I love Saint Kilda

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G'day once again!

My, it has been a while since I last blogged! Here we are at the end of February...summer is coming to and end and plans are being made for the next stage of my trip, so I felt I should perhaps update you all.

As for happenings in Melbourne over the past couple of months, I have had a very standard weekly routine of working at the cafe Monday to Friday, finishing at 3pm in time for the occasional trip to the beach or Albert Park to catch the last of the days rays, or alternatively heading to my room for a power nap, before Neighbours time, then, a couple of nights a week, working at the hostel for a few hours. Sundays are spent cleaning the hostel with my bestest buddies in Australia, Rich and Jon... a minimal amount of work is achieved, we do have a bit of fun and the beers are usually cracked open an hour before finishing, just to help us through the cleaning of the hostels kitchen and fridges...honestly, the stuff people often leave in there to fester is truely revolting!

I try to make the most of my day off on a Saturday - last weekend I ventured to Brighton beach with its pretty and colourful beach huts, a few weeks ago I visited family friends in Geelong and they took my on a grand tour of their area on the opposite side of Port Phillip bay to the Mornington Peninsula. We pottered about around rock pools in Point Lonsdale, played mini golf and ate fish and chips by the sea at Queenscliffe before returning to their house for a dip in the pool (I felt a bit like I was on Neighbours), watched the women's final of the Australian Open, then I settled down to sleep in my very own double bed...Oh how nice to be away from my hostel bed for the night!

While the Tennis Open was on here in Melbourne I managed to get myself to Melbourne Park a few times to watch some matches. Although most of the bigger games were held in the big stadiums with expensive tickets that my backpacker budget wouldn't afford, I did manage to spy Andy Murray warming up on one of the outdoor courts and saw a few good matches with some of the lesser known players. On the evening of the Men's final a group of us sat outside the Rod Laver Arena on Murray Mound and watched Federer kick poor wee Andy's bottom. Oh well, maybe next year!

As for Christmas and New Year, they were fairly low key affairs but did involve a fair amount of alcohol consumption, as seems to be inevitable for such occasions. My Christmas day highlight was a windy wander along the beach, watching the St Kilda Kite Surfers, on NYE we had sparklers on the beach and watched the fireworks over the city in the rain and on New Year's Day we barbequed in the Park in true Aussie style.

So that's the highlights of the past couple of months. At the end of March I fly to New Zealand to explore the North Island for a couple of weeks, before returning to Australia for what I hope will be an epic road trip with all the good friends I have met here at my hostel in Melbourne. We hope to go up the middle to Darwin, where we will part ways and some of us will take the West Coast route to Perth while the others plan to hit the East side of Oz. I'm very excited, but need to save many pennies to afford this final adventure, so this next month I will be working lots and trying not to spend...a very difficult task, wish me luck!

I am also getting very excited about flying home in May...I miss everyone at home heaps and cant wait to see you all for a summer of fun! I've just finished reading Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island and it has inspired me to do a road trip of the UK...who's with me?!

Lots of love H x

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