I'm still jet lagged and it's hot today, specially in the sun. I'm not liking this dry heat either because it makes my mouth dry then I drink loads so then go to the toilet loads.

We went to a wildlife park with Australian animals in. There were wallabies all over the place that you could feed and stroke - as long as they didn't run away. I stroked a koala called Smokey on his bum - any higher and they bite! There were also geese, a pelican, ducks, echidna (bit like a hedgehog), dingo (Australian wild dog), bilby, snakes, lizards and ugly big green stick insects.

Then we went up Mount Lofty where there was a lookout. Adelaide is built at the bottom of a group of mountains, of which Mount Lofty is the tallest. So we could see the whole city, including one really square bit.

After that we went to Hahndorf, which was a german settled town. They had a shop selling some english chocolate and sweets. Most of it seemed like little tourist shops. We went to dinner at a buffet, where I discovered melon with hundreds and thousands is very nice.

A seal made from rock

Bill the horse

A pelican in the wild

Today was a bit of a long journey to Victor Harbour. We walked across to a little island in the bay where we saw a little penguin sheltering between two rocks. We got a horse drawn tram back. The horse was a big one called Bill. Most of the time he walked quite slowly - but then the tram was probably quite heavy. He was promised carrots when he'd finished though, which seemed to speed him up when we got closer to our destination.

Then we went to Goolwa, which was empty. But we walked across the marina across the Murray River that separated the fresh water from the sea water. There were loads of fish on the seawater side and pelicans eating the fish. They look really odd but less scary than the one at the wildlife park which eyed us up as we walked past. There was a seagull trying to get the fish off a couple of the pelicans. I'm not how successfully though.

Today we went to Port Adelaide, which essentially is the old Adelaide. The maritime museum there has exhibits you can go round - replica of a ship. There was also a shipwrecked section with replicas of cabins people would have travelled in from England to Australia, and you could try out a surfboard, which was really hard. Then we went up a small lighthouse. The view in one direction was quite boring, as it was an industrial area. The river at the Port has dolphins in it but we didn't see any of them.

Today the temperature went up from about 25 to 36 degrees C. So it's really quite horrible out in the sun, although the air conditioning in the buildings feels very nice.

Later in the afternoon we went back to Glenelg and swam in the sea. It was cold but probably no colder than the English Channel in the summer. We went to a McCafe for drinks, Nathan had an iced raspberry fanta which made his tongue pink. I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow (and having to get up while it's still dark!). I want to stay! (As long as they turn the weather down, it's just too hot - the sun feels really hot as well, which doesn't help).

Port Adelaide with Adelaide in the background

Lighthouse

McKenzie Falls

The Balconies, aka Jaws of Death

I got up before it got light to catch the bus to Melbourne. The weirdest thing was driving down a hill on the way and being able to see loads of green traffic lights.

There were a few people on the bus already when I got on, who had been picked up at Glenelg. The rest were picked up round the corner where all the hostels seemed to be. We consisted of two brits, one french canadian, one irish, two german, two swiss german, one french, one american, one dutch, and our driver, whose first trip it was.

We did lots of driving through nowhere - literally all you would see was road, trees and land. Occasionally we'd come to a town that pretty much just consisted of a couple of houses and a few shops. Frances was the last one in South Adelaide. We stopped for lunch at Mt Arapiles and saw a couple of climbers on Lord of the Ring, which was the hardest. It was very hot though, so quite why they were climbing up the sunny side in the middle of the day, I don't know.

It was slightly cooler when we made it to the Grampians and went down loads of steps to look at McKenzie waterfall. The view was worth it but the climb back up was hard.

We walked to look at the Grampians, which was a nice view. We also saw a dark coloured wallabie in the wild. Then we came to Halls Gap, which is a small town in between the mountains. here we saw a few kangaroos, which weren't that wild because they were living in a caravan park. I'm so tired now and feeling homesick for Adelaide and civilisation generally.

We ate kangaroo at dinner. It tasted like chicken.

We got up early today - it seemed early because the room was so dark, although in reality it was probably later than I'd been waking up the rest of the week. It was just as well it was so early though, because we hiked 2km up Mt Pinnacle for a fabulous view of the Grampians. The 2km walk back down the other side took half the time! We then went to the Cultural Centre where a film told us how the Aboriginal people in the area thought it was all created.

We stopped for lunch at Tower Hill (more inventive place names). They had dug a quarry out there and found layers in the rock where there had been volcanoes in the area. We also saw a few koalas sitting around in the trees and some emus running around.

At least we reached the Great Ocean Road and saw the Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, London Bridge and the Twelve Apostles. It all looked a lot like the Dorset coastline. It's London Bridge that has a story: originally it was connected to the mainland with another arch and you could walk out there. So a couple was out there when the arch fell away and they had to be rescued. Except they were actually having an affair, so it all came out!

Last nights hostel was a bit basic but at least none of us had to sleep in a top bunk. There was only one shower between six but it was in a separate little bit, as was the toilet. Tonight we have one shower between nine and its just in the bathroom, so you can't even use the sink while someone's showering, never mind the toilet. There's also a fly buzzing around and a massive beetle on the floor. We're more scared of it than usual because on the way back from the Twelve Apostles (dark because we were waiting for the penguins but didn't see them because they waited until it was too dark) we nearly walked on a snake. I thought it was just a dark thing on the path until I went to tread near it and it moved. Turns out it was one of the ten most poisonous ones in the word. It'll be nice to get back to civilisation tomorrow (there are people here who camped in the outback - there's no way I could do that) and not having to unpack and pack everyday. And hopefully a hostel with facilities.

The Grampians

The Grotto

London Bridge

The Twelve Apostles at sunset

Loch Ard Gorge

The Great Ocean Road sign

Bells Beach

We got a lie-in this morning - the first person got up at 7.20am! We went to Loch Ard Gorge where we met a Groovy Grape group going the other way. I think they had a full bus. We were glad there were only eleven of us because we could stretch out more. Although given that the air conditioning in our bus was broken, this was probably just as well. Afterwards we went back to the Twelve Apostles where some of the group went up in a helicopter trip. I had been considering it but it was really windy and I thought I'd probably be sick.

After that we went to a rainforest in Otway, which was nice and cool. We had a cooked lunch then stopped at a beach after driving along the cost. Some people went swimming in the very cold sea, I went with some other people to spot koalas. We saw four but all high in the trees.

We made it to Torquay to go to the Quiksilver and Rip Curl factory outlets half an hour before they closed. Lots of people bought clothes there! (It was cheap but hard to find tops in the big piles of them).

Our last stop was Bells Beach which is the best surfing beach in the world. Although when we were there there were no waves. The beach wasn't very pretty either, all black and covered in seaweed. There were a load of stands there left over from the previous weekends surfing competition. When we got back to the bus we got a couple of people there to take a photo of all of us - then gave them all of our cameras. Luckily they thought it was quite funny.

We were late getting into Melbourne but no-one minded. By the time I got checked in and went out for something to eat it was 9pm. I am in Sanctuary, with free towels and comfy beds. Except you can hear the disco downstairs, which makes it harder to sleep.

I started off by doing my washing, which was expensive but it was all done in two hours - by which time my roommates were up. I had a wander round St Kilda and found an internet cafe that would let me upload my photos and would even put them on CD straight from the card, if I wanted. Then I booked myself on a trip to Philip Island on Wednesday. After making lunch I headed into Melbourne. I did some leaflet collecting in Federation Square and discovered you can have a tour of the tennis centre, so I'll do that tomorrow.

I then headed to the Melbourne Gaol (although went in the wrong direction on the tram at first). It was quite pricey and there wasn't that much there. I didn't end up looking at much of it because it got too claustrophobic - most of the stuff was in the cells, which were very small.

Then I took a trip on the free city tram and ended up at the Rialto Towers which had an observation deck at the top - 253m high. The lift made my ears go funny, like on planes. From the top you can see the rain coming. I spent a while up there waiting for sunset so I could also see the lights of the city and get my moneys worth because it was quite expensive.

I had a look in the ice cream place round the corner when I got back and not only did they have dairy free ice cream but the labels said if they were! They had chocolate, apple, mango and lemon & lime. The apple was very nice (never seen apple flavoured ice cream before) and the chocolate tasted really rich - like very rich chocolate ice cream really.

Melbourne

Melbourne

Gold mine

Gold pouring

Panning for gold

I managed to be in Melbourne just in time to miss a train - I was planning to get the next one and wanted to be there in plenty of time. I ended up walking up the street across the road to the station so far that I got a tram back because I couldn't see the end of the road. I was also very naughty because I had a Tim Tam iced chocolate drink because in that situation I'd have had a hot chocolate (and it was quite warm out already). It was very nice but quite an odd taste.

The train I got on was a bit like Thames Trains in that they had two seats on one side and three on the other. Although it was bigger, cleaner and less rickety, and had no tables. The toilets at Ballarat station were remarkably clean and nice. And I just missed a bus to Sovereign Hill so had to wait half an hour for another one. It didn't take long to get there but cost a small fortune in get in! The first thing I spotted was panning for gold and saw the end of a demonstration of how to do it. I had a couple of goes and did see some but must have thrown it out - I wasn't very good at it. I gave up in the end because my legs and back were aching from bending over the creek and my arms were going red from being out in the sun with no sun tan lotion on.

I ended up going on a tour of a gold mine (more expense) which was really interesting, although at the end of it I was quite cold. After that it was time for dinner, which was nice but expensive - and I'd have expected more food for the price.

I then wandered down the shops and bought a poster with my name on it (which I'm sure will be all bent and creased by the time I get home), had a demonstration of gold pouring and went on a horse-drawn coach tour (which for the price I thought was going to go round more of the site, save me doing it).

My feet and legs were hurting after that from so much walking, so I went to the Gold Museum, which wasn't very exciting. I then just missed a bus back to the station so got there in time to miss a train (which I didn't mind so much as it had been replaced by a coach).

I got $80 out of a cash machine this morning and I think I've spent it all! It has been worth it though. At least tomorrow has been paid for in advance.

I had a lie in this morning as the bus to Philip Island wasn't going to pick me up until 11am. It was late and then spent the next hour picking all the other people up from the city centre. Our first stop (that wasn't a toilet stop) was at a wildlife park. I got to cuddle a wombat called Wilma who weighted 20kg and was therefore very heavy. The kangaroos practically mug you for food, Sam the cockatoo supposedly talks but wasn't going to today and I saw some kookaburras. Our guide made a noise like a male one, so the female replied (and flew into the door) and the male puffed himself up.

Then we actually got to Philip Island (across a bridge) and drove to Pyramid Rock, where we could see practically the whole island. We then stopped at the Nobbies where you can see seals at the right time of year. Then we went to the Penguin Parade. We were there about an hour before any were expected so we could sit in front of the stands on the beach. After an hour and a half it was very uncomfortable and cold but we did get to see a few penguins.

It's moulting season for them at the moment so most don't go out to fish and most of the ones that do are fattening themselves up in preparation. Mostly we'd see one or two penguins but then they'd go back into the sea and come out with a whole load more. Once they had the whole group (raft) then they'd walk up the beach to get to their homes. Except one baby one decided to go on his own and ended up in the crowd. In the end the woman officiating had to pick him up and carry him, quacking and wriggling, to one side. Where he still looked a bit lost.

We stopped off in Cowes for some take away pizza (there was what I think is a pub there called 'Isle of Wight'). I was very glad we were first to be dropped off as I was so tired I fell asleep on the way home.

Agro the wombat

Kookaburra

Kangaroos

Sam the cockatoo

Flinders Street Station

Melbourne

I'm feeling bored of Melbourne now so decided to have a lazy day. So I wondered up to the internet cafe to upload some more photos, and went the long way round to get there as well. Then I went into town and wondered through the Queen Victoria market, which wasn't very exciting at all. After that I wondered around the shops - found the science fiction one! I also found The Bill: The Inside story in a sale, which was good because I've been meaning to get it for a while (like, since it came out).

I decided after that that it was probably warm enough for a river cruise and I needed to sit down. I turned up just before one was leaving. It was quite interesting because it went to the Docklands where I hadn't been.

Then I thought I wanted to go to the Botanic Gardens as my map mentioned a model Tudor village being in there. Upon closer inspection I realised it was actually Fitzroy Gardens. I had a wonder round them but none of the maps in it mentioned the Tudor village. I saw one arrow pointing to it eventually but as it pointed in the direction I had just come and I hadn't seen it I decided to go to dinner.

The service in Wagamama's was great, although probably had a lot to do with there not being many people in there at 6pm. The food was expensive and not as nice as The Noodle Bar, so I probably won't bother going to another one.

The hostel in Canberra really wasn't very nice. I couldn't sleep last night because of the noise from outside and the TV. And because it was really hot in the room. The 'swimming pool' was the size of a stamp - you'd be hard pressed to do one stroke in it. I wasn't terribly impressed with the cleanliness either.

I got up slightly earlier than I was planning to and got on a bus to parliament. I saw a sign for Old Parliament House, so got off, took a picture and headed towards what I thought would be New Parliament. Except that it was actually in the opposite direction. At the time it was quite a nice day and I did see cockatoos in the wild on the way back.

Eventually I found Parliament House and took a while to find a tour. It was all very interesting and a couple of hours after I got there, I went to find a bus that went to the National Museum. However, just about every bus stop I went to said it wasn't in use due to the building works going on. So I ended up on one going back to the City Interchange. Where I'd have to wait an hour for a bus to the museum.

I had thought about walking but it was hot so I thought I'd have an early lunch first. At which point I got hopelessly lost and decided to give it a miss. I needed to sit down, so I headed back to the hostel, read for a bit, then got my luggage.

I then got lost trying to find the bus station. It's really not obvious at all. I still ended up there with an hour and a half to spare though.

The bus journey went quite quickly. For the first two hours there was a DVD on that wasn't very good but was at least vaguely watchable. And did have Christian Kane in (evil lawyer Lindsey from Angel). An hour after that we stopped at Liverpool to let some people off and then we were in Sydney.

I had a bit of trouble finding the train because I thought the bloke at the information counter said platform 4. Turned out to be platform 24 but it hadn't occurred to me there would be that many platforms.

The train turned out to be a tube but double-deckered - one floor down and one floor up from where you get on. It mostly went underground as well. When I got to Kings Cross I automatically stood on the right on the escalator. The sign at the top at the end of them told me why everyone else was standing on the left.

I managed to go the wrong way from the station but eventually found the hostel. Initially they put me in a 10-bed mixed room when my booking said 6-bed female. So I got moved. Out in the courtyard I discovered two of the people from the Adelaide-Melbourne coach! So I talked for a bit then went to bed when we were kicked out.

The bed wasn't terribly comfortable and only had a sheet for covering me, which was fine at first because the room was really hot but later I got cold and ended up putting my towel on top. I couldn't get to sleep either because I could hear people talking outside (every word) and other people shouting. Then in the morning I constantly got woken up by the phone ringing in reception which was really loud.

Old Parliament House

New Parliament House

House of Representatives (Lower House)

Senate (Upper House)

View of Canberra from the top of New Parliament House

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The fountain in Hyde Park with a cathedral in the background

I was generally unimpressed with the shower and bathroom facilities so the first place I went to was Base in Sydney. Actually, I lie, it was the second. The first was the local supermarket where I found some semi-skimmed non-lactose milk. Base did have sanctuary rooms available, so I went to think about it. And find the tourist information place. Which I did, and booked myself in for a BridgeClimb at 8.15 Wednesday morning, so if it's hot that day it won't be so bad at that time.

Then I decided to go to the Australian museum, which involved walking around part of Hyde Park. I did the skeletons exhibit and the Indigenous one, where there was a guy who played the didgeridoo and told us about it. After that I found one about animals that had worked for humans. Although I skipped the insect bit. I was going to go to Human Evolution but I wandered through and it was all just stuff I knew and the Biodiversity one looked like it had too many insects for me.

I went into Hyde Park and had my lunch. I saw the fountain and rang Base to book myself a bed. I was trying to find out the country code for Australia so I could use the free $5 on my VIP card but it turned out to be a free number anyway.

I found the Sydney Tower quite easily - it is difficult to miss. I just managed to miss a guided tour, so wandered around for a while before catching the next one. I'm very glad I did because it was really interesting. After that it was nearly 4pm and I wanted to move hostels before it got dark. I'd spread my stuff out trying to find everything last night. I also repacked my suitcase a bit but it still didn't all fit in! I'm sure I haven't gained that much stuff.

I felt a bit guilty for leaving. I managed to go in entirely the wrong direction from the station to the hostel, despite having been there before. The lift takes forever, once I'd found it. The room is quite imposing because it has a high ceiling and a small window with the curtain drawn. There is at least plenty of space to put my stuff. The bathroom looks nicer than the Original Backpackers, as it has a few benches in that you can put your stuff on.

It was dark by the time I had sorted myself out. I went over to the Aquarium, which opens till 10pm but their cafe looked shut, so I walked down to Chinatown instead. Chinatown is a lot like Chinatown in London. Except for all the seats outside. I can certainly eat at a different restaurant every night of the week.

So I'm quite liking the location of this hostel. And you can sit up on the bottom bunk, which is an improvement. And from here (four floors up) you can barely hear the road, never mind the bar, five floors below. I'm looking forward to meeting Avon tomorrow and going to the Blue Mountains.

I was woken up by my alarm this morning, which was a good start. Although when I got down to the kitchen I found my milk had fallen over, so everything was covered in milk. And none of my food was actually cold, either. I eventually made it out of the building and went down Kent Street to where the website assured me there was a Westpac 177 metres away. Admittedly, I started off by walking down the road the wrong way. But there wasn't one 177 metres down the road.

I met Avon and we made our way to the Blue Mountains. Which are really only blue from a distance. The first thing I did was go on the Skyway. It had really good views and I wasn't scared at all. I even managed to walk on the glass floor. After that we wandered down to the lookout to see the Three Sisters and mountains, and lots of trees in the valley below.

We stopped in Katoomba for lunch, where they managed to furnish me with a Westpac ATM. The cafe had one toilet - which was in a room with a washing machine and the boiler. Then we attempted to find the house where Aunty Janet and co lived in, so I could take a picture. We did find one that fitted the description. I later found out it was the right house and it hadn't changed a bit. On the way back we stopped off at a couple of little towns, handily managing to be driving while it thundered and the rain poured down.

When we got back I had a quick dinner at Subway then decided to head to the Aquarium. Annoyingly, the gift shop was shut (what's the point of opening in the evening if you close half the other stuff?). I went under the sea lions but found it a bit claustrophic so I didn't go under the sharks. I did have to walk over them on a glass floor, which was scary, especially as the last panel moved. I saw lots of interesting fish and anemones, a duck billed platypus and a couple of sea lions. I think the fairy penguins had gone to bed though but I did find Nemo.

I was quite excited to get back and find an old episode of Dead Like Me on in the TV room - this place really does have cable.

The Three Sisters

The Blue Mountains

I got up early and ended up arriving ten minutes early at BridgeClimb. So they said there was space in the 7.55 one. So why didn't they offer that before? It was good though, because there were only seven of us (usually here are twelve in a group). Although, strangely, everyone was from England and we were all flying out on Friday.

Why anyone would do it more than once, I don't know, given that it's so expensive, but it was absolutely fantastic. Most of the time you forgot how high you were and just got on with the business of climbing and looking at the view.

Afterwards I walked down to the Opera House and discovered the tours were really expensive. I had a look inside and it was just like any other theatre, so it was a bit of a disappointment really. As was the observatory I went to afterwards. It was full of stuff I already knew, the 3D theatre had stuff I already knew and there wasn't a very good view through the telescope.

I tried the Museum of Sydney after that and there was basically nothing in there worth seeing.

I ended up getting a ferry from Circular Quay back to Darling Harbour, so got to see quite a few sights that way. When I got there I looked in the IMAX and they were showing Robots an hour later. I discovered a quicker way back from there to the hostel and ended up seeing the film, which was very good - even more so for the size of the screen, I think.

Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Pylon lookout

The Opera House

Sydney

The Opera House

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

I'd had to look up where the science fiction book shop was because I couldn't remember. Turns out it was really obvious. It was a good shop - certainly better than the Friar Street Bookshop. Except that all the books and magazines were really expensive. Although I went to Borders and they were the same price there.

I also found a New Zealand Natural ice cream shop but they didn't have the soya chocolate one. In fact, neither did any of the other branches I found. Which makes me wonder what they'd done with it. And it's annoying because I really liked it.

After the climb yesterday my legs were really hurting so I didn't really want to go too far or do much that required walking. I had a look inside the Town Hall as I was staying near it. The bits I saw were very grand and old. And pretty. Once I'd walked as far as Borders I realised I was close to the State Parliament. As it was free I had a look round. A lot of the rooms looked like ones you'd see in one of those big old houses.

I went back to the hostel for lunch and went back out to walk down to Paddy's market, which was a lot like the one in Melbourne. Then I went to Bondi Beach. It was 4pm by the time I got there, so quite a few people were leaving. It's not a very exciting beach, despite being famous. There were signs up saying not to swim. A few people were but there were more surfing. Although most of them fell off.

I walked along the beach, I had some pineapple and some mixed berries ice cream, which was nice. Total different ice cream flavours tried (apart from chocolate): apple, mango, pineapple, passionfruit, strawberry, raspberry, mixed berries, and lemon, carrot and orange, which isn't bad going.

By 5.30 it was getting dark and cold, so made my way back, as there wasn't really a lot in Bondi to do. On the way the bus passed three video shops, one with an internet cafe, which seems to support this.

It will be nice to sit down tomorrow but I'm not looking forward to getting up early.