Sydney to Melbourne:

After leaving Cairns, I arrived back into Sydney and stayed one night at the YHA Central...a nice hostel and one that I had stayed in before.

I had been up since 3am...dealt with the incredibly rude Jetstar check-in lady, had my bag scanned three times, myself fully scanned for explosives and a really rough, turbulent flight! Needless to say I took a long afternoon nap in my Sydney hostel!

About 4pm I took a walk to visit Richard who is working in a cafe on York Street, as mentioned in previous blogs, he's a friend from school who is randomly in Australia at the same time as me-small world!

I enjoyed one of the best iced coffees and a huge wrap then waited for Richard to finish work before walking up to his hostel to drink wine on the roof top...cheap but surprisingly tasty!

The wine went down a treat-as usual for me! so we decided now are glasses were empty we would head out and say hi to Eddie who was working in one of the local bars...one problem...I was wearing flip flops which is a bit of a no go in some of the posher bars/clubs so been a little bit tipsy, we decided to raid the charity box at the hostel for a pair of shoes which I could wear. Gross! the only ones in there were a pair of guys pumps...but unless I took an hour round trip walk back to my hostel, I had no choice but to put them on! As soon as I was through the door of the bar my flip flops went straight back on!! The pumps were really gross, can't believe I put them on...

We didn't stay out really late, we headed for food and then called it a night.

The next day Christina was flying down from Cairns and we had to pick up our hire car ready for our road trip down to Melbourne.

Armed with a map and our little Hyundai Getz we left the busy streets of Sydney and started to head south with no idea where to stay that night!

After a few hours we arrived in Canberra which was pretty crap! We had late lunch and decided to continue driving, heading for the coast.

We drove through various towns and ended up staying in a small place called Narooma. We didn't arrive until 9pm ish so it was basically just a base for the evening and a place to sleep. The hostel was Yha, and the lady was really nice so it turned out not to be a bad option!

The following morning we set off early, called in for coffee and cheesecake at a small cafe (at like 9am! such a healthy breakfast!) and made our way to Melbourne.

Melbourne:

Well, we had struggled to find a hostel in Melbourne that had car parking either on-site or nearby, so when we eventually found one we had no option but to book it. It was awful, the owner/manager was either drunk or on something and there was cats...I don't do cats in skanky places! We tried to find somewhere else to stay but had no luck! It was late when we arrived so we decided we would just put up with it, have a beer and only go back there to sleep!

The next morning we left early and headed into the main part of the city. We had booked the neighbours tour for the afternoon so we spent the morning eating breakfast and walking around the shops until it was time to head to the neighbours office.

We were due to leave at half twelve but two people were missing so we hung on for them...15minutes later they showed up...hilarious they were like two Vicky Pollards...

The neighbours tour was fun, real people actually live on Ramsey Street which amused me, for some reason I just didn't expect that...imagine living in Karl and Susans house! must be annoying for them when each day you get a bus load of tourists turning up and taking pictures! I imagine they get good money from it though! After visiting the street, we went to the studios and saw places such as the car garage and cafe, and then went to see Erinsborough High which again is actually a real school (I guess they changed the name though!) I didn't see Harold (gutted!) but we did meet a new character who apparently turns gay (can't even remember his name though lol)

The tour ended about 3:30pm and by now it was really hot out so we decided to go for a drink, followed by late lunch and then went to the cinema. Thankfully we didn't get back to the hostel until 10pm ish and had already planned to leave about 8am and drive the Great Ocean Road.

The Great Ocean Road:

The weather the next day was amazing! Clear blue skies and about 30degrees!

The Great Ocean Road was awesome-the views are amazing and we stopped off at various places to take photos. I'm so pleased we drove this ourselves and didn't take a tour! The coast, the wild koalas, the twelve apostles etc etc...simply stunning! My word's can't do it justice but if you ever get the chance do it!!

Our original plan was to stay in Melbourne that night, but neither of us were keen on heading back to that hostel and it's cats! So we made the decision to make our way back towards Sydney and spend a few days at the Blue Mountains. It was going to be a long drive but with plenty of stops planned we headed off...

Night fell and we decided we should stop off at one of the many rest areas and try and have a few hours sleep each beofre continuing the drive. We pulled into a service station and just slept in the car! We both had sleeping bags and I think we both had a pretty awesome sleep!! Didn't wake up until about 8am!

In the morning we were packing away our sleeping bags when a truckie came over and said we could use the showers at the service station lol-erm considering they were only ever used by truck drivers we decided not to bother!! Instead we freshened up inside the services, grabbed coffee and drove to the Blue Mountains!

The Blue Mountains:

The drive wasn't too bad, but wow we saw A LOT of road kill!! we must have past at least 10 dead/mangled kangaroos! Made me proper gip!!

I was pleased when we arrived at the Yha mid-afternoon. This hostel was like a palace compared to the one we had left behind in Melbourne!

We headed to the supermarket and decided we would grab some wine and some strawberries and go watch the sunset over the 'Three Sisters'

I loved the Blue Mountains, the views are stunning! It's so green and peaceful (if you time it right!) It's a shame that a week before we arrived, huge bush fires had ruined a large section and nearly destroyed peoples houses. Can't believe how close the fires had got to some of the houses. Apparently it was two 14year old who had lit the fires on purpose! So bad!

That evening we relaxed at the hostel and watched television before heading to bed.

The following day we headed into the blue mountains for a walk...and wearing my flip flops was a bad idea but I didn't have anything else!! So Christina called me a princess the whole way as I squealed, slipped and walked through bog!! oh and lizards ran out in front of me! (she had walking trainers on! alright for some!)

After the walk we took the sky rail and then this train thingy down into the rainforest. The views were awesome! We spent some time walking throught the rainforest (and dodging the Chinese people and their cameras) before making our way back to the hostel late afternoon.

We bought more wine, had dinner and headed to bed (again quite early but it had been a very energetic day!! ha)

The following day we headed back to Sydney early as we had to drop the car back...

End of road trip take 2! Just a few more days in Sydney and then onto Asia!