tour bus down. There was meant to be 8 of us on the bus however the day before the group of 6 cancelled due to running out of money or something so when the driver picked us up he informed us that we would be having a private tour down to Melbourne.

Being used to travelling alone on Oz busses we were not fazed about having a private trip, we also knew it meant that the driver would take us to see more things as we would have more time in each place. The first leg of the trip was Sydney to the Snowy Mountains via Australia's capital Canberra. Most people travelling Oz don't bother stopping in Canberra as it is known for not having much there and bring a bit boring. Our driver LOVED Canberra and his enthusiasm rubbed off on us. Canberra was lovely; we arrived and went straight up to a lookout point. It was a purpose built city which means that every building was pre-planned and it was built as the capital as Melbourne and Sydney couldn't decide who should have it. It looked very symmetrical with the parliament building at one end and the war memorial building at the other with a long memorial parade running between the two.

We started our tour with a trip to the war memorial museum. It was a lovely day and the memorial site was so peaceful. It had all the fallen soldiers names from every war Australia had fought in, including a current plaque for the ongoing war in Afghanistan. It was a gorgeous place with statues and fountains that holds thousands of people every year on Australia day. There was also a wartime museum next to the memorial building which normally the trip doesn't get to look at but as it was just us we were able to look around. Again this was very impressive clearly recalling events from Australia's military history. I think Ben liked seeing all the tanks, planes and guns. There were a lot of school children around so the place was quiet busy but we still walked round fairly quickly which meant we could spend a bit longer reading about veterans and wartime stories.

After this we did a driving tour of the city, we drove round all the main parade where there was war memorial statues and saw the sites for the Iraq and Afghanistan memorials. After this we drove around the embassy estate. All of the houses where amazing, each country making their house stand out, showing its culture and wealth. Any houses that had been involved in Iraq all had huge security gates around them which made them hard to see. The USA embassy was massive as all members have to live on the property as well not just the ambassador. The security was intense and the bus was watched to make sure we didn't stop outside anywhere for too long. There was a truck bomb scare not too long ago so now even the flower beds outside the security gates are reinforced just in case someone tried to drive through one to get to the gates!

We then drove to the 'temporary' parliament building. This was built to act as parliament whilst the other was being built, however it never got demolished so it now acts as a museum and a pretend debate house for college and school children. In front of the building there was a large grass areas which we were told was the 'Tent village' parliament passed it as belonging to the Aboriginal people and they could have it as long as there was always someone living in a tent there. So there was a couple of permanent tent residence that constantly tend to their ceremonial fires (handy when it gets down to -5 at night) A lot of Australians have voted to get it removed as they say it looks ugly but after meeting Navaho, Maori and Aboriginal people Ben and I fully understand the scared meanings behind regaining land from the 'white man'. So we were glad that they still had control of it so close to the parliament building. We then took a short drive to the actual parliament building. It was a very modern looking white building with a huge flag pole on the top of it and some nice fountains outside. Inside was a huge marble reception area that looked very grand. Upstairs we walked passed some paintings of passed prime ministers. Our driver was very enthusiastic about politics and Australian history that he talked pretty much the whole time, it was very informative but at times I think both ben and I zoned out. We saw the two chamber rooms. Australian parliament has two houses 'the senate' and the 'house of representatives' and a bill has to pass through both before it becomes a law. Schools can go and watch debates every Wednesday, unlike the Uk where it is hard to even get inside. After a very lengthy tour of the house of parliament we drive out of Canberra, driving past the prime ministers house on the way out. As it was only us on the bus our driver made sure that we stopped for lots of romantic shots in places along the way, which was nice as Ben and I are rubbish at taking couple photos.

A few hours later we arrived at our hostel for the night in the snowy mountains, although we couldn't see any snow, but were promised some the next day. We had a buffet dinner with cake J and headed to bed after a very long and educational day.

The next morning we went to snowy village hotel for a nice cooked breakfast before heading up into the mountains of Jinderbyn to go sledging…yes snow in Australia!! We picked up some sledges on the way and had an hour of fun in the snow. Even though we were surrounded by kids we still had plenty of fun. Australia is the most expensive place to ski apparently but sledging was free and we even build a chair out of snow to relax.

We then drove a few hours down the road and stopped off at a place where we could see wild platypus. I didn't know that they are highly poisonous as they have a toxic barb on their rear legs. I still think they are cute. However wild ones are shy and it took a lot of patients for them to show themselves in the water, but once they realised we were there they came right up to the water's edge - normally disappearing just as you clicked your camera to take a picture! We drove for a few more hours before we reached a beach, Ben and I went for a long walk along the beach at sunset (very romantic). It was strange going from snow to the beach in one day.

We were staying in the R.S.L club that night which is known as gods waiting room as it is full of old people, but the room was lovely, beer was cheap and the food portions where huge so we were happy.

On our last day we drive to Wilsons Promontory National Park. Within minutes of being inside the park we saw some wild emus on the side of the road so we got out to have a walk around. As we did so we saw a Wombat! Normally they are very shy and the slightest movement they run off into the bushes but this one was fairly old and enjoying breakfast too much, so she let us walk very close to her to get some amazing pictures. They are so cute and defend themselves with their bottoms… they can take down trucks and vans easily and just waddle off after! We then walked through some bushes (watching out for brown snakes) into a large opening with high grass. At first we couldn't see anything but as we walked through lots of little heads starting popping up and we soon realised that there was a huge mob of kangaroos there! Slowly as we walked round we could see more and more of them it was amazing how camouflaged they were! Some even had little joey's in their pouches! It was absolutely amazing to see them in the wild; they look so much more alert than the ones in the zoo. Our guide even made a bit of noise in order to get them all to hop off so we could see them effortlessly move. We also picked up a tire and underneath there was a family of red back spiders! First time we had seen a dangerous spider and they were so small!!! We left the animals to it, and got back into the bus. After a little while we got out and hiked up to some rock formations for a view of the national park. On the walk we saw a little wallaby which are normally impossible to spot but as it was just us three it was confident enough to move. There was a fair bit of cloud cover but it was still a very warm day so we were very happy when we reached the cost line and had a lovely view of the beach with a sea breeze, the beach was called squeaky beach, named after the silica sand that squeaks between your toes when you walk on it. By this time it was about 1pm so we sat on a very high rock and ate our lunch. We then had another romantic walk along the beach to meet our driver and get on the bus for the final leg of driving down to Melbourne.

We finally arrived in Melbourne early evening and checked into our hostel. We were very sleepy and after a quick walk around we grabbed some food and had a night in watching telly.

Lots of love

Nikki and Ben xxx