Melbourne - Last stop in Oz

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Hi everyone,

We hope you all are well we're just coming to the end of our 4th month away. Time is just flying by. Our last stop in Oz was Melbourne and we had a fantastic few days.

We arrived in the city centre at 6.30am after a very long over night bus from Sydney with a driver who insisted we vacate the bus every time he stopped for a break including a stop at 3am!!!

We took a tram out to St.Kilda which is a seaside town about 20 mins from the city centre. We had booked our last 3 free nights with the base hostel there, but as we arrived so early we had a very long wait to check in. The hostel offer a late 12pm check out to guests for a fee and who ever was in our room had opted for this and so we could not check in until 12.30 😞 So we decided we deserved a treat and we headed to a cafe and had a pretty amazing full ozzie brekkie and a pot of tea with lots of toast!! The hostel was brill, with a bar on site and very friendly staff who were very eager to please which doesn't happen often! We were in an 8 bed dorm with an ensuite and all our roomies were lovely. The first day we had amazing weather and we wandered around the weekend craft market which was fantastic. Our favourite stall had a guy selling amazing model caricatures, like the ones you used to be able to get with footballers, he was so talented. he made everyone by hand using some clay it was amazing. We also went for a stroll along the seafront to watch the kite surfers, it was so windy and they were doing crazy stunts.

Afterwards we bought some yummy chocolate chip cookies (who's reference will be of more importance as you read on....!!) and headed to an internet cafe to catch up on the blog etc. After we headed back to the hostel to get ready as we had arranged to meet Kirstie and Stewart (who we had met in Langkawi) for dinner. Just as we went to leave I realised I did not have the camera....the brand new one we had just bought in KL. I knew I had left it at the internet cafe so I ran back and the guy told me he hadn't seen it. I was so upset and Ian was sooooo mad at me he knew I had been more interested in the yummy cookies than the camera. I had them both in my hand and I defo did not forget the cookies..... oooops!!!! Anyway we met Kirstie and Stewart and I was adamant I had left it at the internet cafe so Ian went back and the guy eventually caved and got the camera from the back of the store he was obviously gonna keep!! He made up some story about only finding it after I had been in to ask the first time which is a lie because I had looked all over. Either way we were just so happy to have it back and needless to say i'm NEVER allowed to look after the camera again!!

That evening we had such a lovely time with Kirstie and Stewart, we went for a meal and then braved the freezing cold to go see the penguins come home after a long day of fishing!!! We arranged to meet them again in the city centre the following evening. The next day we went into the city and explored. Our legs were very sore after a long day of taking in all the city has to offer, we had lunch in Federation square and browsed the shops. Back at the hostel we booked a car for the following morning to do a roadtrip on the great Ocean Road. We headed back into the city to meet K&S, we saw the amazing penthouse apt they are living in and headed out for dinner and drinks again. Then we said goodbye til we meet again in either Dublin or Edinburugh 😊

The next morning we headed off early on our road trip!! We picked up our car and Ian was delighted when he saw we had been upgraded to a Hyundai i40. It was a long day but we had great weather and the scenery was stunning!! We stopped and had yummy fish and chips and made it as far as the 12 apostles before heading back for the long journey back to St.Kilda on the highway. It was great we could share the driving as it was such a long day. The next morning we had to check out and hang around for a few hours as our time in Oz had come to an end and we had to catch a flight to NZ!! The strange thing was Melbourne airport was full of Irish who were all homeward bound for Christmas, we could hear Irish accents everywhere!!

Next stop is Christchurch in NZ!! Chat soon guys, hope were not boring you :P

Lots of love,

Laura & Ian xx

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