Well Melbourne turned out to be one cool place, I guess we were expecting a busy city and yes it was a busy city but it had alot of charm.

Well we made the short hop to Phillip Island, famous for the penguin parade and the moto gp!!!! We arrived after getting miserably lost in Frankston just outside of Melbourne. We stayed at a caravan park just over the bridge entrance onto Phillip Island. It was funny because the island had places named after the Isle Of Wight e.g Cowes, Rhyde, Ventoor etc..... We decided to go to the information centre and it happened to be in a chocolate factory. Apparantly the penguin parade attracts almost 3000 people who freeze as the penguins waddle onto the beach. So after careful consideration we decided to give it a miss. We did however find a Koala Conservation centre and felt that we would plough our money into this instead. They had a tree top walk and you could see these cuddly creatures up close ad personal, they're sooo cute and cuddly. Did you know koalas have a really bad drug habit and this centre pays to get them rehabilitated!!!! We then saw the Nobbies, basically like the Lands End of Cornwall but with bird poo everywhere. The most seagulls we've seen ever. we took the board walk and saw a blow hole (reminded me of my blow hole its ever so windy at the mo). We spent 2 nights at Phillip Island but the weather wasn't very nice and Hooters had a roof leak on the morning of our departure.

We made our way to Wilsons Prom and decided to stay just outside in a free camp. Upon arrival we were informed that there were international spaces in the camp site at Tidal River so we thought we would stay on site, partly due to the distance and the hilly terrain. The camp site was really lovely and we were right next to the walks. The weather was really nice for a change so we decided to go for a really long walk. We went to Squeeky Beach and it was about 2.5kms of up and down terrain but well worth it. We definatly felt very satisfied when we arrived, the beach is definatly Squeeky, very strange!!!! The walk back seemed quicker and we bought a pint of milk and drunk it like no tommorrow!!!!!

We decided to do a longer walk and embarked on a 9.5kms trek, taking us through the forest and involved a steep climb to begin with. There was also a boardwalk too. We got back just in time as the heavens opened and it seemed that god had emptied a bucket of water down on us. We drove towards our free camp at Reeves beach. We got lost and though we would never find it (kinda wish we hadn't), but we did eventualy. I think this is what hell is like so I think i'm gonna keep praying and going for God. Imagine the scene very muddy ground, lots of old Pikey caravans, lots of dogs running aroung, little kids on adult Quad bikes and camp fires galore. 1 toilet which about 40 men were queing up for and backwards blokes with lumber jack chainsaws cutting small trees down, bul dust man would've been tearing his hair out. We decided to stay there and settled in. The weather wasn't very nice and the wind increased during the night, the rain was pelting down. In the morning we awoke to carnage, puddles as deep as swimming pools, trees blown down and the weather was still going strong. Worried we wouldn't get out, we packed away sharpish but luckily hooters done us proud. we decided we would stay in Lakes Entrance and felt the weather blowing us ever closer. Apparantly it was a full on gale and the area had severe weather warnings. There was trees down everywhere and rivers had turned into rivers, when would we see the sun and the warmth that we'd both dreamt about since Port Augusta. Lakes entrance was a bit poo and we were both disheartened with the whole weather situation. Nothing to report at the entrance, same as it seemed a really nice place!!!!

Headed into NSW and hoped to get some warmer weather soon. We free camped along this area and went to Bega and ate some cheese at the Factory, very yummy. We saw Tilba a historic town and stayed in a free camp where I witnessed a birds nest where the bird collects anything blue (bottle tops, batteries and crisp packets). Most nights we have eatten nothing but pasta as we're short on money, but don't tell the parents as they may have pity on us eatting there home cooked lovelyness. So the time had come, we headed to Batemans bay. The weather was still very off and on. We stayed at a BIG 4 as we had 1 night free. We walked into town and got woken by a family of 11 packing away. We were also treated to a sausage sizzle and ate some KFC as we were down. We walked the 3kms to town and got soaked on the way back. All in all we spent most of the time stuck in our van reading old peoples magazine.

Well next stop CANBERRA....................