Melbourne

Pretty awesome city. It's very vibrant with lots of hustle bustle and travellers roaming around.

 We are located in the central area of Melbourne, which consists of wall to wall buildings, restaurants, shops, coffee shops, tourist information places etc. it's not loud or overwhelming, it's clean and exciting.

Nobody seems to be in a rush, locals and travellers are all smiles. Trams and trolleys are the main form of public transportation.  After using free wifi at mcdonalds, We ventured to the local hot spot yesterday..a half hour tram ride to St.Kilda beach. Packed with local students and travellers on summer holidays. Majority of people brought two things to the beach... Suntan lotion and a cooler of beer. So naturally we had to hop on board. First we walked along the beach searching for shade which was either non existent or already packed with people. Finally we found a tiny spot in a bush to strip down and slather up, making sure to chug water as it was 45'C and no breeze. After cooling downin. The ocean we decided to head back 5 blocks to the liquor store where we bought some drinks.

It's legal to drink in public and on the beach, as long as you drink cans-no bottles, and no public drinking from 9pm to 8am. Nice laws hey! We hung out at the beach until 9:30. Can you believe the beach was still packed at 7:30 As the sun was still out and hot hot hot.


Now, I should really back up... Before we enjoyed bevys on the beach we spent hours researching, planning, and deciding a rough itinerary. A lot of this research could have been done at home, but as you may know things were a little busy for us.Back in stoon, All of our time was consumed with moving out of our apartment and into Kelly and Dans, preparing for and enjoying Christmas with family, cheering on Kristen at curling provincials in north battle ford, saying farewell to friends, and getting in the last few work Hours. .....any hoodles, that's a small glimpse at what kept us busy leading up to the trip,, not to mention the hours spent making sure we left everything in order while were gone (phones, cars, bank,employers,etc)

Along the ocean boardwalk, we laughed at this random amusement park entrance.

guys will be guys..(I'm pretty sure they spent more time drinking beer and talking with ladies,

 then they did fishing!!!)

Like I was saying, yesterday we spent hours in mcdonalds on the wifi trying to plan out the next 6 weeks in Australia....then a couple hours with a travel agent at our hostel... And here's what we figured out....  We are renting a camper-van for the next 43 days!!!! This way we have transportation and accommodation and a kitchen all in one!! We can go at our own pace, and get off the beaten track (don't worry mom and dad, when I say off the path, I mean we can stay at villages and towns and camp sites with hundreds of other backpackers also travelling Australia through the van camper experience) . It's a very popular way to travel as a couple. The hostels are cool and all but we want to have our own real adventure Chelsey/Ashton style... Anyways we are ecstatic!! It's an amazing opportunity. We will receive a huge book with maps, campsites, 24hr roadside assistance, insurance, itineraries, recommendations etc. we are going camping on the east coast of Australia for 6 weeks!!!!omg. .. Okay I hate to cut this short, but we are gonna roll out...it's a tid bit HOT out today (49'C)  YO-LO. (You only live once!) ...the heat created a beautiful lightning show!...