I think this should come under the 1st or rather the first part should. Last night we packed the car with everything but the last minute bits and set the alarm for stupid o'clock or rather 3am. We got up and lifted the girls into the car, the idea being to try and keep them asleep so we left them in their PJs, as it happened they both woke up. The journey to the airport was easy and we dropped the car near one of the two tall round things which may or may not have been a water tower. We headed over to the terminal and checked in. We were a bit grumpy to find it was a JetStar flight as this meant no food and no TV and they were nearly about the argue about our luggage allowance. Anyway once we had checked in we wandered away and realised we needed to pay departure tax of $25 each for David and I but fortunately the girls were free. Once we had done that we walked to the departure area to find they were not opening for some time so we went and had a much needed coffee. The queue gradually got longer and longer so we joined it. Once the security opened the queue quickly disappeared as they dealt with everyone quickly and efficiently, yet another example of how it should be done as opposed to LAX. We completed our departure cards, cleared security and entered the small departure lounge. We bought some food from a very poor selection which the girls refused to eat. The girls apart from this were happy and smiley and making others smile with their trunkies and of course because Elizabeth was dressed as a small tiger.

We got onto the plane and took off with no problems, we were sat as a 3 and 1 which was fine especially as there was a spare seat next to David. Pretty quickly Elizabeth got a bit twisty so we did some sticking or rather she did and I dozed only stirring to peel a stubborn sticker or turn a page. Alex played on her Leapster. Elizabeth eventually fell asleep on David and Alex made some necklaces. We landed at 8ish and cleared customs and immigration quickly and easily. As part of this I left David to get the bags and I tried to get the girls dressed, Elizabeth really did NOT want to get out of Tigger, I think it has become a bit of a security blanket for her. The driver was there to meet us on arrival and we quickly were transferred to our hotel. It did take a little while to get there and he was very chatty which made things easy. At one point we passed a yellow wall on one side and some red sticks on the other, the driver remembers reading that it means gateway to Melbourne city of the 21st centuary at the cutting edge of technology, no one else remembers this and calls it the cheese and crab sticks. We continued past the Childrens Hospital which has a huge McDonalds in the building !

We arrived at the hotel at around 9:40am and I went to speak to reception in the hope they had a luggage store we could put our bags in, in fact our room was ready so we went upstairs to relax. The hotel is absolutely lovely and a real treat. David stayed up, Elizabeth coloured in, Alex pottered and I went to bed. When I woke up about 12 we all got ready and we ventured out for an explore. We started off with a visit to the information centre which we found after being given direction by a very nice chap who saw us looking confused, this also meant we heard the difference between an Oz and NZ accent properly. We picked up some information and then went for lunch, girls were whingey. After lunch we went for a wlk through the city to a playpark near the river. The playpark was good and the girls had a lovely time there. I spoke to a chap who was the there with his son, they were in the process of emigrating.

Melbourne is so big and bustling. We were pretty overwhelmed by it after NZ, just incredible. It is so much busier and more cosmopolitan than Auckland.

After the playground we walked to the Eureka Sjydeck and went up to the 88th floor, pretty high ! Again the girls loved it and Elizabeth kept making David's stomach turn by leaning on the glass. Alex decided that if you fell you would land on a lower building and then you could just jump onto lower and lower buildings until you reached the ground. Alex and I went out onto the terrace very briefly but it was too much for both of us. The view from the observation floor was amazing and you could see exactly how large the city is - which is huge. There was the opportunity to go onto the edge for an additional amount but there was no way we were going to stand in 3m square glass box suspended 300m above the ground.

A slow walk home took us via a small shop which yielded a very poor selection of food and we ended up with beans for tea for the girls which cost £2 for one tin! They were not even Heinz ! By the time we reached home Elizabeth was fast asleep so David get her ready for bed. It is our foolproof method of deciding to wake her for tea or not, if she rouses she gets tea, if not she goes to bed. Alex loved her beans on toast so it was worth it. David went out and found us a takeout of noodles while Alex and I watched the end of Madagascar. Alex was in bed for just past 7, she has done amazingly well given she has not slept since we left the motel in NZ.