The Penguin Tour

I can hear you saying....'there are no pictures of penguins' and you're not wrong!! Basically i went on another day tour to see the fairy penguins of Phillip Island. It is a place right at the southerly point of melbourne and is a nature reserve and place of outstanding beauty. We were taken to a nature reserve first where i had the pleasure of being introduced to a wombat!! (See the first photo) Basically these creatures are like giant guinea pigs!! They do absolutely nothing other than sleep and eat, but they are the most adorable things!! We were able to stroke them and they are really friendly. All of them had been rescued as their mothers had been hit by cars. We then went ad fed donkey's, sheep, wallaby's and kangaroo's!!!! They were so cute and cuddly. We were given a lovely lunch and then headed to some of the beaches on Phillip island (see photo 3). It is such a pretty place and really quiet. Just chilled out chatting on the beach and then Luke the tour guide took us to where the penguins come in from the sea. Basically the penguins aren't just a little bit small - they are proper dinky. About the size of a bottle of washing up liquid they emerge from the sea and attempt to make it up the shore. It is hilarious to watch as the waves sometimes knock them over. When one of them falls, they all fall!!! We all sat on a seating platform with hundreds of other tourists and spent about half an hour watching them coming in and then you can walk along the board walk and see them going into their little homes to meet up with their mates and little baby penguins!! Another wonderful day.

The Great Ocean Road

I decided to go on an organised tour for one day to the Great Ocean Road. It is a really long coastal road built just after the first world war and connects Melbourne with Adelaide. It is truly beautiful and takes you past Belles Beach which is the roughest beach in Australia and is where the surfing championships are held. We went onto a place called 'Koala Cafe' where the trees are full of koala's sleeping or munching on the eucaliptus leaves!! They were so cute. We also saw loads of parrots which were so colourful. Next stop was the lighthouse from the childhood tv programme called 'Round the Twist'!!! What quality viewing that was!!

We stopped and had lunch which was nice in a little cafe and then our tour guide called Luke took us to the 12 apostles. They are free standing rocks which have been formed from the cliffs eroding over many years. I decided to pay £25 and went up in a helicopter over the apostles. It was truly amazing and the views were cracking. The flight was so exciting i almost peeed my pants!!! Just one of the best days travelling so far - its an absolute must if you guys come out here!! Well that and neighbours of course!!!

Another neighbours night!!

Yep - ts true - i went to another neighbours night!! This one was organised by Toadie as apparently the other company who organises neighbours nights - is ripping the stars and the backpackers off!! So we went to a new bar in melbourne and met Paul Robinson, Steph, Pepper and Toadie!! Loads of cheap wine and we had a ball. Paul Robinson is really short, but so nice!!

Neighbours Tour

Another highlight of this trip to Melbourne was the chance to go to the set of neighbours and get to meet another one of the stars. As anstralia is about 2 months ahead of the Uk you might not recognise the man in the first photo with me, Andrea and Matt. His name is Fraser in the show (or Ben in real life!!) and he was very nice. We then went onto the Erinsborough High School - which as it turns out is a school for non English speaking children who have never heard of neighbours and tend to get a little freaked out by wierd tourists taking photo's of their school!!!! Last stop was a trip to Ramsey Street (actually called Pin Oak Close). The poor residents of the street have to put up with tour buses arriving twice a day to picture their houses and on top of that the crew of the show film in their street at least 2 times a week. During filming they are not allowed to drive their cars up the road and either need to stay in or out of their houses!!! Obviously they get compensated, but must get pretty annoying. Anyway - we got lots of photo's of the houses and the tour bus which you can check out on the online photo album: www.cazthespaz.blogspot.com

THE NEIGHBOURS NIGHT!!!

Well for anyone who knows me well - this night was the thing I wasmost excited about doing out of the whole of Australia!! and it didn't disappoint. The whole gang of us decended on the english pub called 'The Elephant and Wheelbarrow' in St Kilda. After a few drinks and them showing some ancient classic episodes of neighbours they kicked off the night. Libby Kennedy is planning on coming back into the show and did a set of singing and have to say she was really good. After that they Brought out the man himself - Dr Karl Kennedy and Dylan! They did a question and answer session which was highly amusingas Karl was asked who he preferred kissing out of Susan, Sarah or Izzy!!! They all then came round and had a chat with people and did photo's. I decided that i would phone mum at home in the Uk and get Karl to speak to mum!! She loved it. The pinacle of the night was Karl playing with his band called........ 'Waiting Room'!!!! They were really good and he can sing!! It was spigging awesome!!!!

AFL!!!!!

Stevie had been down for the weekend and on the sunday Andrea and Matt arrived. Along with Kate and Aaron, we all piled down to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and watched an amazing game of Aussie rules footy. Kate understanding the rules much better than me and Andrea - really got into it. Me and Andrea just cheered and screamed when everyone else did!!! The team we wanted to win (the bulldogs) were triumphant!!! Absolutely brilliant day.

Night out with Dan and Kane in Melbourne

Arrived in Melbourne from Sydney and Dan and Kane had been here for about a week and decided to take us out on a night out in St Kilda. We started off with some bevvies in Base Backpackers Bar called Red Eye. Lots of vodke and red bulls and we headed to a bar, come restaurant caled the Vineyard. Lots of good music and we had a good old boogie and lots of laughs. Really fab night - ended with a big kebab - awesome!!!