I left Mooroopna backpackers on Friday afternoon and was lucky enough to catch a lift from one of the guys working at the cannery. As soon as I got back into Melbourne I felt an immediate buzz that I hadn't felt for a while. Being stuck in a small town for over two months is a bit different to the hustle and bustle of a big city and it was nice to be back into civilisation again, albeit if it was only going to be for a week or so before heading off to complete my three months seasonal work.

I booked into Urban Central again, my favourite hostel in Australia and hit the bar as soon as I got there, which became a frequent occurrence over the two weeks I stayed there. Melbourne was a little bit different to the last time I was there. Obviously almost everyone I met previously had moved on and the weather was very different to the 45 degree temperatures I had experienced the last time I was here but apart from that pretty much everything was the same.

The first weekend I was there I had a night out in Brunswick Street which is in the suburb of Fitzroy. I didn't have the chance to get over to Fitzroy last time and I had heard it was one of the better spots to go out. The night became a bit of a pub crawl as we visited bar after bar. There are some excellent bars over in this part of the city and, much to my pleasant surprise, we came a cross a Little Creatures beer hall. Little Creatures is my favourite pub back in Fremantle and they brew their own beer. The atmosphere and set-up at the pub back in Freo was awesome, so I was intrigued to compare Melbourne's version. Needless to say it was no comparison, although it was still a pretty good place to have a few drinks. The original more often than not is always the best!

During my stay in Melbourne I managed to go to a few bars and clubs including a backpacker bar - the Joint, a good late night bar with plenty of backpackers to mingle with, Sorry Grandma - a newly opened bar which was good for cheesy music and open very late and the Pitt - a late night bar not great on atmosphere but perfect for a pint after 4am. Perfect if you are trying to stay up to watch the Champions League football at 4.45am!

The highlight of my couple of weeks in Melbourne was undoubtedly my evening rubbing shoulders with the Neighbours stars at Neighbours Night at the Elephant & Wheelbarrow in St Kilda. Because of the popularity of Neighbours, especially with the British & Irish contingent of backpackers, Neighbours night is run every Monday and involves a quiz, followed by a chance to meet some of the stars of Neighbours past and present and is topped off by some musical entertainment by Karl Kennedy's band 'Waiting room'. It was a fantastic evening. Our team managed to finish second in the trivia evening which consisted of Neighbours questions and general knowledge, I also managed to get to meet Rachel Kinskey, Amy Greenwood - who used to play Lance's girlfriend, Stingray & of-course the legend himself - Karl Kennedy. Paul Robinson also sang with Karl's band at the end. During the evening we all had the chance to ask the Neighbours stars one question through the night which was quite entertaining. One of the guys in our group had been showing off his 'disappearing pen trick' a couple of nights before and we suggested that he put the question "Do you want to see a magic trick" to one of the cast. Funnily enough his question was one that was chosen and he had to go up on stage and show off his pen trick. Unfortunately it went horribly wrong and the disappearing pen (attached to bit of elastic held at the back of his T-shirt) didn't disappear but snapped off the elastic! However he still got a good round of applause!

I also went to see my first AFL match at the Etihad stadium (formerly the Telstra arena). I went to see St Kilda versus Western Bulldogs. St Kilda were unbeaten going into the match and emerged victorious in front of quite a large crowd. It was my first experience of a live AFL game and I enjoyed it, although I can't really compare it to the atmosphere of a football match. I'll definitely go to a few more if and when I get the chance while I am over here.

I stayed in Melbourne for almost two weeks before heading to Adelaide on the greyhound bus. I booked into 'My place' backpackers again - the lady that ran it remembered me from 6 months ago and enquired what I was doing back there! The backpackers is very friendly there and a nice place to stop off for a week or so. The plan was to stay for a night and then head on to the Riverland to find work, but as soon as I started ringing around hostels in the Riverland area I found that they were all full. I stumbled across a hostel in Renmark, 'Renmark-Paringa' backpackers and was luckily enough to ring at the right time as the hostel manager told me a couple were due to move out in a few days. I decided to book the room and would try to find work when I got there. I later found out that the couple that vacated the room were my mates Robbie and Mandy. Small world!

While in Adelaide I managed to make it to the Haigh's Chocolate factory for the tour. which I wanted to do the first time I was in Adelaide We got some free samples which were much appreciated by a chocoholic like myself and learned a bit about the history of Haigh's chocolates. Haigh's is a family business which had a link up with Lindt chocolates in Switzerland and a lot of the processes and the way the chocolate is made was taken from Lindt. It was only a short tour but quite insightful and worth it for the free chocolate alone.

While there I managed to secure a couple of days work helping a local sports store move boxes. Well, I say a couple of days work - but it turned out to be just about one hours work. I did the work with Kev - an English lad who I met in the hostel and he decided to come up to Renmark as well to look for seasonal work.

On the day I departed Adelaide I received a text from Robbie, the Irish lad that I worked with at the farm and the cannery telling me he was in Renmark. Funny how these things work out but we are all working together at the Packing shed now - my first day is tomorrow. The job will involve moving boxes for the guys and packing oranges for the girls. No doubt it will be hard physical labour but I only need to stick it out for 18 days to get the second year visa. The intention, though, is to stay here a lot longer.

Renmark is a lot different to Shepparton! Renmark is located on the Murray River and is actually a really nice town with a few more things to do than Mooroopna & Shepparton did. The backpackers is clean which is good and we have been playing football with the footie-mad Koreans as well as paying the local pub and nightclub a visit as well. So another town, a new adventure and well see how it goes……..!