Melbourne

Hiya everyone!!

So, we are in Sydney at the mo staying with our friends Mim and Miles in their lovely flat. We'll be here for a week before flying to New Zealand and will be doing loads of touristy stuff!

We first arrived in Sydney last Thursday and stayed with Mim and Miles just for one night to break up the coach journey (which would have been 26hrs) from Byron Bay to Melbourne. We got there in the morning and went back to see their flat and then in the evening we went out near to where they live and had a fab time! Our coach to Melbourne was at 8pm the next day so we had a day to sight see, we decided to go to the beach in Manly which is a lovely little place where lots of rich people live!

Although Melbourne was always on our list of places to see while in Oz, the main reason we went down there was because we (Adam) wanted to go to the Melbourne Grand Prix on the Sunday.

We got to Melbourne early on Saturday morning and spent the first day recovering from our 2 long coach journeys! It was really hard to find somewhere to stay in Melbourne as it was so busy due to the Grand Prix, so we ended up having to stay in a self contained 'apartment' which was more expensive than the places we usually stay! The location was brilliant - right near Albert park where they hold the racing - but it so wasn't worth the money! It had its own 'pool' and 'hot tub' which looked like they hadn't been used let alone cleaned for about 10 years! We met up with Mim and Miles in the evening as they had come to Melbourne with us and were staying with Miles' brother Ash who also came out to play.

On Sunday it was the Grand Prix! Yay! It was also the hottest day of the year in Victoria 37 degrees!!! We were out in at all day and it was so hot! But the racing was good - well how could it not be? Lewis Hamilton won! There were alot of English there supporting him and after he won they played the national anthem and everyone sang along! We also got to walk on the track afterwards! We really enjoyed the day and before the race there were lots of things to do like look at the cars and meet some of the track girls (which was Adams favorate bit!).

There was an amazing air display by some F18 fighter jets too - it was amazing how fast they went and how loud they were!!!

Monday was the day we had been waiting for - we were going on the Neighbours tour!!! So exciting!!!!! This was the other main reason for coming to Melbourne! On the tour they take you to Erinsborough high school and Lou Carpenters cars and then the famous Ramsay Street! When we got there it was so weird as it all seemed so familiar - Like we'd been there before or something! We also got to meet with one of the current actors who plays Declan. Anyone know who this is? No? we didn't either! But we had our picture taken with him anyway! Later on after the tour we went on the 'meet the Neighbours night' which is held in a pub in St Kilda.

This was so much fun! Dr Karl Kennedy was there along with the guys that play Malcolm and Connor!!! There was also another female actress there but we didn't know who she plays (Genelle?? something like that!). It was St Patricks day too so there was a really good atmosphere and all the actors we met were so nice and genuine even though they had been round to see everyone in the pub and must have been so fed up!

Tuesday was our sightseeing day in Melbourne. We had lunch in Federation square then a few drinks by the Yarra river. It was another sunny day so we decided to get on the tram to St kilder as there is a beach there. Anyway by the time we got there (it only takes 10 mins!) the sun had gone in... so we went for more drinks and some dinner. Such a hard life!!!

We got our flight back to Sydney with Miles and Mim and we are staying with them again for a week (or until they get sick of us!) We will also be meeting up with Conor and Louise who are now in Sydney, along with all the Daves from Brisbane for Easter! Its gonna be so much fun yay!!!!

Happy Easter everyone! X