Hello. This is an update from the previous entry in which I will elaborate on some of the things Jamie mentioned (briefly).

Neighbours night in Melbourne was one of the highlights of the trip so far. We arrived at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, an apparent 'Olde English Pub' giddy with excitement. After a brief jug of beer we lined up to get into the 'Neighbours Area'. Of course we were near the front of the queue, and so managed to sit close to the front. Once the festivities began the room was full to bursting with happy, over-excited and over-indulged neighbours fans (us included). The stars came out and talked a while (Stuart, Connor, Janelle and of course Dr Karl). They then walked round the room meeting people, signing stuff, getting their pictures taken and basking in their own legendary glory (especially Karl). There was a neighbours quiz, in which we came 4th, and some prizes and then Dr Karl and his band 'Waiting Room' took to the stage. A brilliant end to an unforgettable night.

The next day we embarked upon the Neighbours Tour of Ramsay Street. This was unspectacular as they were filming on the street so we could not take pictures of the houses, but we did see some filming which was cool. We then met another cast member...Declan. We were dissappointed with this. Apparently that weekend had been the 'Logies' like the Australian Brit Awards. The whole cast got hammered and one went to hospital. No matter how much we kept asking Declan he wouldn't tell us who it was. Needless to say we did NOT line up to get his autograph.

However, all was not in vain as we had a second chance to visit Ramsay Street, which came in the form of 'Nessie', our campervan. After a tram and a train ride to the sticks of Melbourne we found the 'Wicked' Campervan company and picked her up. We then drove back to St Kilda to pick up our bags and buy food and a couple of crates of beer. We then turned her round and drove right back to Ramsay street, which this time was open, and got our pictures of the houses. These pictures will go up soon. We then decided to power all the way through from one side of Melbourne to the other and then a bit further to the start of the Great Ocean Road, a town called Torquay.

The next 5 days with 'Nessie' were incredible. The Great Ocean Road is an amazing sight as Jamie has said, with the waves crashing on rocks mere feet from the road on one side and sheer rock face on the other. There are some eye-watering pictures that will go up soon. For example we turned a corner on the way back from a campsite one morning and were hit by a stunning panoramic view of rolling hills on all sides which stretched down to the sea and beaches in the distance. Nice. We stayed mainly on campsites (some harder to reach than others). One of which was at the end of about 45 minutes of dirt track, in the middle of the forest covered mountains. But the solitude and the idyllic scene we found was worth it. We awoke to discover a mob of kangaroos milling about. (yes that is the correct collective noun). On the morning of the last day we drove back to Melbourne and said goodbye to Nessie. However we still had 15 beers left over from the night before, so we made our way back to Melbourne centre to find a quite place by the river to drink, as we had a flight that day.

Now the flight...what a disaster. Jamie and I booked the flight. However we didn't read the part about which airport our flight was from. Therefore we turned up in plenty of time to discover that our flight number was not on the board. We looked, puzzled at the booking. We were at the wrong airport. An agonizingly slow and expensive cab ride later got us to the right airport...15 minutes too late. So a late fee and a few hour wait was our punishment. Oh Dear.

However we got to Sydney, and booked into a sham of a hostel. 16 people is too many in one room. We left early the next day to get to Bondi.

Tomorrow we are flying to Brisbane and Byron Bay.

Speak to you soon

Love JDJ