VIC and ACT

Two more states down - get in!

So, since my last post myself and Jenny have conquered the grand state of Victoria. We arrived in melbourne after a rather uncomfortable overnight bus from Adelaide in which two fellow backpackers in front of us reclined their seats all the way so my lanky legs got cramped and therefore I was not able to sleep very well. I was bitter about this for several days, as you are meant to look after your fellow backpacker...

Anyway, from the first few moments I was in Melbourne I loved it, it's a fantastic city. We checked into our hostel and wandered the city after booking two tours for the next few days. We pondered into a few museums and stood on gold ingots, rode trams, ate and longed for McCafe back in England...

Tours now - firstly we had a day on a coach down the Great Ocean Road, which is simply AMAZING. It was typically British weather; rainy, stormy and unpredictable but it only made it feel so much better. True nature, as it were. Myself and Jenny got extremely wet as we viewed the Twelve Apostles (though there are only seven now since many have fallen down) which are limestone stacks in the sea. We rekindled our love of OK! magazine and bought postcards and generally had just an brilliant day.

Another tour was Wilson's Promontory with a true bushman as our guide, named Andy. We made friends with a Canadian called Julie too and walked to the summit of Mount Oberon and then trailed the walk to Squeaky Beach. Simply beautiful.

On our other free day in Melbourne we went to the MCG and become true Melbourne Demons supporters, as Jenny lost her voice from calling the Western Bulldog players some rude names and I bought myself a Melbourne Demons beanie, which can be seen if you check out my pictures on facebook.

Next we hit Canberra, which compared to the busy and big city of Melbourne was actually really quiet. But it had some cool stuff. We hired bikes and I remembered how to ride one after so many months of driving. We cycled to the Australian War Memorial which was very interesting. I took the free tour whilst Jenny went to research her family history and then we met up and walked to the summit of Mount Ainslie. The view was the whole of Canberra, a sight definitley to be seen. Next we attempted to cylce round Lake Burley Griffin but got somewhat lost and ended up on two freeways and had to get out the bible (the nickanme of my lonley planet guide to Australia) to find our way back before the sun went down. In the end we worked out we cycled 16k, so there's the benefit.

Now, I'm currently aboding in Jenny's rellies place in Bulli (a suburb just outside Sydney) to which I feel very welcome. The Buchanans can only be described as a family like no other, and I'm having a chillaxing time here before starting the next leg of my trip, which consists of doing a tour around Tassie and then going up to Cairns and making my way down the coast from there, and maybe heading up to Darwin to have another sneaky peak at the city if I can fit it in.

So all is well with me - how about the rest of you?

Nic

xxx