Melbourne, What a Way to End it All!

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After leaving Sydney we drove 3 hours inland to Canberra. Once we arrived in the city you can see immediately what everyone is referring to when they talk about Canberra. Its very much a city full of government workers and has very little character. It is quite an impressive city but there is nothing that sets it apart from anywhere else and nothing special about it. However we had one and a half days there so we made the most of it.



We did a bit of research into the different places around Canberra decided on the Exhibition of Canberra and Museum of Australia. Both museums had plenty of interesting information and told us plenty about the capital and the reasons for its location and design. We saw plenty of sights in the city but we quite enjoyed relaxing after a busy two weeks in Sydney.



After our time in Canberra we drove the 7 hours from Canberra to Melbourne where we had arrange to stay with Nickys family. (Nicky is the sister of Hillary from Waitrose). Fortunately we didn't have any problems on the way down and didn't have to wake Nicky up at any ridiculous hour. Infact when we arrived she was out so her daughter Maddy let us in.



We were very fortunate that we arrived during a heat wave and for the next few days it got up to 37 degrees. The house has a pool so we had the option to enjoy the heat before it ends and returns to the usual 15 degrees. We also want to thank Nicky for having us and for opening up her home to us and providing us with so much help and information. Also the food and drink has been fantastic and we will not only miss you and your family but also all your pets.



We still had the car at this point however we had been doing our best to try to sell it and recoup the most amount of money we could. We were still keen to get as much as we could so we had put it on gumtree and similar free websites and we were getting no/little responses. For a time it looked like Nicky might buy the car however after a bit of consideration we decided to put the car on ebay and see how much we got. We started the car at the amount of money we would get for scrapping it and it quickly got bids. In the end the car tripled in value and we had a great time watching it rise.



Before we sold the car we used it to get to places a little further out. The first place we went was Phillip Island. Here at night penguins walk up the beach after spending all day fishing. We sat on the beach and the penguins come up all around you and walk through the bushy sand dunes. You sit on the beach and then walk back to the car on a boardwalk with penguins walking underneath. Unfortunately you can't take any pictures so all our memories are in our head instead of on the camera.



We have also been in to the city to go to the F1. When we planned the trip I said that I would love to go to it and watch from the trackside as I had never done this before. We went to the free day and the race day on Thursday and Sunday. On the Thursday there was only 1 F1 car the whole day but it gave us chance to explore the track and the surrounding area to decide where to go on Sunday. There were a number of different races but they were with different types of car. We watched them from a few places and picked our favourite for the race on Sunday. We also watched a show by Nitro Circus. This is a group of people riding motorbikes, bmxs and scooters over huge jumps. The show was amazing and neither of us had seen anything like this before, even better it was free. The race day was also amazing because the qualifying had been delayed by rain the previous day so it was even more exciting. We picked our spot and were right next to a rather red Ferrari fan who spent most of the time drinking and telling us how good Ferrari are. It was all fun really though!



The other days were filled with going to the city to hand over the car and get our money. This was great for us as it was the first time here we actually had a bit of money so we spent one day doing a little shopping. We also went to Melbourne Gaol (Jail). This was a fantastic building used for criminals and executions. Each cell had a story about one of the criminals who stayed there. Unfortunately we timed it badly that we couldn't do the “prisoner experience” as they were at lunch. Instead we went to the State Library where we viewed Ned Kelly (famous criminal) armour.



Now its the last day of our trip out here and we are spending our last day packing and preparing for our return trip home on Thursday/Friday. We have learnt so much on our trip here and our experiences have been invaluable, however we are keen to get home to comfort, steady income jobs and most importantly stability.



Thanks everyone for following the blog and we have really enjoyed not only being here but also reporting back our experiences and thoughts. We look forward to seeing all of you in person and telling you more upon our return. See you soon 😉

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