Melbourne so far .....

We left Sydney on the 7pm coach on the 2nd Jan. The coach driver was a cracker, a real wise guy. He talked absolute rubbish, which was quite amusing at times! For example, he asked over the tanoy for everyone to keep their shoes on because if people have smelly feet we all have to breathe in their smelly feet and we might as well all take drugs as it's just as bad???!!!!!

We arrived in Melbourne at 6am on the 3rd Jan and found a coffee shop. After having breakfast we walked a few streets to the hostel. Went to bed for a few hours as we didn't get much sleep on the coach. The hostel is nice, small and friendly and in the city centre. After our nap we set off to explore and walked around Melbourne city centre and an area called Fitzroy for around 5 hours. Got a good feel for the place, it's more relaxed and spacious than Sydney. Much hotter though, approx late 20's 'degrees c', even at night time. Also there are flies everywhere that are always in your face, very annoying! After walking around we went to the night market at The Queen Victoria market. Really good, lots of nice clothes and jewellery stalls and lots of food to choose from and live music. My feet were hurting so decided to try reflexology for the first time while Nicky kept browsing. I was impressed. Certain parts of my feet hurt when she pressed them and when i asked what parts of my body they were linked to, it was all my problem areas (back, neck shoulders etc). We spent a few hours at the night market then went to bed.

Yesterday we walked to the harbour, not much to see there other than boats and empty restaurants. so we headed for the riverside area into the city centre. Much nicer, lots of shops and restaurants and a food court where we had a cheap meal. After we went to a bar for a few glasses of wine. When we were walking home we passed a park, i noticed what i thought was lots of cats until we realised they were possums! When we got back to the hostel we washed our clothes with proper detergent for the first time, so nice to have clean smelling clothes again!

Today we went to the Melbourne museum which wa really good, especially the exhibition on aboriginies. Then we caught the free tram to the market to buy veg for a stir fry which we shared for tea with a German girl, can't remember her name but she is nice! After tea we went to the Rialto tower to the observation deck and saw the views of Melbourne. It was good but not as good as Singapore views from the Equinox tower.

So far we are liking Melbourne, the people are all nice, and it's very relaxed. The only strange thing about it is the way they turn right when driving through main cross junctions! To turn right you have to be in the far left lane and drive forward a bit when the lights go green and wait. Then when the lights have turned red and just as the other side is turning green, floor it right! Very compicated when it could be so easy!

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip along the Great Ocean Road, it's one of the main things i wanted to do here, can't wait! Then on Sunday we are going on the Neighbours tour which i'm also looking forward to!