Leaving Melbourne

Hello lovely people :)

I know we were in contact not all that long ago but as our plans are hotting up we thought we'd post one last time from Melbourne whilst we still have a reliable internet connection to let you know anything we've missed and our future plans.

Firstly Mat's done a little video tour of the house (as promised months ago) to show you all where we've been living the last 4 months. It's a bit amateur and he didn't want to chat over it so I'll explain, we start on the top (second) floor where there are 3 bedrooms off the top landing then along the corridor are another 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms before a lovely view over the backyard and surrounding area from the fire-escape. Then we proceed to the first floor, where there's a large room straight ahead, a toilet/shower room, and another double before heading down and up along the corridor past 3 more bedrooms and another bathroom. Down the staircase, out the front door for a lovely view of the street and front of the house before back inside into the enormous living room and back out down the corridor into the kitchen before 180ing back out to our bedroom. You walk in past the wardrobe, desk in front of you, turn the corner and yes, that's a sink and a shower, in our bedroom (thankfully it's only us that get to use it!) about turn and there's a ladder which we ascend to the bed built in above the desk. Then out we go through over very own fire exit, (complete with bright green light up sign) into the backyard for a final look up at the fire escape. Ta-dah. Yes the house is massive, there are 17 of us and a lot of coming and going at that, we've had 30 house mates in 4months! And our room is very random and very noisy. But it's nice and central, not horrifically expensive and it's been home, mice and all.

We've now handed in our notice to the landlady and having finished work we're all set to pack up and move out. Yesterday we hit one of the beaches just down the Peninsula (Chelsea to be precise) and headed to nearby Philip Island today to visit the Koala Sanctuary and see the famous 'Penguin Parade' where hundreds of little penguins waddle from the sea at sunset up to their burrows in the sand dunes. We'll be leaving Melbourne tomorrow, first stop the Great Ocean Road. We've rented a car and Mat will drive us along the famous route which follows the curves of the coastline going west from Melbourne (towards Adelaide) taking in picturesque ocean views and small Aussie seaside towns along the way.

We've booked 3 nights accommodation en route so we can spread the 660 odd kilometres over 4days. We plan to stop at Torquay where we're hoping to take in some of the ASP Bells Beach Pro Surfing competition, Lorne where we'll hopefully rent boards and head into the sea ourselves, Apollo Bay a laid-back fishing port in the shadow of the Otway Ranges, and the Twelve Apostles an iconic Australian natural wonder of huge rock stacks set against a rugged coastline. Along the way we'll pass through two national parks, past mountains, rainforest, and hope to take in waterfalls, lighthouses, shipwrecks and of course a bit of the local wildlife (we're hoping for more of the kangaroos and koalas than snakes and jellyfish!) but you'll have to wait for the next post to see how much we managed to fit in!

Finally on Friday night we'll stay at Warrnambool and take the quicker and easier highway route back to Melbourne ready to catch an evening flight to Sydney on Saturday. We'll then spend a few days over Easter in Sydney doing the obvious harbour sightseeing and beaches before heading inland by to Katoomba (~2 hours by train) in the Blue Mountains where we'll take in a very different kind of scenery. Then back to Sydney for a bit before we start our trip up the East Coast taking in the all Australian tourist traps of Coff's Harbour, Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise etc. on our way to Brisbane where we plan to stop and work for another couple of months before continuing on up the coast to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. But that's all very much still in the pipeline at the moment!

Lots of love,

Leah