Quest Williamstown Melbourne

... contender for sure:P
Highlight for me..Escher had half an hour of sleep!
We loved this flight, it flew across Ayers Rock and Alice springs , actually ..the whole lenght of Australia from Melbourne, was in clear view.It was like watching a photo that had no ending.Stunning! The area around Ayers rock is so flat from above and is very very dry and sparse, little in the way of visable roads, trees , houses ...

... needed a tie for me and a hair piece and bag for Shar to leave our backpacker status and become flashpackers for one day lol!!!
Monday was hectic-the airport was way out and it took ages to get a shuttle, then tram and then walk to find our hostel-checked in and then straight back out again to find shar her stuff before the shops closed-luckily we did in the nick of time. Then off ot the city centre to meet Kieran to collect my clothes ...

Haha, ya, seriously! Ok what happened is the following: Our team was split up this morning and I'm on Shayne’s team. There are so many new people on the team that I am considered "experienced" already. Plus I am bringing very consistent results and I’ve proven myself to be reliable and responsible which is why I am now pretty much Shayne’s assistant. Now since Shayne doesn’t have a driver’s licence at the ...

... They have the most gorgeous and massive home, with it's own bar room and pool table room, they make us feel so welcome and cook us a beautiful curry for tea and then we have a pool comp with Peter and surprisingly manage to beat him a few times, perhaps he let us, not sure. Clearly not forgotten their roots, they have tons of Ballyshannon and Donegal memorilbilia around, Mum I have taken lots of pics for you!

We stop for a quick lunch in Melbourne ...

... each evening. We had to sit on the seating and wait for them to appear. We were now wearing 5/6 layers of clothes to combat the cold. They don’t show up until dusk, when it is practically dark. They were very cute – about 33cm high and a dark blue and white colour. They took ages battling with the surf to reach the sand, and then scurried across the sand to the safety of the dunes.

After we watched them for a while we ...

Unfortunately our 3.15 pm flight from Sydney to Melbourne was cancelled so arrived into St Kilda's later than expected. The backpacker hostel was relatively new and the room itself was like a 4 star hotel room - cable TV, tea and coffee - result!

We had a wander round St Kilda and Melbourne city centre the following day. It was cold enough to ensure that the down jackets were out! Took the opportunity of going to the top ...

... Maar......de kanen BIERIES van de beneden bar waren maar 7 dollar en de zwart geblakerde worsten op witte boterham (voor contrast) waren er voor een bargain van 2 dollar! De Prijs-kwaliteit dus eigenlijk gewoon erg goed! :-)

... suitable for swimming and probably too rough for surfing, but a really cool place for a bracing walk. Appollo Bay is busy with surfers , had good fish n chips there, Flake is a kind of shark...evidently, but deep fried  in batter it might as well have been Coley. You can see wilde Koala's along the road near Kennet River, chubby things, slow and nibble, just as well as the trees overhang the road. We went up the Eureka Skydeck in Melbourne...its the tallest observation ...

After almost two weeks at mum and dad's place, loads of home cooked food, too much drinking and a wonderful christmas, we were off to Melbourne. Matt drove most of the way and we saw beautiful countryside like the Grampian Mountains and awesome sights like the Big Koala. (Which by the way, my stepdad managed to miss when he and my mum headed over with all of my stuff that they have been charged with looking after for the last ...

... Harbour. The place was dead so it was great for us jobless types having the shops to our selves! To round off Melbourne we did The Great Ocean Road tour which was a 340 mile round trip that took 14 hours to complete! We had to get up really early and be ready at 7am (ok not that early for you workers, but it is for us travellers!!). It rained the whole 14 hours! so we were cold and wet but we still had a great time. Our tour guide was ...