The pilgrimage...

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We certainly were if you like freezing cold! I think they were talking about the lake and forest which were beautiful though! We eventually persuaded ourselves to get out of our sleeping bags and drove down the coast and stopped for breakfast in a town near the Snowy River of 'Snowy River: The McGregor Saga' fame.
Along the ninety mile beach and we were in Melboune for mid-afternoon! It was quite fun describing the van over the phone to pay the toll. We met the lady who runs the melbourne wicked depot and she said we could use her shower so we parked up outside. We're still not entirely sure if we were allowed to do this but we paid the meter so we couldn't think of anything that was illegal about it! It was still very Joni Mitchell living next to a parking meter though! We also realised later that the showers were part of her house not the depot so it was very kind of her but not something I think she does very often!
More importantly though, we'd booked a Neighbours night on www.backpackerking.com.au! So we caught the tram down to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow in St Kilda (an english themed pub) and paid our $30 with no idea what to expect! It was packed with english students like us mostly looking quite embarrassed but all really excited and trying to outdo each other with obscure bits of trivia. We were sat next to another english girl and we suggested the name 'Spigging Hufters' for our pub quiz team name. But first of all Cindy and Lil were on with their band. They must have been drunk but they were quite good - Pete particularly enjoyed them gyrating with each other! We were the first ones to spot that David Bishop was watching from the back and got our photos taken with him before he went on for Lil to sing to him! Then we spotted Cindy and Lil in a side room after they'd finished and dave and pete had a photo with them even though they weren't really doing photos. Cindy kissed Dave on the head! After that, photos with Connor and Janelle seemed a bit rubbish although Janelle was really nice in real life unlike Harold who was a dirty old man! Illusions shattered! ('You thought I was a pussycat didn't you, well actually I'm a tiger' eurgh!) I'll let him off though, he was quite normal when we had photos taken with him. We did a bit pants in the quiz because it was hardly neighbours related at all... but then... highlight of all highlights... Karl's band 'The Waiting Room' were on. It was a bit embarrassing watching him try to be a rocker but it was great fun and we all got to the front and put our arms out to have our hands touched! Cheeky bugger that he is, you had to buy his album to have a photo taken with him but we couldn't come this far without doing it so we bought them. I got mine signed to Alice, Dave, Pete, Antonia and Matt so it was all worth it. We all had loads of stuff we wanted to say but I got a bit starstruck - Dave managed to tell Harold he thought he was amazing and Karl that his mum loves him. We left the pub with a dazed and confused feel!

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