Melbourne 1 (now 11 hrs ahead of GMT)

Arrived in Melbourne early evening and as we only had two days here we decided to focus on those places recommended by friends and family (thank you -you know who you are!)

Wandered to the waterfront which became an extended walk along the docks (Tom's fault re: navigation!) but by default ended up at the main riverside area and had a fabulous seafood paella, so not so bad after all! Made our way back to the hotel via the FREE tram system which was introduced over the past year and is unsurprisingly very popular.

Had pre booked Tram lunch for the next day which was just as well as found out that they are pretty much fully booked for weeks in advance. Toms thought we could fit in a city bus tour and visit to the immigration museum all before lunch at 1pm - we managed it ..just! The museum proved to be quite a stark insight into the prejudice surrounding criteria for entry to Australia right up until the 1960's and the city tour again served to give us our bearings on this whistle stop visit.

The tram lunch was amazing, the setting very plush with its Victorian décor and the three course lunch absolutely delicious and all produced from a 6x4ft kitchen. The whole while we were treated to the sights of the city and seaside area and at no point did they stop topping up on fizz, wine and beer - difficult but we pushed through it!

Quick dash to get some cooler weather gear as travelling to the ocean at Phillip Island to catch the penguin evening parade. Managed to make the bus by the skin of our teeth and settled back for the 250k round trip to see the little lovelies! In fairness, it was incredibly cute watching scores of penguins waddling from to sea and up and over the dunes to their burrows seemingly calling to their mates to follow. Sue was in her element and there was also an added bonus of getting our first sighting of Wallabies in the wild during the journey home. Got back to the city around 11pm and of course everything was closed down - good job we'd had such a substantial lunch!