Melbourne

Well I for some reason booked a ridiculously early flight to Melbourne, think I was thinking we could make the most of the day... but getting up at 4.30am was a bit silly!! Anyway, got to Melbourne on the regular commuter run and after some confusion Paddy managed to pick me up. It was great to see him as it had been about 3yrs since he was last in London and even then you only have an evening of drinks to catch up.

So we dropped my stuff at his apartment (very nice I might add!), then headed into the city for a walk around and down to the Southbank for a spot of lunch. Was very lucky to also meet up with Carolyn for a quick drink at lunch time and caught up on her travels a little.

Then it was off for another walk and then back to Paddy's to get ready for a friends BBQ. Apparently this whole Australia Day weekend is just filled with BBQs so should be fun. We head down towards Melbourne Park where the tennis is being held (Australian Open apparently, I totally forgot that was on!) but on the south side of the river where there are free public gas BBQs (another great aussie invention).

There I meet a few of Paddy's friends, eat some food and drink some wine before we stroll back into the city to Paddy's favourite bar called Robot. A cute place that seems a little like a family and Paddy is known by everyone so we are well looked after. Then off to a friends house for a few drinks, where on arrival we are greated with a room full of young female german backpackers... its quite funny, looks a bit like a photo shoot and paddy gets handed about 10 cameras for a group shot!! Anyway, apparently there is a thing called couch surfing, which is basically backpackers going to peoples homes and staying on the sofa rather than in hostels.. interesting idea..

Saturday is a bit of a lazy day, we head over to the markets on the outskirts and go for breakfast, Melboure is quite a spread out city with lots of little cafe areas scattered around. Its quite nice and slow paced compared to Sydney. So we have a little mooch around the city basically and take it easy with a DVD in the evening as we have kite boarding lessons early morning.

The next morning we head to St Kilda, meet Timo our instructor and hit the beach... the first lesson is kite control only so we are not getting wet! Just on the beach going through the kites, the controls and safety. Its great fun and even though its very light winds you can get dragged easily and feel the force of it, should be exciting on the water on a board I think. I have a few teething problems at the start with Timo saying "go left, go left, go left" but I am going right... ha ha, after a few times he finally gives in saying "I am not going to tell you what to do as you jsut ignore it anyway..." ;), I just tell him that as a girl I can't work out my right from left, eventually I get there. Even so in the meantime I managed to crash land the kite on Paddy's head.... good job we are given helmets to wear for this sport.

Anyway, the kite work was great fun, much easier once you are strapped in to the big harness and I can't wait to carry on lessons... think that may be one for Cape Town as I am starting to rack up a list of things I want to do there.

Then after we have a spot of lunch we hit the markets and grab some BBQ food and then back to Paddys for a quick dip in the pool then ready for the guests to turn up. Dave a friend of Paddys turns up with a keg of beer and a case of beer, he owns his own brewery now apparently as well as a bar so good person to know for a party (not to mention his jobs as a physio and accountant!). I personally hate beer but the bottled beer he brought was not bad, but not that I am going to drink more than a mouthful... yukky stuff!!

We had a great night, and managed to skype Charys and have a little video call... however we forgot at the time the laptop was playing the music for the party, so everyone basically had to listen to the call... oooops! I went to bed a little earlier than everyone else because I had booked tickets for the tennis tomorrow and wanted to be sure I got up for it.

So my last day was at the tennis, it was Aussie day so lots of people in flags, with face paints and the usual. The tennis was great and really got me into the fact I want to go back to my tennis club and get into tennis again (haven't really done much since tearing my calf muscle!) so have that to look forward to. Serena's match was going well it was just a shame her opponent got sick, she looked like she was going to faint.. not sure if its the heat (it is pretty hot!) Melbourne is getting record highs next week is going to be a heatwave warning as they hit 40C + .... glad I will be back in Sydney for just the 30C temps phew....!

Saw a little of Nadal and then it was off to watch Andy Murray, what a great game... the atmosphere was great. Loads of Brits there supporting him and We Love You Andy banners around. Loads of singing, "if you love Andy Murray clap you hands" ha ha, it was just such a shame that he lost out. Verdasco was playing really well and just uped his game in the end (and is pretty cute I might add...!)

The rest of the time I just strolled round taking it in, with the Wii stand were you can play virtual tennis, and the swing ball stand... its very kid orientated but lots there to do and a fun atmosphere.

Then took a last stroll round the city, taking in Aussie day and also Chinese New Year celebrations and fireworks then back to the apartment packing up ready to return to Sydney and my last week in Oz.