Sydney and Melbourne

So after 6 weeks, 4 flights, 10 bus and 3 boat trips we've travelled 4030km from Cairns to Melbourne and our time in Australia has come to an end. In Sydney we met up with Nat (Chess' cousin), and had a fab time in the city being tourists and taking in the sights like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. 
We also took a tour around the Olympic Park, where we spent the whole time slaughtering everything we saw, comparing it to London 2012 (go team GB!), which was miles better. We visited the world famous Bondi Beach, which wasn't nearly as busy as everyone thinks but we still had a fun afternoon watching some incredible surfing and from here we walked to Coogee Beach taking in the coastal scenery. One evening we were lucky enough to go to a circus/burlesque show, 'La Soiree', at the opera house which was great fun - our favourite act being the 'English Gents', whose main talent was their fantasic abs. Our other favourite acts included a topless man in a bath, a topless man on a unicycle, and a topless man lifting himself up a lampost...

After Sydney we took the dreaded overnight bus to Melbourne, where we arrived in surprisingly high spirits once we saw the first rays of sunshine in 3 and half weeks! We're staying in the chilled area of St. Kilda, a small town by a beautiful harbour and we spend most of our days sunbathing on the beach. It's a hard life. We also saw some friends we met at Fraser Island (the ones who told us about the amazing chocolate shop Max Brenner), and re visited the shop for the 4th time. It was just as good as the first And second and third. We took trips into the city to explore places like the Sports Precinct, home to Melbourne Cricket Ground, Carlton Gardens and Queen Victoria Markets. Although they were nice to see, we were a little underwhelmed by what the city had to offer so didn't end up spending too much time in the actual city itself. However the highlight of Chess' time in Melbourne was the Neighbours Set Tour (for a non neighbours watcher like Eli, her excitement was brilliant to watch.) We got to visit the outside sets, and see the real Ramsay Street! The tour came with a 'star meeting' and we got to meet Libby (not Karl like Chess had hoped) which was a strange experience, just because she was so wierd.

Overall we've had a really great 6 weeks in Australia, even though the weather hasn't been great. It wasn't what we expected at all, but we've done so many amazing things in such a short time, our top experiences being the Uncle Brians Tour, Whitsundays and Fraser Island (and for Chess of course the Neighbours tour). We can't believe we're one country down and a third of the way through the trip, but are so excited to be moving on to New Zealand tomorrow!