Flying around Melbourne on a Gayle.

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This last week, after recovering from some nasty jet lag we met up with Gayle ("Gayle Galye, the Croydon Girl with the mouth of a whale") who happened to be hanging around Melbourne after falling asleep on a train to Brighton. The three of us, over the last few days, have sampled the sights like a bunch of sight sampling gluttons: Picnic'ing in Melbourne botanical garden, scouring the markets for tasty grub (not grubs), soaking up the ambience of Melbourne's European-esque cafe culture and, yesterday, visiting Melbourne Zoological Park (that's what they call it, not me).

It was a really nice place that had been created to suit the animals normal enviroments with the correct trees and landscape. We saw Gorillas, Orangutans, Giraffes, Wombats, Kangaroos, Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my), Platapus, Baboons and of course the Elephantigerhinosaurus (a strange creature that looks like a cross between an Elephant, a tiger and a wombat).

We also watched Labyrinth on a free out door screen on the Melbourne docklands which was nice (particularly for Bec who sang along to all the David Bowie hits like some sort of deranged human jukebox). This evening of free cinema was finished nicely by walking home through the city and nearly being eaten by Possums, well I exagerate: I saw a Possum (a stange furry beast about the size of a large household cat but with the movements of a squirrel and the eyes of a deadly snake, maybe) and decided to take a photo of it. While snapping away Bec joked she hoped there weren't any others around, which made me have a look and that's when I saw them: one on the tree directly above my right shoulder, another in a hole in a tree, only its face staring out, buisily chomping away on an apple in a menacing manner and at least six or seven more hanging about in the trees above like genetically modified bats. I did what any one would do ( I like to think) and ran off. It was, rather ironically, like a scene from the Terry Jones film we had just watched, the Possums like the Jim Henson puppets brought to life in the Melbourne trees to toy with us, humming the hits of David Bowie under their breath as they bite our faces. Anyway I digress and exagerate (slightly).

We've had a great time in Melbourne, apart from having to spend two nights in a motel in what can only be described as Melbournes outer suburbian underbelly (like some sort of dystopian Neighbours where Dr Karl sells smack on the street) due to the fact everywhere was fully booked during the Melbourne cup (which is like their version of Ascot) when everyone has a bank holiday and gets drunk and bets on horses.

Tommorow we are going to watch tiny penguins come out of the sea at night and waddle back up to their homes.

Speak soon and watch out for those Possums, David Bowie's evil minions!

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Photos

Bec'n'Gayle
Bec and Gayle up a skyscaper in Melbourne taking in panoramic views of the city.

Melbourne skyline
The melbourne skyline at night (obviously).

Scary Possum
One of the many scary possums that try to eat me like an apple.

A roo
A nice pic of a roo I took.