After the great Ocean road we spent a few days with Rays old school mate from Copnor, Mike Spiteri and his wife and five kids. Mikes dad was in the Australian Navy and the family immigrated when Mike was thirteen. Apart from an unexpected knock on the door, out of the blue visit a few years ago they havent seen each other since 1982.

It was lovely; we were taken to a school art/fashion show starring Mikes daughters and rode an old steam engine called 'Puffing Billy'. The train itself is over one hundred years old but continues to run on its original mountain track through the magnificent Dandenong Ranges 40kms east of Melbourne. We took the train through the beautiful countryside to a place called 'Emerald' and I was surprised to see Thomas the Tank Engine and friends at the station when we arrived, very much like a day out at The Bluebell Railway in Sussex…. That Reverend Awdry don't arf get about!

On Veterans Day Mike took us on a sightseeing tour of Melbourne including, The Shrine ; a fantastic imposing war memorial overlooking the city, a very beautiful and poignant place especially that day, 11/11. Then onto the Eureka Sky Deck Tower with awe inspiring views of Melbourne and the highest viewpoint in the southern hemisphere and then Fitzroy Gardens where Captain Cook's cottage stands. The cottage was built in the village of Great Ayton, Yorkshire in 1755 but in 1933 it was dismantled and shipped to Melbourne in 253 packing cases and rebuilt in the park brick by brick. It's a quirky little place but you can imagine the great explorer coming home after years of discovering half the planet to his little cottage and his long suffering and probably very lonely wife. Amazing really when you think that in seventeen years of marriage, they only saw each other for a few months but managed to produce six children and they all lived together in that tiny space. They may have continued to reproduce had he not been savaged and killed in a fight with some angry Hawaiians in 1779. In the garden stands a bronze statue of Captain Cook and right next to it there is a dressing up box where tourists can try on clothing from the era of explorers. I don't know how I did it but I managed to persuade Ray and Mike to dress up ....very funny to see these two friends doing 'I see no ships' and having a go at the Hornpipe dance both looking like a Little and Large/Morecombe and Wise combo.. in drag!! (Please go to photo section)

On Sunday Mike and his wife Kerrie took us to Phillip Island and the alleged ' must see for all tourists' The Penguin Parade. A wonderful spot for bird watching and wildlife on the Nobbies Peninsula (hee hee, childish snigger!!)...sadly no penguins but a fantastic coastline and some strange looking geese with luminous green beak's and hundreds of seagulls, petrels and skewer's flying overhead. Unfortunately I was on the flight path of one of them and it launched a great big, daggie splat of seagull tummy rubbish which landed all over my foot and smelled of crab!! ..Mikes kids thought that was hilarious!...Yuk!

That night we were treated to a proper barby with steak and shrimps and tinnies of lovely amber nectar!...proper Aussieness!

On Monday we headed back to Melbourne and continued our sightseeing tour on our own using the ancient rickety trams to get around the city, stopping off to find out about the outlaw, Ned Kelly, Australian Immigration over the years and just generally wandering about, strolling down the beautiful Yarra River and soaking up the laid back Melbournian ways, Auzzie sunshine and at times, avoiding the chilly, almost British winds with a lovely warm cinnamon latte in the cafe's in Federation Square.

We wandered into an art gallery where they we asking people to draw cartoons which would eventually be collected together and made into a comic for one of their up and coming exhibitions. So we dutifully sat on the bean bag cushions with all the other kids and I drew my usual fat smiley snail with a flowery hat and boots and Ray drew a character who he and Mike had invented as kids called 'Sly Snorkey'...(again see photos)..You never know, our art work may already be on display in Melbourne's art gallery.

We had a great time in Melbourne and Victoria. The Great Ocean Road was spectacular, Mike and his family were so welcoming and such lovely people and Melbourne is a wonderful bright, busy and vibrant city but also has a lovely laid back, chilled out feel to it but as we have found to our cost, Australia is incredibly expensive so we decided to start travelling up the East coast stopping off in the Gold Coast for a day or two and then onto Airley Beach, Queensland and what for me will be the highlight of the Australian leg...The Great Barrier Reef!!!!