Melbourne

I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday - it feels GREAT to be on the road again! Finally sold my car (but really don't want to talk about how much I got for it)...and managed to ship my bike, tent, hiking boots/shoes and various other belongings in one big box to my cousin Tory in London (she doesn't actually know that yet, but hopefully she won't mind!) FREE of hassles and worries about getting rid of all that gear :)





I checked into a backpackers and spent the rest of the afternoon and most of Friday being a total tourist. It was great fun! Its a really nice city, and very easy to get around. I saw the Australian Open Site (Rod Laver Arena), the Victorian Institute of Sport, walked by the Yarra River and up through the Botanical Gardens past the Sidney Myer music house (like a massive ampitheatre). On Friday I went to Fitzroy Gardens and saw Cooks' Cottage and the minature Tudor Village. There are some beautiful parks and gardens all round.

Went through Cathedral Square and Chinatown, and then to the Queen Victoria Market which is just HUGE!! It has everything you could possibly imagine - really impressive with lots of free samples (I could have got quite tipsy by the number of wine stalls, was pretty good fun!)



I'm now staying with the Jon & Michelle for a couple of nights (Jon's dad was mum & dad's best man)...they have two twin girls aged 5 (Caitlin & Rhiannon) and one boy aged 2 (Connor) - very cute indeed! We all went to an animal sanctuary today and saw kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, platypus, pelican, eagles, tasmanian devils, and several other australasian species - I was as excited as the kids :)