The Great Ocean Road

We packed our bags as well as the car and off we went to the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was surf mad Torquay. Here we visited "SurfWorld" the surf museum with all the history of the boards over the years. Also we saw the best surfers over the ages and watched the Billabong movie on riding the biggest wave ever. Really cool.
We headed to danger point for a spot of lunch and then headed to the famous Bells Beach, where all the cool surfers go to catch the best waves. Its also where the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition is held every year.
We drove through Anglesea and made our next stop at Aireys Inlet where we walked around split point Light house. This is the light house from the children's TV show Around the Twist. (Aussie show). We drove to Lorne to spend the night, as it was starting to dark.
Got a room in our first backpackers hostel. It looked really nice set with the forest all around us. We got our room key and tried to find our room. Hannah was scared to death by a huge what we thought was a parrot but found our later its a cockatoo. It came flying out of the trees, landing outside our room and started squawking at us, that is until I said "where's Polly" and it flew away. The room was nice and clean, until we came back from having dinner. We found a huge spider in our room. So as a team Hannah and I caught it and through it out the door.

Boring jobs/admin day

Today we headed into the city with a long list of boring things that needed to be done. So we went to our second home the Melbourne tourist info office to find out where the places were. We started off by sorting out our medical card. Then went to immigration to get our passports stamped for our visas (my god the queue was long, had to wait for about an hour watching the flying doctors on the TV provided).
We bought our sim cards to set us up. (If you have not got the numbers yet email us and we'll email the back. Can't put them on this blog). Set up our Aussie bank account, our bank adviser was from Chesterfield. Moved 7 years ago, small world.
We then went for a hot choc and decided to share a bit of cake. Glad we were sharing, as the lady cut a huge piece(half the cake) and had handed to me.
At home dried our washing and after the long day, put our feet up in preparation for tomorrow.

Healesville Sanctuary

Headed out of Melbourne to the Healesville Sanctuary north of Melbourne. It took 1 1/2 hour to get there. We followed the road through lots of Vineyards along the way. When we got there we saw lots of Koalas, Kangaroo's, Dingo's, Emus, Wallabies, Wombats and snakes.

We went to the sanctuary's hospital a saw a wombat having a check up for his broken leg. Poor little mite. He was hit by a car, but hes well on his way to recovery.

The high of the day was, by far, watching cute Koala's sitting in the trees only meters away and getting to stroke one at feeding time. Got loads of photos and a bit of video. Had a great time.

Get fit in Melbourne

Today we went in search of some trainers, a jumper and a scarf to keep Hannah warm. We still don't have any electricity this morning maybe some good news to come. We found a really nice place for lunch that does amazing chocolate milk shakes. We headed into the city where we bought some trainers and spent the rest of the day wondering around. Then headed home to the great news that at long last we had electricity, which means we now have lights, TV and hair dryers and straighteners for Hannah. We celebrated by doing some washing and watching TV.

Still in the dark

Its Tuesday afternoon now. Things we've done since Thursday having no power are; took Scott to the airport and didn't get lost, had a meal in Melbourne's China town in The Dragon Boat(nice but nothing to shout about). Took the Melbourne City loop free tram and learnt about the sites of the city. Watched Shriek the Third at the Village Crown cinema in the city. We recommend you go and see it. It's really funny, we had a man laughing all the way through really loud.

Sunday we just walked around the city and stop off in a Vietnamese restaurant. We had a really nice but really cheap meal.

Monday we went to the Melbourne museum. They are hosting the Great Wall of China exhibition. We spent over 4 1/2 hours in the museum. We travelled through time from the start of the battling times of the wall through to the present day. It was really interesting to find out why it was built. Then went to the human body section (not Neil's favorite section), then under the water and Aboriginal section. Great fun playing with all the try science bits.

Then to finish our day took Hannah to the Melbourne Hard Rock cafe for dinner. Then came home to still no power to the house. We have not had power since Thursday, the day we moved in. Still loving it :-)

Powerhouse

Got up really early today to move Scott's stuff to the new house. Nice warmer than the other. Moved a few things around to make it feel like home. Then popped out for lunch and when we got back the house had no power. Called the power company who said the power will not be on until tomorrow. The day Scott leaves for the UK. So as always we just grinned and beared it by getting ready and having some pots of Calton draught in the city with Scott. (thats beers to you and me). Hannah had to put her make-up on in the car as this is the only place with some light. (the car was parked on the driveway).

Work for a curry

Today we got Scott's house ready for moving tomorrow. Hannah and I cleaned the blinds in the whole house, empited cupboards, cleaned the bathroom. As Scott was at work and couldn't get time off before he moved. We packed up all our stuff and washed for dinner. The only problem was that we had packed all the plates and cutlery into boxes, So Scott said as payment for our days work he's buying us all curry. Deal!

Booked flights to Tasmania, we're going 26/06/07 until 03/06/07. So spending Neil's Birthday in Tasmania this year.