Melbourne, Australia

Sophisticated and slick, edgy and rough, Melbourne was the artistic culture of Australia in our eyes, especially when you have the mighty Sam Bonwick making you such amazing coffee! Where did this boy learn his skills? Yes that's skills Sam, you have one!

So flying in from Brisbane just after lunch we were expecting to be met by great friend Sam Bonwick. Legal resident of Australia, ha, let me see those papers! With an unexpected sand storm brewing across the runway just before landing, our flight was delayed and as we circled in the air for over an hour, by the time we landed, Sam was gone. If only we had a phone, this all could have been prevented. Anyway, several intermittent pay phone calls later and we had managed the seemingly bad directions our guest had given us, turning up at Sam's work, we were well worth our lingering hug.

Hungry and in need of some lunch after such a long flight (2 hours I think), Sam had suggested the pizza place next door with their special of Mexican Nacho Pizza. That pizza was superb, layers and layers of Nacho cheese and chili, ummm. Shame that we could only manage two slices each and that when he recommended we get a large one, we didn't realize Sam meant so we could take some home for him! Shocking.

Rocking up at Palais Bonwick we were warmly welcomed by both Sam's girlfriend Megan and Bill with whom they shared the house. That evening we sat around chatting and as we watched TV and played Wii, it soon became apparent how nice it felt to actually be in house instead of a unfamiliar hostel. What was meant to only be a few nights, eventually turned into a couple of weeks. Their warm hospitality obviously being too good to refuse!

Two weeks in Melbourne was a little daunting at first as for the first time in ages we didn't have to cram in everything somewhere had to offer in just three days. So as we sat back, relaxed and took things slow my mind began to wonder exactly how good I was at Tiger Woods Golf. Not that great to say the least, especially not against Bill who was somewhat of a Pro. Constantly highlighting my inability to nail as many birdies as the game's endorser, Bill took great pride in seeing me struggle. I had only just met the man and already he was taking no pity. Can you guess what filled our time for most of our stay?????

When we actually left the house (it took a few days) we actually saw a lot of stuff in Melbourne. Taking the tram into the cities centre on more than one occasion we managed to browse yet more shops and centres, looking for phone sims and clothes, we found our way to Victoria market and even had time to visit several of the cities historical landmarks as we followed the trail around town. Boring for some, not us.

Federation Square and the Flinders St region had so much on offer we spent a whole day there too. A great exhibition at the Australian Centre for Moving image was accompanied by some great live music and also a couple of other gallery views. Breath taking architecture that forms the heart of Melbourne. Whilst here we also visited a pleathora of Melbourne's other suburbs including Richmond, St.Kilda, Chapel St, Fitzroy, Balaclava and many others.

Known for its sports, Melbourne was full of arena's, stadiums and youngsters learning their trade in the city's many parks. Visiting the massive Etihad Stadium, home of the mighty Melbourne Victory and AFL league final was good. Walking alongside the Rod Laver arena, home of the Melbourne Open Tennis was also a highlight, as was that of the MCG. Decided as not really Jo's thing, I spent pretty much a whole day taking a tour of the stadium, checking out the Sports Museum beneath (Shane Warne 3D was ace) and I even got to watch a fair bit of live cricket, all for $25. Bargain!

For the first time on this trip I also did something active. When Sam suggested we enter a team in an annual Beach Soccer Tournament, I jumped at the chance. Shame we ended up being called Melbourne Palace rather than our preferred name of Flip flops, Thongs and Jandals! To say our results mirrored that of our English league namesake is not far from the truth. One win, one lose, we failed to progress to the next round on goal difference. Although the teams top scorer, yes I know me? we failed to win our losers playoff, eventually being given the wooden spoon. Still a few beers and a barbie later, it was all forgotten!

So onto the first of our two main trips. Trip one, the Penguins. Definitely the best thing we did here. As we waited until dusk at 8.14pm that evening in the dripping rain, the anticipation of seeing these little creatures had me so excited. Dead on cue as the seagulls circled, in washed an army of Penguins. Slowly but surely, some a little hesitant, the penguins waddled upon shore. The cutest thing ever. I just wanted to take one home. Shame some people overstepped the mark and disobeyed rules by touching and taking photos. What twats, Jo and Megan let them know of their fury!

Trip two. The Great Ocean Rd. Hiring a car for the day the four of us, Sam, Megan, Jo and I set out on an epic adventure. Past Torquay, our first stop was the world famous surf scene, Bells Beach. It was not to hard to imagine that a few days extra training in Bali on the surfboard that I could indeed be winning a tournament here. Yeah right! As we carried along the amazing winding road, full of great cliff top views and with a strong sea breeze in the air we took in all the areas beauty. A quick stop in Lorne then onto Apollo Bay. We stopped there for a bit before the 12 Apostles. Not all in tact due to natural causes they were still an impressive sight. A great day out was then concluded with a beer and some much needed fish and chips. The perfect ending to such a journey.

Loving our time in Melbourne, it was sad to leave. We can see why Sam is here rather than the UK, especially with so much to do and see and when the weather is as good as it is here, its hard to turn down.

Crossing the great divide, its New Zealand up next for us.

Brisbane, Australia

Finally we get to Brisbane and its our last stop along the ever on-going East Coast, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast adventure. It maybe Australia's third largest city but our best time here bar our meeting with Colin & Ange, would most definitely be further afield at the best zoo in the world, Australia Zoo.

Over the five days spent here we stayed at a great hostel, Bunk, but with not the best room mates in the world. I mean was it really necessary for the guy in our room to have a midnight feast, every night?!?! Jeez, munch munch at the regular time of 12-1am each night did become slightly annoying.

So, what did we do here? Amongst the constant browsing of shops in all areas of town, (once where Jo sent us in the wrong direction for one and a half hours!), we did do the tour of all the cities art galleries and museums. Well, I say all, we went to three, one was closed and the rest, well... lets just say it wasn't really our thing... strange really but it was just stuff we had seen before, but done a lot better elsewhere. Sorry.

The rest of the Southbank area however was great. Mainly down to the weather the day we went, but also because of the amazing Lagoon pool along the river front. I know these have become common knowledge along the east coast of Australia but every time we see one it just makes the area look amazing and is such a great place to chill out on a lunch hour or in our case, all day! Shame the Muppet's in charge of the London council couldn't take a leaf out of a few books here and build some. Maybe we just don't get enough good weather!

Visiting the Gabba cricket ground was another highlight of our trip in Bris. Although we didn't get to actually go in and watch some cricket, the aura and heritage that surrounded the place was awesome, it really is obvious that it is one of the best cricket grounds in the world! Bit of a walk from town though and me and Jo were sweating by the time we got back.

Most of our nights were spent in the adjoining bar of the hostel, Birdie Num Nums. Great name hey! Anyway, they gave away free food and drinks on most nights and fronted by a lovely lass from Bucks, it managed to occupy our evenings with fun activities such as Bingo, Quiz's and Wii games all for massive prizes! Shame we had done them all before we got here!!!!!!

The one night we did manage to prize our self away from the bar, we were found propped up at a few others in town, along with the presence of Colin & Ange, with whom Colin I used to work with at Trinity St. We enjoyed a great night of drinking and catching up, with it being great to hear exactly what they have been up to. Although Colin took us to a couple of strange venues where I got kicked out of one for wearing shorts. He did compliment himself with his good choice of Australian beers and ales that he forced us to drink. Thanks big man, was great seeing you both again!

So that leaves only one thing left. Austra-aaaa-lia Zoo. What a day, it was amazing. Although we didn't get to see the late Steve Irwin or his wife Terri, or Bindi or Mindi or whatever their called, we did have an experience bettered by no other zoo in the world. Getting to see the Croc's and Roo's up close along with all the animals there was great. The Crocociam, wow! better than most premiership footy grounds. The real highlight here though was getting our photos taken with all the great animals, Koala's, Kangaroo's and in my case a baby Croc! Bonza! A real pleasure and I for one am glad we went and really appreciate what the Irwin family is trying to do here. Don't stop guys, don't stop.