Melbourne is fabulous – a really lovely city. Lots of beautiful cityscape, where old and modern sits nicely side by side. The quaint trams and little alleys with coffee shops give it a more European feel than Sydney and the locals are friendly. Phil and I have mingled – Phil more than me ;-) We even ended up with a dinner invitation which we took up last night and enjoyed a lovely meal and company in a very swish 12th Floor apartment in the city centr...

I met Phil on Thursday 18th Jan at Sydney airport. Many thanks to Kristy and Adam for putting me up for a few days. I taught their 18 month old son how to say “Cool” and do a thumbs up. Well almost. He now sticks his index finger up at people and says “Tool!”. I left before I could more damage. Before arriving in Melbourne I had heard about bushfires and heatwaves. Everyone said how hot it was (40 degrees at 2am apparently one night). ...