Why spend lots of money on skin peels when you can go out in the sun without cream on and get hideously burnt? That's what Rich and I did. I have never ever been burnt so this was quite an experience. I'm still flaking as I type, a week after having gone down to St Kilda for the first time. It was a good 2 and a half hour walk from Bec's place. We went via the QV market and this awesome war memorial on the edge of the CBD where we got some really nice pictures. We hit the beach eventually and lay there like tomatoes. had some killer cake on Acland street and jumped on the tram back at about pm. Fell asleep straight away. Think i got sun stroke. Nice!

Friday 22nd Feb, I looked in the mirror and was greeted by a red panda. What a great look! I was up early cos I had managed to sleep 13 hours. Went down to the market in pain and picked up a smoothie and some aftersun. Decided to go on a pilgrimage to the neighbours set and rather than pay the quite frankly ridiculous $40 they were asking, we decided to do it ourselves like true tight arses. Got a train to Mitchum via burnley and ended up in a real Australian suburb. Had to then get a bus to Vermont and ask a politician for directions. WHAT a disappointment. It was rubbish. In hindsight... Got the tram back to bec's which took forever but we passed the time with hilarious photos. Got changed and went to a pub in Fitzroy. Kangaroo for the first time. Very, very nice. Bec's brother's house party. Drank a bottle of gin so that we were fairly gone before we went out. Went to the rochester in Fitzroy via bec's house to pick up ID. Got even more trollied. Headed into town and danced like t*** at The Lounge. Put the world to rights. Mcdonalds breakfast at 6 am.

Sat 23rd. Late start. Headache was exasperated by Oz experience's unhelpfulness. Went to carlton for lunch and had some nice canteen food. Awesome cheap wontons at Shanghai Dumpling house. Walk along south bank of the river. Got some awesome shots. I'll upload the photos soon but I'm having issues with this memory card. b******.

Sunday 24th. In recent years, the supercar industry has undergone a veritable turnaround in fortune as the options continue to become more varied but most importantly, bigger and better. Ferrari, Lamboghini and Aston martin have all cashed in on the act but it looks as though the Hyundai getz is set to give them all a good run for their money. When Richard and I were chosing which car to tour the great ocean road with, we were looking for stly, looks and ultimately, performance. the hyundai getz gave us everything we could have possibly wished for. 0-60mph in a stunning 14 secs on a 30 degree downhill gradient, the getz is certainly built for speed and has no trouble in putting the nearest pensioner in an electric wheelchair to shame. The getz comes in a range of coulours but we opted for the ice white. Although it shows up the dirt, we thought it perfectly complemented the red panda look that we had been cultivating. The interior is generous in its proportions and allows even the tallest of motorist to stretch out (we average at 5'8). The automatic transmission in th ultra nippy 1 ltr model that we chose is snappy and enthusiastic from the off and gave us the acceleration that we were craving. The interior styling is nothing short of decadent. Sumptous black cushiony stuff gave us perfect lumber support for out 9 hour round trip. A cd player comes as standard and the 2 speakers in the front doors offered fantastic entertainment as we pumped out Jesus radio for most of the trip. The twists and turns that the great ocean road throws at you provides the perfect envirionment for the getz to really made of. It makes mincemeat of straight roads and slight corners and only takes a couple of minutes to get round a 90 degree bend. I hope the big boys round europe are quaking in their boots cos in the Getz, they have a lot to worry about.

So the great ocean road did pretty much exactly what it said on the tin. 9 hours of driving put our patience to the limit but the driving time was defnitely worth it. Some absolutely amazing scenary as you can see in the photos I have just put up. We wanted to get in the water at bells beach but it was a bit nippy as the sun was going down. we also managed to spot some koalas hiding in the trees which was pretty cool. less cool was the dead kangaroo we saw on the side of the road. That upset us a bit as it was the first one we had seen. I'm sat in the hostel internet cafe and there is kareoke next door. Some people have no shame.

Mon 25th we just mooched round town. melbourne is just awesome. The vibe round the town is so friendly. We really felt at home there. its a shame that one day we have to go back to England. Went to the public library and tried to look intelligent. there were lots of pretty girls to look at which was a bonus. Had a kick as lunch at the shanghai dumpling house and then went back to bec's to get ready for the mammoth journey to Sydney the next day.

After a lot of confusion over what exactly was involved with the Oz experience, we finally got on the bus at the melbourne YHA at am which was hard work but never mind. It was a 25 seater and fully booked so space to stretch out wasn't really available. At a measly 5'8, i found it hard work but there were a couple of real big fellas. My heart went ou to them. After stopping off for breakfast of steamed eggs(as bad as they sound) we ended up at Wilson's prom which was really really amazing. Some fcukin stunning scenery. really rugged. Endless white beaches and huge rock faces. Pretty awesome. Rich and i were in giddy moods from not much sleep from the night before so I'm sure we annoyed most people with our constant giggling. We stopped off at lakes entrance. i don't know if thats a place name. Anyways, there was only one bathroom between of us which was a bit awkward. I checked my email which made me feel sad for the first time. I went to bed feeling awful and a humongously fat scottish bloke snoring under me. next day we took a trecherous drive onto Suggen Buggan. Richard and i had managed to leave the food that we had bought for lunch in the hostel fridge so we ended up scrounging off the others in the group. the group was quite funny. Funny as the mix of people, not their sense of humour. I'm sure they didn't appreciate me. there were a couple of nice people. dean, this geezer from essex;rez, a canadian who works as a bodyguard in kabul and is obviously hard as nails and a married couple from scotland. There was also a girl from Ripon who I'm travelling with at the moment. She was probably a bit nervous to begin with. Rich and i got the impression that she hated us. We tend to act like a couple of james blunts sometimes. We have our fun though and thats all that matters. Ha ha. There was this freakishly weird finnish girl who stayed by herself all day, dressed all in black and looked like she was plotting to kill the group. There were also a bunch of post a level boys from Glouscester. t***. Stayed in a nice motel where Rich and I found a RUDDY BIG spider in our room and went and got rez to help us out cos we were too p**** to get it out ourselves. he was scared aswell though so that made it a bit better. I played poker with the locals after having a couple too many and went out in the 6th hand. I'm obviously a pro. Following day I slept on the bus to canberra. Surprisingly, canberra was plain awful. We had a tour round parliament. It felt like an accountancy firm. Soulless. i wouldn't recommend canberra to anyone. its rubbish. A veritable festival of s***. It was a long drive to Sydney. Checked in with Rich, dean and Emma. The 2 geordie girls from the bus sort of disappered, as did 2 canadian girls. Never mind.