Hey v, sorry i havn't returned your text message.lovely to hear from you, i have had problems with my handset so i can't text back. i am looking forward to my move seems to be pulling a few heart strings though! good luck with your job hunting and just don't give up on yourself with it. keep triumphing over yourself! miss you heaps and sending daimoku lots and lots of love sis
hello toby well done pal for your new job you'll look like hulk hogan on return! muscle man! he! he! take care Becsx

Hello you two, just a quick one as I'm writing the updates at the mo. Your both looking really well. Just looked at some of your pics (some won't download at work) and wanted to say Tobes I'm pleased you got pro evo sorted...I'm sure you were getting withdrawal symptoms!! V I love the fact you met ode Ronald Macdonald...how is he these days? Also love the fact that both of you managed to get the word "Cockburn" behind you whilst ice skating, that made me chuckle. Nice one about the job Tobes, can't believe it's harder than Saino's though...Reeni don't worry your turn shall come...although it may be an idea to let Tobes do the hard work whilst you go and chill on the beach mmmmmm theres a thought.

Anyway keep the photos coming..am sending an email now with an update!!!

Love to you both, miss ya loads (don't get me started again Verina)..Gem xx

P.s Going to the Bestival this weekend so will give you a report on that. Tobes is Jason going this year? x

Hi,

Sounds like you are getting settled in St Kilda is so nice i knew you would both love it and glad to hear you took our advice about the coffee palace! Well Toby landscape gardening like to see that you are getting off ya ass and pretty hard work at that! sure you will get something soon reeny you probs already have. We have just finished our dive courses i did my open water and nick did his advanced went diving today at Sipidan for some fun dives and saw a few big grey reef sharks and about 50 turtles, s***loads of different tropical fish if you guys can you should definatley make a stop in Borneo its the s***!!!
We are off to Thailand tommorow but heard that it is a bit rainy on the islands so we are heading straight north to Chiang Mai then coming back round to the islands in december for crimbo and new year as weather is supposed to be sweet then and best diving season yey!! Well better go was nice to hear what ur up to, and hope you both continue to have a wicked time, take care and will mail again soon.

Love Rach & Nick xx
p.s must say we do miss our vodka marathons in Freo how many bottles was it??? go on gewl

Alright Toby & Verina, sorry not been in touch before but only just really checking it out now. Looks like your having a great time so jealous. Not much going on in Derby or at JS, still crap as ever nothng seems to change. Be in touch soon got to go.

G'day loved ones!! hope you are all well, just a quick update, havent been upto much this week just getting our bearings around Melbourne its such a huge city, so much to do and see. Havent seen much as weve just been searching for work constantly and going to interviews etc, ive applied for so many jobs, both verina and i got a job at a Vietnamese newspaper in the sales dept the pay was all commision!! i then got a job for one of Australias biggest internet providers but the hours werent good and it was not full time.
I decided to start labouring as it is well paid but very hardwork, did landscape gardening yesterday the hardest days work ever, luckily it got rained off today so i get a day to recover, really good money though i take home $160 a day!! so im going to be doing this for a few months, Verina's been signing upto loads of temping agencies so the work should start coming in soon.
Oh yes nearly forgot to tell you, on Sunday night we started going to Salsa lessons!! not my idea i promise, it wasnt half as bad as i thought, had a lot of fun and did learn quite alot.
We'll leave a bigger message on the board soon, im starving need to go and get a feed!! xxx xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Alright chaps?

I'm feelin good. I'll pop a nice long e-mail in your account in a sec Tobe n fill you in a bit. Not much to tell really so don't get too excited. I'll be lookin out for that control button. Is that jet-setting master of the waves Powelly there yet?! That boy turns his hand to anything, AND is better at cycling than me! Anyway, sounds like you're having way too much fun and meeting some real cool people. Keep it up. Take care u both.

Baird.

Or8 youff, hayagooin. Dahnere loks soundasfook, I wagunnagooteaoz yonksago, but makoalagetsnervyonplaneslike saahnockeditonead. Canyagerra sahnd ale like , aheerddat vicsiss***hot. Whereyagooinnext, ihopeyatekkineetallinmeduck cozwhenyaanowdfocker yagoorahavesommit totell ya nippasandgrandkiddies noworramean like me duck. Anyways lookaveryersens and haveagoodtoime like. Tarra xxx

Yo yo, how's it going, sounds like your seeing some nice places. getting a bit more money from my job here in Crete now so I might be spending a lot more soon, still loads of girls about, thats all from me for the minute, take care.

Hey v and toby, great to hear your adventures, you've probably spoken to mum and dad recently and know whats happening. well, i'm moving to Kent 24th September, i have one more week at work told the kids yesterday that i was leaving. feeling quite attached to the place typical just as i go! yeter has been staying for the last week and is sitting beside me she has hours to finish her dissertation! it is now 1.20pm and its in for 5pm yikes! she has support from her new squeeze! she sends her love and will email you verina soon. i'm much better than i was and looking forward to new avenues in Kent, I will be sad to say goodbye to friends here. anyway guys better go take care of yourselves look forward to seeing photos from Melbourne. lots of love and hugs Becsxxxx

Hi, missing you but reading your messages is like listening to you talking. Looking at your photos makes me want to be there with you.Lucky Matt for being able to join you.Seems that both you Jason and I are all job hunting at the moment.I've been working lots and training with Steve Marsh who says that my rowing has improved so much that I should train to qualify for entry in the Olympics in Boston! So thats what he's pushing me towards!Can you believe it!Took Brutus on the Fort walk at Bembridge - he loved it apart from nearly having to swim for apart of it!Then there was a bbq on the beach after which I did ask Jason and rachael to but Jason was seeing Ian who I think was getting married next day. As I told you Barbados was beautiful and we went around the whole island. I swam in both the Carribean and Atlantic Ocean in the same day!And guess what - I'm being taken again!More work first though. Bought some more Jack Johnson to get me through my working day.....and I did actually sit under a mango tree! But I was let off of making banana pancakes ......too many restaurants to go to.Went to Sandy Lane, Lonestar,Champers .....all the places Cliff Richards,Blair, Jodie Kidd,Cilla black go to. I have to say you are both looking well in the photos.Verina you're looking lovely!Love you lots! Mumxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ello guys!
Hope you two are ok, sorry i haven't been in touch in a while but got my phone disconnected and only got it back on on friday. still sounds absolutely wicked i am so jealous but will be going out to thailand next year to meet upwith egg and hariet so will co-incide it with when you are there too.

i am a bit more settled in birmingham now working in a bar part time and got a second interview tomorrow at robs work and i have an interview at vodafone as well, and a week today i have a temporary contract forthree months in birmingham city centre if i dont get robs one.

just hadeveryone over for the weekend and went to see too many dj's at medicine bar it was fooking fantastic.

anyway my phone is working now so will drop you a text this week. let us know if any more fantastic trips or adventures you have

laters len xxx
P.S. looks like the scum are doing quite well mate but dont worry it wont last the mighty reds will take over very soon

After spending 4 days in Adelaide it was time to move on, we had arranged to pick up the luxury campervan at 9:30 on thurs 24th we had to drop it off in Melbourne at 3pm on sat 26th!!! if we were late we would lose $800, we met a couple in the hostel who were going to get a coach to melbourne so we invited them along for the roadtrip. We found out that they had upgraded the van to the top of the range, even had a tv, dvd, playstation 2 (unfortunately no pro evo tho!) But our Irish friend steve had a psp with pro evo5 on it anyway!!! The guy at the rental even gave us a sat navigator so there was no way we could get lost.

To start the road trip we took a short detour to the bottle shop in which our new Irish friends brought half the shop and we had plenty of food supplies so we headed of, still not quite believing our luck at scoring such a cool van. It was an automatic so it was plain sailing as we headed out of Adelaide hills in the wine region passing hundreds of vineyards on the way. We decided to take a detour through the Grampians Mountain range its a huge National Park, these were amazing we drove to McKenzie Falls and had a look around met a few Roos, they were in the fields so many of them like sheep back at home.
It started to get dark and a bit eeire as we drove around the windy mountain roads especially as sum of the bush had been in a fire its all growing back from last year so the trees were all black and dark. We found a campsite at Halls Gap and stopped for the night. We had a few beers and watched some DVDs felt very posh as the other campers eyed up our van. we were the Jones's that night.

Had an early start that morning as there was no time to waste we were already behind schedule as we were planning to be at the start of the Great Ocean Road that morning but still had a 2 hour drive to get there. We finally made our way out to the coast and started on the Great Ocean Road at Warnaboole with the first stop being Cheese World where we sampled a few cheeses, brought some crackers, and tasty chutney and got back on the road.

There were loads of places to stop along the way we averaged 800m between each view point!!! London Bridge, Loch and Gorge and the 12 Apostles (now only 7!) were best stops but the whole drive was pretty amazing. It was a long drive, in which Toby did most of it (wel all apart from when I did 10 minutes!! before it started raining and got into a town so we swapped back again, wimp!!!) He drove about 8 hours a day, think found his new calling in life gonna be a lorry driver when we get back or a bus driver.

After driving along miles of winding roads, with a perfect sea view we passed through Torquay the home of Ripcurl and Billabong surfing clothes etc, lucky for the boys we were low on time so there was no time for shopping. Arrived in Geelong where we found a place on the sea shore to stop for the night. Arrived in the dark and woke up to a beautiful sunrise.

We had no problems finding the rental garage so our fears and worrying about not getting there in time and losing the deposit had been for nothing. The relocation had been a success and worked out only $60 each. Which is about 25 quid.
Got a taxi with Lesley and Stevie into Melbourne and said our goodbyes as we headed to St Kilda. Toby learnt some Lebanese phrases with the taxi driver who made him promise to go to Lebanon in the future.

Stayed at the Coffee Palace hostel, had a wonder around, St Kilda is wicked really funky part of town, it seems quite a young place, lots of backpackers, bars restaurants and cool shops (including lots of shoe shops!!!!) plus it is right on the beach so had a really good feeling about the place instantly. We found some numbers quickly (all the homework in Perth had paid off) and managed to get a viewing for some apartments that night.

Treated ourselves to a lovely meal at a lush place called the Veludo, and had a few drinks before settling in. Had to get up early an check out of the hostel so we went into Melbourne for a couple of hours on the tram, its only 15 mins into the city. Got of as we saw the Picasso exhibition and lovely Sunday Arts market, really made me want to get creative again.
Headed back to St Kilda to look at some more apartments, we realise that all the apartments are run by the same people as we arrive to see the same places as the night before a father and 4 sons, own them all. We found the perfect place that had become available its 10 mins from the beach and town and 2 mins to the tram for when we get work in the city. Moved in last night, its great the couple we are sharing with are really nice, ex beach lifeguards from Bournemouth, so had a few things in common. The facilites are great its got everything even a jacuzzi bath, its fully furnished so havent got to get anything.
PS. Matt when you get here there will be a bed for ya to stay, looking forward to showing you the sights! Neighbours night we think!!!

ROB, hope you had a good birthday, and enjoyed the Custard Factory! it was good to speak to you all last night, miss ya all x x

Off into Melbourne now to find the Job Agencies and get our bearings more of the city. Speak to you soon

new Address is

Flat 5 , 11 Jackson Street
St Kilda
Victoria
3182
Australia