Melbourne (and Sydney again)

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It has been pretty non-stop since Becky last wrote after our strange Christmas day on the beach. We spent Boxing Day at Circular Quay taking a look at the Opera House and walking across the Harbour Bridge. Both are just as impressive as they look in pictures and by the end of the day we were suitably tired and our cameras full of snaps (which will be added soon...). The following day we did a little shopping and hopped on a ferry to Manly beach and Shelly Bay, both lovely and the latter very shelly.

Then it was off to Melbourne on the over-night Greyhound bus, arriving just in time to check-in to our hostel (named the Oslo HOTEL - deceiving) and nip down to the MCG on a tram to watch some cricket action between Australia and South Africa. We were lucky to see the comeback from SA, with one of the most impressive closing partnerships I have seen (granted that isn't many) and Becky enjoyed her first cricketing experience a lot. But the Aussie fans were not so impressed and it seemed that a section to our left were drowning their sorrows (all day) and were escorted one by one out of the ground by security officers.

The rest of our time in Melbourne involved sight-seeing, a lot of walking, a glimpse of Albert Park, some delicious food, and some grumpy roommates. We went to the Immigration museum and experienced life on a boat to Australia, and then went to the Melbourne Museum, which seemed to be the Australian version of our Natural History Museum and was filled with children.

Since arriving back in Sydney, we have seen in the New Year in style, after a four hour queue to get into a park, where we could see the fire works over the bridge and the Opera House. The view was amazing and the pictures are excellent (I promise) and they will also go up soon. Today was a New Years Day first for me... a trip to the beach (Bronte, Tamarama and Bondi) and jumping head first into enormous waves until I was almost too tired to stand. Tomorrow we head to the Blue Mountians before another overnight bus onto Byron Bay and the start of our trip up the East.

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