So on the sunday morning 10am after Adams house party we left Perth bound for Melbourne via Adelaide. Yes it was a bit of a hangover flight. We landed to 5pm ( with the time difference), We worked out the transport system pretty quickly and got a bus and then a tram to St Kilda, and found our hostel - did you hear that, i said Hostel! Our first experience of a hostel...i was a little scared i must admit. But even when i have to backpack properly i still do it in style ( or so i think) The hostel was call the Ritz for Backpackers! lol!!! We dumped our bags and went to explore St Kida. There were people everywhere, and some people were dressed ...actually they were undressed! and we realised it was Gay Pride Parade! What a day to first experience St Kilda.....you can imagine some of the sights we saw..... gross, funny, shocking, we saw it all.

The following day we did a 3 day Grampians and Great Ocean Rd tour, which was awesome. There were 16 of us, everyone got on brilliantly and we were all up for the crack! The Grampians are one of the world's oldest and most spectacular mountain ranges. We hiked through a wonderland range within the Grampians National Park, Halls Gap. Then we visited an Aboriginal Culture Centre in Brambuk where we learned a little about the Indigenous history and culture of the area and saw wild Kangaroos for the first time in Australia. Then climbed to the bottom of MacKenzie falls where we got some cool shots of the waterfall. The second day we were up early to complete a challenging hike to the 'pinnacle' which was a little hard work but the views made it sooooo worth it. Next we hit the GOR which has some of Australia's most picturesque views around every bend, we stopped at view points for pictures at Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs, London Bridge -There is a funny story behind London Bridge. It was originally called London bridge because it looked like our 'London bridge' funnily enough. The rock formation used to be one and people could walk to the very end of. But in 1990 the middle part of the bridge collapsed and a man and woman got stranded out on the far part of the bridge ( now a tiny island) They had to be evacuated by helicopters, this incident understandably raised high live media awareness. Here's the funny bit, the couple were having an extra-marital affair,enjoying a stolen day together, can you imagine getting caught out like that! serves them both right, right! lol. The Twelve Apostles where Anna and I took a $70 12-15 min helicopter ride over the GOR and 12 Apostles. I have never been in a helicopter before and it was seriously the single most thrilling thing iv done since being in Australia but has to come second to the diving though of course. Lock Ard Gorge was the last stop but if im honest i didn't see this stop as i was on such a high from being up in the sky watching the windy GOR and apparently some of the most scenic coastlines in the world, i have to agree the views up there can not be beaten. We got some really great shots. Our overnight pit stop was in a little town called Princetown where only 15 people reside..... and there is even a pub and their own wine! After dinner we took a trip back to the 12 Apostles aboard the party bus! to watch the sun set. I dont think you were allowed to drink on the bus or at the Apostles but we had the best guide ( who remain anonymous so they keep their job!!!) had such a fun evening. Day three included an early morning aerial tree top walk elevated to 25 meters above the forest floor at The Otway Fly. On the drive back to Melbourne we stopped in Lorne for lunch, searched for wild koalas at Kennett River. Had our photos taken at the famous GOR sign, where we learnt that the Great Ocean Road is a 243 km stretch of road in Victoria along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the cities of Torquay and Warrnambooll. The road was constructed to provide work for returning soldiers from the First World War and dedicated as a Memorial to those killed in the war. It is one of Australia's great scenic coastline drives. We then checked out the world famous surf spot 'Bells Beach' the home of the annual Rip Curl Pro, held every Easter, the oldest professional surfing contest in the world. Our last stop of the day was at Torquay where we shopped at surf label factory outlets and had an ice cream, before heading back into the city for about 6pm! Cathryn met us at the drop off point and it was so so so so good to see her ( If any of you do not know who Cathryn is, i really don't think you should be reading my blog because she is one of my greatest friends...... one that sadly lives as far away as Melbourne...... but hay we spent 6 weeks in August travelling around Europe, which i will never ever forget - was such fun. She made my first birthday away from home and family a very special one with a squashed swiss roll and candles in a coach driving from Venice to Rome, but hay you all know this, or should know all this anyway)

Cath got us tickets to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch Australia 'v' New Zealand which was great. The ground is so so big, bigger than any of the football grounds at home i reckon. We stayed for a few hours before heading straight to Jax's house ( Jax's is a very good friend of Caths who i know from years ago when she visited Cath and Diem - another of Caths old friends - in London) We had a ball playing operation and guitar hero - which i can not believe i actually sucked at...the 6 year old kids were 100 times better than i was.....the shame i endured that night was laughable.

The following day was officially Melbourne's hottest day in recorded history, it got to 46.4 Degs Celcius (115.5 FH)!!!! It felt like walking around inside an oven, maybe even a furnace, literally so Cathryn decided to take us to Highpoint (Melbourne equivalent of Lakeside) for some cooling air conditioning! What a good call that was....however Caths car didn't think so and decided that it was to hot to go into 1st or 2nd gear! so we had to call the RAC out! seriously what goes on with us....and we got a parking ticket too! ARRRGGHHHHHH. That night we had a girls night ( oh and Matt) out on the town and a good one at that.

While in Melbourne,we took the free tourist tram around the city and saw all the sights such as Fed Square,Flinders Station,Queen Victoria Market, Parliament buildings, Collins St, St Paul's Cathedral, Docklands, Yarra River, Crown Casino - where i won $40! Eureka Skydeck 88 - which is the only observation deck in the world that has a glass cube which you stand in called 'the edge'. It is then projected 3 metres out from the building and suspended almost 300 metres above the ground! We also went to the Moon light movies, which is is an open air cinema screening latest release, contemporary, cult and classic movies on the sweeping lawns of the lush Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. We went armed with a picnic and wine to watch a classic Australian movie, Strictly Ballroom. Cathryn fell asleep and Diem absolutely loved it!

Cathryn took us down to Philip Island which is famous for its nightly return of hundreds of the worlds smallest penguins called, little penguins, to Summerland Beach from a days fishing out at sea. It got quite cold in the evening but we soon forgot about the temperature watching them arrive and waddle across the beach to their sand dune burrows at sunset. It was such a magical experience, i felt like a child, i got so excited and followed them up the boardwalk. We didn't leave the Penguin Parade until at least 10.30pm and so we decided to spend the night at Cath's mums who lives in Cowes, on Philip Island.

At Nanas request we also did the Official Neighbours Back Lot tour which cost a whopping $65, where we got to see the famous Ramsey Street and took pictures of the houses and the Ramsey Street sign, Erinsborough high, and the exterior sets of Lassiters Complex including the lake, which is actually just a puddle, Carpenter Mechanics, Charlies Bar, Harolds General Store - I didn't know what any of there were apart from Lassiters of course! But it was on Anna's list so Cath and i went along for the ride! The cul-de-sac of Ramsey street is a real cul-de-sac with a different name and people actually do live there. Filming on the street occurs twice a week and the residents in the street have to make sure their cars are parked around the corner and that they are out of shot. They get paid for it of course,but if they want to make changes to their gardens or house fronts they have to consult the Neighbours team first so that it can be written into the script! Crazy hay, was a bit of a rip off. We did get to meet and get an autograph of a past star but none of us had a clue who she was.

Before headlining off to Tasmania for 4 days we caught up with everyone one eve at the famous Bimbos on Brunswick St. It was great to see everyone together for one last time. Sarah and Emma ( the Irish Nurses from the start of my trip) Anton ( past FSA worker) Becks, Lou, Adrian, Diem,Alex and Jax's for $4 pizzas which were sooooo good.

We arrived in Devonport, Tasmania for a day of exploring cradle mountain before starting a 3 day East Coast tour, but arriving at 10 am is 10mins to late to actually get up to the mountain for the day! Tasmania is cold! well a few degrees lower than Melbourne, we were a bit chilly most of the trip, having only one pair of leggings, i didn't pack very well. We were gutted we couldn't manage to visit Cradle mountain as that was the reason we arrived a day early. Anyhow was explored Devonport instead, a cute little town where we went to watch Australia at the cinema and had a big feed up in the Irish pub where we were staying the night. The tour started at 6.45 the next morning where we stopped for a morning river walk in Launceston, very pretty and green. A quick lunch stop in St Helens before spending the afternoon at the Bay of Fires,this beach won 2nd best beach in the world for 2009. A section called cosy corner was my fav spot. We visited nature world as we entered Bicheno, which is a Natural Ecology and Wildlife Park that cares for injured animals. Tasmania, unfortunately, has a large amount of road kill due to the fact that most of Tasmania’s animals are nocturnaland. We feed the roo's,saw an active koala - it was actually walking around on the ground, and watched as the tasmanian devils were fed. The Tasmanian devil is an endangered species that are only found in the state of Tasmania. These feisty marsupials are being wiped because of a fatal devil facial tumor disease. Its known as facial cancer that is contagious, it is transmitted from one devil to another by one devil biting another.Large tumors form on the faces and necks of the animals, making it impossible for them to eat. which leads to the devils dieing of starvation. Its all very sad isnt it. Sightings of devils have dropped by 64 percent in the past decade.We arrived at our house for the evening and went for a walk in the rain before dinner over to Diamon Island. Its an island just off the coast of Bicheno that you can walk to if the tide is low and if you are really lucky you can spot penguins. We was not so lucky as the only penguins we came across were a couple of dead ones. sad, sad. We couldn't stay long either as the tide was already coming in when we crossed it, and with the pouring rain we had to cross back quite quickly. Becalsoe we made it all the way over to Diamond Island especially in the storm we were given a prise!! woo hoo - yes a postcard of Bicheno from Matt the tour guide. Next morning we packed up and left Bicheno after stopping at the famous Blowhole heading for Wineglass bay. We hiked to the top of Mount Amos for incredible views over wineglass bay.We also stopped at Coles Bay and swansea. We spent the next night at Port Arthur where we spend a few hours before dinner exploring the imfamous Historic site and squidding for a pre dinner snack. It was something to watch the squid being caught, it came out of the water and squrted ink everywhere, just missing us girls! The following morning was my favouite part of the Tasmania tour, we spent 3 hours on a Eco island cruise where we saw a hump back whale, penguins and seals as well as some fab scenic cliffs and water shots. piarets bay was the last days lunch stop and where we had group photos taken before hitting Hobart, the final destination. We arranged to stay in some dodgy place above a pub which was gross as. Seriously mum, you would have sooooo killed me if i stayed there it really was disgusting and unsafe, the pub was run by a couple of chinese and by the looks of their clientel ( who were either over 60 years of age and looked as though they lived on the streets or in there 20's-30's and living on drugs! It was a hell hole! So we got a cab straight out of there to the YHA! which was 100 times better and we met a cute little lady called Andrea who had really bad feet, so we did your community duty and walked to the supermarket which was a good 30mins walk away. Bless her and us! So Tasmania was a very preety island and i wished we could have stayed a bit longer and discovered the rest of the island. A little cold for my liking but i guess to have such gorgeous senery you have give up something......... would recommend everyone who plans a trip to Australia to put it to the top of the list. definatly worth a visit.

We arrived back to Melbourne Sat 15th morning to be told we were going to a dress up party that night. We spent 5mins and $5 in a reject shop in Coberg (where we randomly bumped into Cathryns dad!) on a badminton set and sweat bands! Was a good night. The following day - our last in Melbs was the day i was looking foward to for months and months - Good Vibes, which is a music festival at the victoria race track. It was my first ever festival and i LOVED it, actually! definatly want yo do 'V' this year when i get home.....so if anyone wants to get me a ticket, i'll be eternbally greatful.......PLEEEEAASSSSEEEEEEEEEE xxxxxxxxx Anyway we had the best day ever.

Good Vibes concluded our stay in Melbourne which totally rocked, it was the best ending. It was soo good catching up with Cathryn and the few other faces i knew, diem, jax,rob, anton, sarah and emma and meeting all Caths gang! Everyone made our stay sp special and made effort to do loads of fun stuff with us. You guys rock just as much as melbourne! Sorry to leave yet another great city and one of my best friends ever, but excited about Sydney and seeing James and Tors.