The Last Stop

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This is our last stop 'Melbourne'. Just as we did before (Sydney) we came at a time when everyone else was in Melbourne for the Commonwealth games AND the Grand prix. We flew in from Perth to be kindly picked up by my cousin Wayne and his wife Ando. We stayed in Melbourne itself for a couple nights and went to the penultimate night of the athletics. (The night our 4x100m relay guys dropped the baton). It was quite enjoyable but rather tiring having to stand up all the time for the Australian, Kenyan and Jamaican national anthems.Jason being a bit of a stalker of the famous pinned down Barry Davis the commentator to get a piccie and autograph. Melbourne was buzzing at this time with lots of stuff going on but it was also really expensive to stay with hostels charging over twice what they usually do. So we thought we might as well go into a budget hotel.
We hired a car again to head down the Great Ocean Road. This is indeed a lovely drive and the 12 apostles are still impressive even though they are gradually falling into the sea. We splashed out and viewed them from a helicopter. We decided to go back through the 'Grampians' which is a national park. Unfortunately they were pretty much devastated by terrible bush fires in January so a of trees were burned and blackened which made for an interesting landscape but you could could see the new growth coming through already. What was cool about the Grampians is the wild kangaroos just hanging about in the motel grounds. We went onto the Dandenong ranges which is on the other side of Melbourne. This was lovely as you can see the city from the peak here and hand feed cockatoos, galas, king parrots and Rosella's. We also visited the William Ricketts sanctuary. He was an eccentric artist who created these interesting sculptures mainly of aborigines among the forest. Finally we went back into Melbourne for Jason to see the grand prix. Yet again he got some stalking pictures and autographs from Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham. Wayne and Ando took us to see a game of Australian football (Aussie rules) this was mental and we didnt really grasp how it was played but entertaining all the same. We finished our trip off with a visit to Melbourne Zoo and headed off home the next day via Hong Kong for a last day of shopping. All in all we've had an amazing time and done stuff we would never thought of doing back home (stroking tigers and jumping put of planes just to name a few). However its got to come to an end (but only for now).

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Photos

Barry Davies and Jason
Jason managed to sidetrack Barry Davies from his commentating for BBC gymnastics

Athletics at the MCG
Great night but not for England unfortunately

Art?
Came across this in a Melborne park

12 Apostles
You might be able to see whats left of them behind us.

Coast of the Great Ocean Road from the chopter
All along the coast there are these amazing formations carved out by the sea.

The Jaws
Another rock formation found in the Grampians national park.

Cheeky Rosella
Me feeding the parrots. And no it didnt S**t on my head.

The William Ricketts Santuary
A sculpture among the forest.

Platypus at Melbourne Zoo
This guy is so cute. Even though he has one of those venomous claws.

Aussie Rules at the Telstra dome.
Essendon bombers vs Sydney Swans. Didnt quite understand what was going on but the aussues love it.

Special Melbourne Tram
They bought this out especially for the commonwealth games. Its decorated in a Pakistani style and was a big hit with everyone they kept it on for a bit longer.