The trip to Melbourne and what we did when we got there!!

Heys guys,

After we last left you, we ended up going out and meeting the Aussie girls who were out for one of their birthdays!! We met at a Karaoke Bar where you get your own room in which to sings and dance! Pretty cool! Then we had a wander to meet Kurt to have one last drink with him before we left the following day!!

01/03/02
After a later than intended night out with Kurt and the girls we managed to get up nice and early to pick up the campervan. We headed down to the station to catch the train out of Adelaide to the Suburbs to pick up the van. Once all of the paperwork was filled out we were ready to begin the journey, Matt was first to drive and once successfully navigated out of Adelaide we hit the open freeway. After about an hour we decided to pull into a small town in search of food. Once fully replenished we got back on the road!! We realised that we'd made a wrong turn and Rick said, it doesn't matter because4 just down this road is another turning that goes through the outback a little bit and then joins up with the coastal freeway further down!! We hopped on the outback road and it was just a dirt track. It was supposed to take roughly 40 minutes, but after an hour we really didn't know which way to turn at a junction so we took a guess (basically Rick got out his compass and we took the road that went in the more southernly direction...quite clever!!!). It turns out we probably should have gone the other way but the experience was good!! After having to stop at a Town Hall (in the middle of nowhere and no other buildings around) we were back on track!! We hit the freeway and travelled alll the way down to Mount gambier and then to the coastal town of Port McDonnell. We found a nice campsite, pitch the camper, had tea and then played poker with matchsticks!! Rick won!!

02/03/08
Another relatively early morning and we hit the road again at about 10am. We travelled over the boarder into the state of Victoria (having just been in Southern Australia) and hit the Great Ocean Road somewhere around Peterborough. we stopped off at a couple of places en route, including the 12 Apostles (formerly called the Sow and Piglets until someone decided that the 12 Apostles was a more impressive name!) We then carried on and decided to settle at Apollo Bay for the night! The site owner was closing up as we arrived and just told us to park up and pay in the morning!! That evening we cooked and then went into town for a little beer, made the necessary phone calls home and then went back to the van for some well earned sleep!!

03/03/08
On the road at 10:30 we set out to complete our Great Ocean Road trip and get into Melbourne to drop off the van (which we called Hermit by the way, aptly named because we travelled around with "our house on our backs!!"). Didn't make too many stops on the way for this part of the journey as we had to get the van back. Managed to get the van back for (roughly) the right time, and then the owner gave us a lift to the train station so we could find our hostel. Caught the train and then a tram from Melbourne City down to St Kilda where the hostel is! A quick word about the hostel...AWESOME!!! Its a 4 Star hostel with pretty much everything you need there. As a comparison, it's much like a university hall of residence, there are rooms upstairs, a bar downstairs with cheep drinks, computer access and a whole bunch of young backpackers!! Very impressed! That night there was a pool competition so Rick thought he'd take part and meet some people. He didn't win! We did meet some great people though! Then we went to sleep.

04/03/08
Woke up in the morning and decided to pop into the city to have a wander round and see what it's all about. The city is much bigger than Adelaide but slightly smaller than Sydney we think. Then we made our way back to the hostel and made friends with some people who were taking part in the quiz that was going on in the bar that night. Played the quiz but didn't win!! We did get a lot of questions right though!!

05/03/08
We have found out that Melbourne had a Motor Show on whilst we were visiting so we thought that today we would check it out!! Quite a few nice cars to ogle at but still way beyond our price range!! We did the whole show (which is smaller than the one we went to in Geneva last March) but still good! That evening we made our way back to the hostel, cooked some food and then went up to the bar to meet up with a couple of people from our dorm and have civilised conversation!! ;-)

06/03/08
Evening's entertainment...Ladies Night! So we had a chilled day on the beach to top up our tans which were starting to fade as they've not been properly touched up since Perth!! That evening we went down to the beach for a BBQ with the lads. The BBQ was the most efficient we've ever been to!! Around 20 minutes after we arrived, Anton turned up with a box full of 50 hamburgers from the local diner!! Genius!! We got chatting to a few of the lads around the hostel who had decided to borrow some of the girls clothes in order to gain access to the free champagne available to the girls at 21:00. Considering that some of them couldn't even be bothered to shave their faces, we were surprised to see them at 21:05 with champagne glasses!! Good work guys!!

07/03/08
Today was another day of relaxation talking with other people in the hostel about the night before. Pictures were exchanged and various funny stories!! We watched a film in the bar (School of Rock) and then went downstairs into the kitchen to cook food. We watched Love Actually and then went to sleep! Awww!

08/03/08
Shopping day! We went down to Chapel Street with the three English girls sharing our dorm to have a wander around some of the shops. Nobody bought anything and the girls seemed really disappointed (why do you women just torture yourselves like that!?). On the way back we poped into the WaterFest that's going on along the Yarra River. Mainly just childrens activities, a fairground, live music and a water skiing competition!! We sat and watched the skiiers for a but and then made our way back to the hostel for our Saturday night out. When we say out, we mean down to the hostel bar!

09/03/08
Today we woke up a little late but we had already decided to spend it on the beach!! In the morning we sorted out how we would get to Brisbane. Basically we're getting a flight up there and we have already booked a hostel in advance - which has it's own pool, sauna and jacuzzi!! This evening we have been out for a meal with one of the guys called Ben. Matt is having a beer with him and Rick is sat on his own writing to you lovely people.

Well we have to appologise for taking so long to get this issue out to you but I hope it's worth the wait!

Much love,

Rick and Mattxx