Hey everyone!

How have you been? I have to confess that I have had the first cold since leaving the UK last year in November but as I am not a 'man' I survived easily with just a few Lemsips! The only bad thing about the cold was the timing. It just started when I was leaving Adelaide on my 3 day trip along the Great Ocean Road. But more about that later. First things first.

Since my last update on my blog, you surely have noticed the photos of my stay with John, Claire, Emma and Thomas. I have been able to upload a few more photos so it's worth having another look at the Adelaide album. As you can see from there, we enjoyed our last night together and celebrated with a 'little bit' of alcohol... Ah well, you only live once, don't you!

So on Tuesday morning I set off on my 3 day trip along the Great Ocean Road. The first day consisted mainly of driving, which was really good as I was feeling really crap from the cold (and no, I do know the difference between a cold and a hangover! and it wasn't that!) so that I slept most of the day. The weather in the Grampians was pretty poor so that you couldn't actually see any mountains at all. I splashed out on an upgrade to a single room that night (it cost me $10!) so that I wouldn't keep anyone else awake with my snoring and could get a good night's rest.

Well, the tactic worked and I was feeling a lot better the next day so that I could join the others for a walk up the mountain although my nose and I kept playing 'catch me if you can' all day long and I have to admit that my nose won...

After the climb with fantastic views at the top we set of to commence our journey along the Great Ocean Road. The views along here are spectacular although they can get a bit same-ish after a while. We finished the day by watching the sunset over the 12 Apostles. Fab.

More of the Great Ocean Road, a bit of cold rainforest and some towns on the third day before reaching Melbourne. And for the first time in Australia, I have been able to see a proper rush hour! The roads were packed and traffic really was moving very slowly, what a difference to all the other cities I have been to so far! My friend Erin picked me up from town and we drove to her house where we had a quick dinner before heading off to our beds as it was already quite late by then.

I am currently still staying at Erin's and probably will do so until the weekend when I'll move on to Sydney. Met Erin's flat mate Nelly on Saturday morning and she dragged me out for a swim (in a heated pool) and invited me to go camping with her and her friends. My initial reaction was 'No, don't be silly, it's far too cold!' but I eventually I changed my mind - about the camping, not about the temperature thing! - and headed off with them. And although the weekend was really good fun, it was absolutely freezing during the night. Not so much while we were still standing around the fire but once in the tent! When I got up in the morning, everything was covered in frost! Everything was quite pretty and white but so cold that you really didn't want to go and use the bush toilet as you could say you would have frozen your bottom off!

And here we are at another sunny Monday morning when I am just about to head into town but thought I better update my blog first so you lot knows what's going on as well. Enjoy the read and the photos. Will keep you updated.

Keep smiling until next time,
Yvonne
x

PS: I have also added a few videos, so go and have a look, they are really quite funny!