I was so tired when I wrote my last blog that I forgot to mention 2 very important things:

1) The surfing has left me with so many bumps and bruises that my legs look like they did when I was learning to ride a bike and kept falling off!I do have one nasty cut, which is literally a little hole in my knee. Luckily it is very small or I think I would be needing a small stich but its healing well.

2) I thought the guys at work ate a lot at dinner time, but the surf instructor had 4, thats 4 big mac MEALS in one sitting! I was gobsmacked, he ate the lot. Wowsa!

So after a lovely nights sleep I again awoke up for a prompt 6.30 start for my Sydney to Melbourne safari. Our first stop was Canberra which I must say, for a capital city was earily quiet, a complete ghost town with no atmosphere whatsoever. Our first stop was Parliment House which was actually very interesting (for politics) the 'Senate' side of the house was a pink room complete with pink seats of different shades - I was almost going to ask how to get a job as one of these politicians just so I could go and sit in there and work. The house was actually pretty cool and outside was a Julia Gillard lookalike who does videos and puts them on you tube - she was really funny and of course I am in the back of one of the videos (probably looking very confused!) so I must try and find it.

Following the house we went see the different embassys, which was quite interesting with all the funky buildings. My personal favourite was the 'illegal one', its one for Aboriginals and it is a caravan/shed but its illegal and they keep taking it down and people keep putting it up. I think I liked it because I like what it stands for - I am getting quite in to the debate about the Aboriginal people (I really think the heat is starting to affect me).

The tour leader (called Squirtle - hmmm) liked to tell us stories and then play funny songs to us. We did have some classic ones, the first was about all the things in Australia that could kill you. The second was to remind us why we were on holiday - it was all about how rubbish the London Underground is, and then we had some on taz, the royals....everything you could think of!

From Canberra we went to Thredbo where we stayed in a hotel which had the most amazing jaccuzzi - of course the 5 English and 2 french ladies were straight in there! It was very hot which was good as it was a little chilly up the mountains. That night we had pizza and then did 'ski shots'. Basically a ski with holes in for shot glasses that you couldnt touch - I had to do it with sprite as the alcohol had ameretto in!

After all the fun of the ski shots we went for a little drive down to the cable car for Mount Koscuszko (I think thats how it is spelt) which is the highest mountain in Australia. And this is a story, so bear with me..... We took a cable car up about 1900 feet and had the last 200 meters to climb if we were quick enough because this 200 meters was actually a 14km walk there and back and we only had 2 hours 30. I wanted to do it and started off then was kinda in the middle of the very fast group and the very slow group so I powered on and got to the top about 5 mins after the other 4 people who reached the top. The weather was just like England, it hailed at a 90 degree angle straight into your face (ouch!) and rained, it blew a gale, it was really misty and I couldnt see much in front of me... typical English countryside weather. I had on a top, fleece and jacket with cotton trousers and walking boots so although I was protected I resembled a drowned rat for the majority of the climb. So anyway, got to the top, loved it, now thinking its a good idea to join some sort of English walking challenge tour group (seriously, its the heat) and off I went back down the mountain. Now, on the way up the mountain you walk along a metal grid thing and a few stoney bits and you pass a toilet about 500 meters from the top. So I start walking down and am doing a little jog as I decided I was going to be about 5 mins late and i didnt want to hold the group up so I decide to run to the metal bit as I couldnt run on that as it was very slippy. So off I go and get to a cross roads, around a hair pin bend was a sign saying 'main track' and the other more straight in front of me said 'Rosso place' or something. So i think ah yes main walking track, continue to run. I run for about 3km and meet a woman who asks if I am going to 'Charlottles pass' I say 'no the cable car' and she informs me I am walking completely in the wrong direction, I should have gone straight over not left. Ah no. There is no radio contact, I have no water, no snack, nothing. So I walk with this lady 3km back to where I was, by now I know I am going to be about 45 mins late back and I am on my own. So the lady points me down the hill and off I go. Until I get to the place where the toilet is and there are about 5 different directions I can go in and I am all confused as to what I am doing and where I am going. Que another lady who looks at me and wonders what on Earth I am doing. She gives me a banana and points me back to the metal track which I just need to follow. I walk, wind blowing everywhere, me getting more anxious that the bus is going without me and eventally I make it down the cable car, an hour late to the tour guide frantically trying to establish if anyone has been injured as the others had said I was 5 mins behind them and I dont turn up. Apparently they were just about to launch a mountain resucue as it had never occured to anyone, the tour guide or professionals that I could possibly vere off track and get lost. After that I was assigned to someone to always stay with me just in case! Ooops! On the plus side the mountain people are now looking at better signage.

So we are back on the bus and the tour group are just so relieved Im ok that no one is angry - I think they took one look at me exhausted (I forgot to say I only had a small bowl of cerel to eat and was walking 20km in about 3 hours 30) and freezing cold that everyone was very sweet. So we had a 5 hour drive to the next place and we had a school disco theme in the bus. We were playing all the old school tracks that you havent heard for years, Im talking Hanson, S club 7, Spice Girls, Hear'say, saved by the bell theme tune, baywatch theme...it was ace! I am actually enjoying sitting on the bus a little more than some of the activities! I was singing along and dancing in my seat when one of the ladies from Argentina thinks I should try and go on the X factor - hmmmm!

So we arrive at the next place Lake Entrance only 45 mins late... and go straight for dinner. Fish and chips. Proper fish and chips from a chip shop. Mmmmm! And as we were heating there was a huge electrical storm. That was pretty scary. It pratically stopped when we left to go to the hostel but we couldnt get to the bus as it was in a small pool of water it had rained that much. So the tour guide waded through and brought the bus to dry land - yey! Back at the hostel it was like being on a school trip all sat in the bedrooms talking and of course many questions were asked of my little adventure. Why didnt I realise I had not passed the toilet up the hill, why didnt I think it was weird no one else was walking on the path...things I wonder myself but will never know the answer to. I am just not pratically directionally minded with any kind of sense of distance or direction. I have learnt though always take a map, or a friend!

So another early start - 6.45 on the bus and we continue the theme of music with the love hour, 60s hour, 70s hour etc and arrive at Wilsons Prom national park. We went for a walk in the grass (I was not amused, i was wearing flip flops!) and saw about 60 wild kangaroos and they all got a fright and started hopping together past us, which was really amazing to see. Then we saw 2 Emus (ew!) and the off for a lovely walk to Squeaky beach. Of course out comes the jokes about me not being left on my own to walk down a path with no turns but I am definately getting used to this!

That brings me to where I am now, Melbourne. Of course I was dropped DIRECTLY outside the hostel so I wouldnt get lost, and as I left one of the girls yelled 'see you on the telly', I cant think what she means, although I am getting told I should either be a childrens TV presenter or a tour guide with my over enthusiasm for silly things. I saw a sign for Berwick and got so exited I had to take a photo...

So in my hostel I made myself my favourite meal of my holiday so far, a tin of beans and am washing everything in my backback as with all the wet clothes my bag is a little musty, eww!

Tomorrow its neighbours and the disney moving pictures exhibition and hopefully Hairspray the Musical!

Pray that I can navigate my way around...

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