Day 333 (23.2.08) After a week of training at PCI we were glad to get out of the city for the weekend to meet up with Jeremy and Carly. Having last seen them in China over a drunken night and an extra hot hotpot, we had organised to go and see them up in Wodonga to spend the weekend catching up. It took us about 4 hours to drive up to where Wodonga sits right on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Now we are both used to driving long distances back in the UK and, unlike some of [View Full Entry]

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Day 335 (25.2.08) to Day 341 (2.3.08) Having woken early with a spot of the flu, Chrissie took the day off on Monday to recover. Tiana and Ash came over for dinner to say hi which was both great to see them but also helped Chrissie to feel better in the evening. This week we were in ‘kindy’ at work, all of the new training group were out on the floor and making calls but we were all grouped together and being babysat by our team leader in case we got stuck! It took until Wednesday but in the morning we [View Full Entry]

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Day 290 (11.1.08) After a fantastic few days catching up with Meryl and Graeme it was time for us to make a move. We planned to make it to Melbourne to meet up with some Fanny’s Crew members and see Liam before he headed for home leaving us with only a few days to get there. The time when we’d have to face ‘real life’ again was looming like a dark shadow on the horizon. We’d always planned to stop and work for a few months once we got to Australia to boost our savings, make our trip last longer and [View Full Entry]

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Day 291 (12.1.08) We left early in the morning thanking Valerie and Bruce once again for their hospitality whilst being entertained by two very friendly lorikeets on the banister. A quick stop in the suburb of Balmain saw us collecting our passengers Kayleigh and Spencer who’d be joining us for the trip to Melbourne. The trip to Canberra passed quickly as we sped down the Hume Highway stopping only to visit the three-storey-high Big Merino Sheep (we thought it only right that Spencer, as a Welshman, visit this ‘attraction’). Just before we arrived in Canberra we pas [View Full Entry]

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Day 293 (14.1.08) After the final couple of hours drive into Melbourne, we made our way through to St Kilda where Kayleigh and Spence had booked a hostel. It’s quite strange arriving in a city you know will become your home for the next few months but our first impressions were good. As we passed the beautiful building housing the central Flinders Street train station and crossed the bridge over the river Yarra we were looking forward to getting to know Melbourne better. On the way through the city we spotted Liam and Gary, stopping to pick them up we all [View Full Entry]

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Day 294 (15.1.08) Today was the day for Mark’s birthday prezzie. As we had no need for anything else to carry, we had decided that we would go and enjoy the fact that we had arrived in Melbourne in time for the Australian Open Tennis. Not exactly sure as to when things started and not in possession of tickets we went over to the courts early not sure if there would be a long line of other people there to fight for tickets! Luckily enough there was only a short queue and there was no problem with getting our ground passes [View Full Entry]

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Day 295 (16.1.08) Before we settled down into trying to find jobs and a flat we wanted to make a trip down the Great Ocean Road. But before we were to get ourselves together we were accompanying Tiana to the jetty at St Kilda beach to help her with the penguin research she’s doing for her PhD. Waking like overexcited kids on a day trip, we got up and put on our jumpers and coats (well it was pretty early and cold). Tiana picked us up and we made our way to the beach parking near the jetty. Tiana opened the [View Full Entry]

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Day 298 (19.1.08) to Day 299 (20.1.08) On Saturday morning Tiana and her fella, Ash, came round for some brunch. After we’d had our fill of pancakes and scrambled eggs on toast washed down with plenty of tea we picked their brains about which suburbs to look for apartments in. We wanted to find a place for the next few months so that we didn’t have to live in a hostel. Not only would it work out cheaper we were really looking forward to having a proper home for a while. Now that we were living in a flat for a [View Full Entry]

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Day 305 (26.1.08) Happy Australia Day! Something we’ve learnt since being in Australia is that if there’s an excuse for having a public holiday then they’ll go for it - do you know they even have day off for the Queen’s birthday? Even in England we don’t get that! Anyway, since Australia day fell on a Saturday this year, Monday would be a day off for all - nice! We started the day with a bit of house hunting as we had an appointment to view a flat. On arrival at the flat it soon dawned on us that it was [View Full Entry]

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Day 306 (27.1.08) We spent a lazy morning at the campsite before going out to discover another new area of the city. We met up again with Mark’s friend Bex, who was out for a few drinks with her friends in Hawthorne. A few Sunday beers went down very well and we retired back to the campsite having had a good weekend. Day 307 (28.1.08) As today was a public holiday and there was nothing we could do in our continuing search for homes/jobs we decided to make the most of another beautiful day by taking some time out at the [View Full Entry]

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