well it's been i bust week since neila nd ali turned up last saturday (4th), I met them at the airport and it was like I had seen them a week again. We spent the rest of saturday just catching up on their travels in hong kong and what I had been up to since I last spoke to them. Early nights were had by all ready to start the sight seeing of melbourne.

Sunday we spent a lot of the day looking around the city and for a internet cafe so they could up load their travel photo's from hong kong as they didn't want to lose them. We all went to hard rock cafe for dinner and jo one of the girls I made friends with came along as it was her last night in melbourne. Had a really good food too much. Monday we went to melbourne museum up in carlton north of the city. it was really good had lots of wildlife from around australia and it had a exhibit on how melbourne has change throughout the years. They also had the robinson's kitchen from neighbours and in the fridge is scott and charlenes wedding cake which took me back in time. We went to the casino in the afternoon and had a little gamble $10 each and the winning you could keep or gamble. I was up $35 and Ali $20 neil lost everything, he was never good at gambling and they didn't have the slot machines he likes, so he had to play the big boys tables.

Tuesday we went to phillip island which is located southeast of melbourne and take about 1 and 1/2 hours to get there. It was a full packed day, we started with some wine tasting at a winery called gurdies named after a rollarcoaster that used to travel through the hills where the winery was located. We tried sweet and dry wine, all the red wine varieties, sherry and port. I was gonna buy some but it cost $18 a bottle and it woudn't have lasted long. After the wine tasting we visited a wildlife conservation place called maru on the way to phillip island. Here we got to see lots of australian wildlife, which was nice for neil and ali as they hadn't seen koala's or kangaroo's before just as I hadn't when I got here. We also saw dingo's and the tasmanian devil which was crazy running around and we were told that is would bite us if we put our fingers/hands here him. As you can see by the photos we got to feed some kanagroo's which made my day their were really friendly and didn't fight over getting fed. Got lots of great photo's and memories that day. There was one really big kangaroo called ig trevor which you can see by the photo is nearly as big as neil. After lunch we headded to phillip island, we stopped at a chocolate factory when on the island and got some free samples of the locally produced chocolate which was really good and yes i did buy some white chocolate truffles. We visited a beach called cape woolamai where the victorian surf competitions are held if one of the other beaches cant be used. It was freezing at the beach and the waves where really big, you could see why there use that beach. After another short bus ride we were at the nobbles and in view of sea rock 1km off shore. The nobbles are a rock formation with very big waves and you could view the blow hole. We got to the famous penguin parade aout 5pm just enough time to look around the gift shops and then go downto the beach to view the penguins coming in from the sea. They are the world smallest penguins at about 30 inches high, and it takes them about 3/4 attempts to get from the surf to the beach as they are scared to be in the open. We saw about 10-15 pengiuins come in and then on the walk back to the bus we got to see them up close and walking to their boxes where they take residence. It was amazing seeing the wildlife in their natural surroundings. Unfortunately we could have our photo's take with the penguins as the camera flash blinds the penguins but we got a computer image photo taken which was just as good.

wednesday we went around the city again and saw some of the sights, which including going up the tallest tower in melbourne, eureka 300 metres high and you could go out onto a glass floor hanging out of the building but we decided not to do that as it was an extra cost.

Thursay was the best day in my eyes we went to queen victoria market in the morning and got some free sample of local produce and then in the after noon when on the official neighbours tour to the street. On the way we visited the high school erinsborough high which is an anaogram of neighbours something i didn't know. We also saw the outside sets use for the gargae and grease monkeys the burger cafe. We then went to the street which is actually really small it only has 6 houses and is called pin oak court. there is a security guard on patrol up the street as there was been some stupid peopl e exposing their bodies down the street and people do actually live in the houses. They do get paid for using their homes but we didn't get told how much. After we'd een to the street we got to meet a cast member so we met connor if anyone remembers him he was the irish bloke, who went out with phillip's daughter about 3 years ago. Got lots of photos of the street and i'm gonna got to the neighbours night in the city on monday to hopefully meet some more cast members.

I've got 4 days to see the rest of melbourne before I travel to sydney for 3 days on a bus tour with stops on the way. Then i meet up with neil and ali again for my b'day which will be lovely I cant wait.