During our visit to Melbourne, we knew we had to visit the super special Phillip Island. We jumped on a day tour bus that took us to a winery, a chocolate factory and a koala sanctuary on the way to the penguin parade.

This was all superfluos, but we couldn't get to the island on public transport so an organised bus tour it was... But it was brilliant. 

The Koala reserve was fantastic, finally getting to see these special little animals in their natural habitat is brilliant, without them being poked and prodded and woken up for photographs for snap happy tourists. 

At the end of this fun filled day we headed for the penguins. We wrapped up warm and sat on a cornered off section on the beach, eagerly anticipating the so called penguin parade. The little penguins, once known as fairy penguins wait for the sun to set before they dash up the beach to their little burrow homes. We saw around 1500 penguins waddle up the beach, it’s fake mating season so some of them were getting a bit busy along the way… Will never be able to watch Pingu the same way again… We walked up the beach with groups of these little penguins that were quieter than expected and not as smelly as I had imagined they would be. Whilst I have seen penguins before, again it was brilliant to see them in their natural habitat. Visitors are asked to be quiet and photography isn’t allowed (image above stolen from Google).

AMAZING.

Where do I start... I arrived in Melbourne Friday lunch time, after checking in to the hostel I headed down to Federation Square to meet Jenny and Bruce, who had arrived a few hours earlier. The sun was shining contrary to the forecast, and within five minutes of the ten minute stroll, I fell in love, with Melbourne. 

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that makes me a bit weak at the knees. It's much more relaxed, less crowded and quirky. Imagine Northern Quarter but bigger, better and with a bit of sunshine.

The city is much less visual, without the numerous landmarks Sydney boasts, but this allows you to sit back and embrace the cool vibe that sweeps through the streets, filled with graffiti murals and street acts.

On previous city breaks, I have found myself frantically ticking off a comprehensive list of 'must sees' to recreate the lonely planet city break book.

That's not to say there's sweet F.A to do

In danger of repeating what has been said before Sydney is London, and Melbourne is Manchester. Sydney has the hustle and bustle and Melbourne is full of early to mid twenty year olds not conforming to a specific dress code and body shape, where as Sydney is home to the beautiful, perfectly presented with kick ass bodies and a suave dress sense.

On Friday evening we gave in to a $5 pizza in the hostel bar which was suprsisingly nice. Later, we headed to a bar that had been recommended by a few different people. As we head up the stairs and peer in to the numerous rooms I'm not overly sold, until we reach the rooftop bar. The music is funky and the atmosphere is perfect. 

We then head to a bar called New Guernika, or something to that effect. By far the best bar I've been to down under, we throw out some shapes and smooth moves until the early hours of the morning.

After 2 hrs sleep, various morning alarms disturb the peace, it's stuffy and too hot and I am Hanging with a capital H. I try and piece back together the memories of the night before, I decide I'm not going to get any more shut eye so head to a 7/11 for a life saver that is a slurpee, you can see the store from the hostel but some how I manage to get myself lost on the way back and end up on a bench wondering did I at some point last night put my head through a brick wall... 

This weekend we went on a family holiday up to Bilpin, near the Blue Mountains. We stayed with family friends in an amazing house literally in the middle of nowhere, confirmed by the sat nav which gave up half way down the road. The house is in a great spot and is fuelled by solar power and has a rain water tank. We knew we were in the countryside as we approached the house, there were sheer drops either side of the road and we were greeted by a herd of cows that were chilling on the ‘road’, Unfortunately one had just died from trying to give birth on the side of the road- not a great sight for the kids.

We roasted marshmallows on the fire and on the second day we went on a great walk and I had an amazing view of the blue mountains, of course I had forgotten my camera. The pic above is the view from a bit further down the mountain. It's such a great location, the middle of nowhere, beautiful scenery and there were no snakes, boom.. But loads of leaches! 

Bilpin is a small town  but there are plenty of orchards, so we did do some apple picking and we visited the community hall where they try and break some sort of knitting world record… I know a few people that would love this place.

Next weekend I’m off to Melbourne, so maybe in a week or two I will do a visit to the Blue Mountains and see the Three Sisters etc. Oh and for those of you were wondering, those that don’t watch the Discovery Channel, the Blue Mountains do actually look blue. And no not because of blue grass, apparently they appear blue because of the haze from the vast amount of eucalyptus trees #factoftheday

Oh and the weather is getting colder, its meant to be about 16 degrees but there is fo sho a freezing breeze coming from that ocean, and I’m starting to regret not packing any warm clothes and only bringing sandals.

For the past few years, the easter holidays has meant procrastination, coursework and 'revision'. This year I get to spend time with my cousin and we try and use the opportunity to do some of the touristy things.

The weather... It's amazing sometimes but other times it is raining and the skies are grey. Sydney, the beach and everything else doesn't quite look the same and I didn't come prepared with a winter wardrobe. Although the it was roasting when we visited the Sydney Easter Show at Fox studios.

We got to the Sydney Aquarium on Darling Harbour which was super fun. It's a bit of a mission without a car, but it's really interesting and someone gave me there $35 ticket outside for free #winner. When things like this keep happening I feel like the universe is telling me that I wont run out of money and that I should stay here... Complete with penguins, shark feeding and the biggest Great Barrier Reef display it's by far the best aquarium I have been to. Although during the talk about the GBR the guy says that the coral, wouldn't be able to survive at Darling Harbour temperatures... So they've made theirs out of popcorn... Not quite authentic but the fish and sharks look cool. It's making me want to book a diving course and head up to Cairns. 

The rest of the time it has been slightly wet and miserable, it's like being back in Manchester so we freeze our bottoms off on the bus and head to the cinema... As my cousin keeps telling me, I need a car! 

My usual easter weekend consists of over indulgence of chocolate and alcohol, but this year I am lucky enough to spend it with the Australian part of the family.

We are lucky with the weather as we go to Centennial Park on the Saturday, for a nice walk and an easter egg hunt, and on the Sunday we visited Nielson Park that has, again, a beautiful waters edge. On Monday night I was back to my usual self, and let my hair down with a few drinks to say ta-raa to a friend. We started in the Hilton and ended up in the dodgy backpacker part- again the night ends abruptly with a thunderstorm and I'm back home by the time the lightning and thunder is just one second apart....

Happy Easter everyone!

A visit to the famous Watsons Bay is a perfect Sydney tourist place, as you have an amazing view of the city... Or do you?

We took the scenic route past Bondi, but unfortunately it was very cloudy ad foggy so we couldn't see a thing. We go by the waters edge and eventually the clouds budge and I can appreciate the view. 

It's getting colder and a tad rainy, not all the time but I guess Australia has to have Autumn too.

A 2.5hr road trip from Sydney and you can find yourself in the heart of the countryside, in the Hunter Valley. The landscape and scenery is fantastic, a perfect setting for a long weekend of wine tasting with the family.

To me this place reminds me a lot of the east coast of Canada but less orange and maple-leafy. It's quiet and the houses seem a bit like dolls houses/ scenes from a horror film. Home for the weekend is a cottage on a small winery, complete with a small chicken farm in the back garden.
 
We start the weekend at the local zoo, it's not big, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in quality. We get up close and personal with the typical aussie animals including kangaroos, koalas and wombats.

Being in a wine region, we spent a generous amount of time in lots of different wineries knocking back a variety of vino’s. The scenery is amazing. I'm 22 and not willing to pretend I know what I'm talking about when it comes to wine, I enjoy the opportunity to enjoy some fine wines and Champagne.

We watch the colourful sunset over the landscape, and later we do some star gazing into a clear night sky, we see more stars than you would a planetarium. After having slight insomniac tendencies the past few days, it's barely 11pm and I'm in bed, covered in insect repellent writing this blog... Considering the alcohol im surrounded by, and that it's a Saturday night, I think this healthy change of lifestyle is finally kicking in.