HELLO!!! I'm now eleven hours in front and in MELBOURNE! It took us three and a half hours to get here from Western Australia and I leave tomorrow! Daft I know, but, my travel agent who I booked my outback tour with cocked up and I wasn't able to go on my tour to Ayers Rock from Perth - so I'm now doing it from Melbourne - early hours of tomorrow! This tour does sound better though - although it does last slightly longer and did cost slightly more. But it takes in the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide and I go on a tour of Kangaroo Island and do another wine tour, then from there I go on towards Alice Springs and Uluru, should all last about two weeks and then I catch a flight from there to Sydney where I'll meet up with Alex. She on the other hand is going to Ramsey Street! - 'Sweet As!!', 'No Worries!!' - more Aussie sayings! I've found myself talking like an Aussie now, I asked Alex today where my 'Sunnys' were and if she'd seen my 'bathers'. We got well confused with our Aussie mates in Africa when they talked about 'Thongs' - we call 'em 'Flip flops'!

So . . . I can't tell you much about Melbourne cos we only arrived an hour ago and it's now 9pm and I leave tomorrow at 6am. But Perth on the other hand! It is so nice, I can understand why so many Brits go over there and why some decide to live there. It's such a beautiful city and the park there is the biggest inner city park in the world and has a great view of the city and the beautiful Swan River. So many people use the river, there are speed boats and sailing boats and when the sun is shining (which apparently is nearly always) it looks stunning! The shopping is great too with loads of arcades and shopping centres and there are so many restaurants offering alfresco dining. OH and I'll tell thi what - the beaches are absolutely gorgeous! We went to two beaches, the first was City Beach where we saw a beautiful sunset, we slept in the car that night! and then the following day we went to - get this - 'Scarborough Beach' - it's never seen Scarborough! This place was gorgeous, so was the scenery! I would definately go back! Oh, and we saw our first Kangaroos!! We hired a car down to Harvey which is about 100 mile south of Perth to visit and stay with our mate Vince from the Africa trip. We had a great time there and stayed in a street much like 'Ramsey Street' we even got talking to his 'Neighbours' and the local kids who were great! Then we jumped over his back fence in to the 'Outback' and chased Kangaroos that wa something! Then we went back in and saw Kangaroos in the street through the window so me and Vince got in the car and drove up to them so I saw them real close! Well good! So that wa Perth! 'Awesome'! That's not my lingo, just another Aussie word I remembered.

Aye so I'm leaving Alex and she's made made me laugh the last few days. Today on the plane - Well, you had to be there! And when she checked out of the hostel this morning she practically brought her mattress to reception - you're only supposed to bring the sheets! Anyway - that's me, I'm off to get me head down - early start tomorrow! Bye everyone! Please stay in touch - it's great to hear from you!