Melbourne

The train is very cheap Adelaide to Melbourne so I left the hostel before sunrise and caught the 'Overland' to Melbourne. The journey was so much comfier than a bus and the train passes through rural towns and lots of sheep fields on the way to Melbourne. I arrived later that evening after about 10.5 hours on the train in Melbourne- capital of Victoria state and an extra 30 minutes of time ahead of South Australia.

I'm not sure what I expected of Melbourne but it definitely wasn't heavy rain and freezing winds (I'm pretty sure it's always sunny in 'Neighbours'). The city seems to sprawl for miles but everything that you would want is in the centre, conveniently linked by a free tourist bus which I always seemed to miss. There is a distinct lack of free attractions in Melbourne unlike the museums of Darwin and Adelaide so I have filled my time mooching around the shops and looking for some warmer clothes. There's a lot of shops but just all the usual high street shops just cropping up all over the city.

There are a lot of pretty cathedrals, churches, old buildings and parks around so I've walked miles of the map finding them. I visited St Patrick's cathedral which was really stunning, and got lost in the botanic gardens in the rain which wasn't so fun. I also managed to end up in the residential end of town and found a street full of Italian restaurants and another full of bakeries so I ate my way through that afternoon! My hostel is walking distance to the docklands which feature more shops so I've walked along there where there's some cool sculptures including one of a cow in a tree and you can also walk along the Yarra river which is nice.

There is a huge shrine of remembrance in one of the parks which is a memorial to the Victoria soldiers who fought in WW1. The monument is a huge granite structure (apparently based upon the tomb of the King Mausolus of Halicarnassus) which looks over the city. Inside the monument is filled with statues, stories, photographs and books filled with the names of the people who died. It was really interesting and filled a few hours.

I went on a full days tour of the Great Ocean Road. The road is 250km long, running from Torquay to Warrambool and we travelled 200km of it. The road was built as a WW1 memorial to the Victorians who died, by the servicemen after they came back from the war. The coastline is spectacular but it wasn't as great as I thought it would be but this maybe as I've already been spoilt with some great coastal roads in Vietnam. We stopped at the famous surf spot of Bells Beach and watched the surfers. I went for a paddle- it was freezing! We stopped at various view points along the way including the 12 Apostles which were stunning even with the lack of sun shining on the limestone stacks. We stopped at other pretty rocks along the coast including 'London Bridge' which collapsed in the 1990's and Loch Ard Gorge which has a very nice beach and is named after a ship that is wrecked just off the cliffs.

The day was very fast paced but we saw all the main things. The definite highlights for me though were seeing 3 wild koalas sleeping in tree, feeding wild parrots and discovering that McDonald's do some of the best cheese cake ever tasted!

I feel Melbourne was nothing special but I can see why people like it as the city is completely full of shops and restaurants. Ive enjoyed walking around the city and I haven't felt like i've had lots of spare time to kill but its a shame that the weather's been so bad as it would have been nice to just relax in the parks or head to the beach. I've needed the time and decent internet connection to sort out Christmas plans. As I hoped to find farm work I didn't book any accommodation for Christmas and Melbourne completely booked up. I'm headed to the east coast for Christmas in Port Macquarie which is 8 hours north of Sydney. Getting there is a complete mission. I'm getting a bus to Canberra and then spending the night in the city to then get another bus to Sydney early the next morning. I have a 5 hour stopover in Sydney before I can then get a bus up the east coast arriving in Port Mac about 2am on the 23rd. I'll let you know how it goes!