into melbourne..........

hello hello hello

i got to mildura last tuesday morning but the work was'nt quite ready to get started and the temp. was 42 degrees which was too hot to work in anyway. me and 5 other ppl got to stay in this little guesthouse which was good as i got my own room and there was easy access to the kitchen to fry up stuff or whatever else. however, there was'nt too much in mildura which is a small town a long way from anywhere so i decided to comedown to melbourne for a week which is 9 hours away by coach.

i got to melbourne on friday 11th jan in the morning and spent almost 2 hours walking around the city with my suitcase trying to find somewhere, eventually i found a small backpackers place on elizabeth street. Melbourne is a pretty kool place to be in, there is alot going on in the city centre but around the centre there are lots of big parks or botanic gardens (one has cooks parents cottage they built, i took a photo of that), lots of churches and a massive square called 'federation square' which is like a meeting point and then you walk past that across a bridge by the yarra river that leads to the MCG, the rod laver centre is next to it as well which is where they were having the australian open, tennis, which is on at the moment.

i have done a tour of the MCG, explored the city and surrounds and bought some new trainers. ive booked the 'neighbours' tour for 5.30 tomorrow and this week i will be going to melbourne zoo, st. kilda beach and a cricket game on friday afternoon at the mcg between victoria and tasmania in the ford ranger cup before getting a coach from melbourne - mildura on friday evening at 9.45 which gets in around half 7 the following morning. i have been told that the work there has just started and it continuous so i hope to work 6 weeks, 6 days a week and save around $2000 which will lead me nicely into march where i return to sydney for the march 2nd one day final and then leave for wellington a day or two later to spend 3-5 weeks in NZ to watch the wellington and napier test matches in the north island.

after that i plan to go to WA and work 4-6 weeks then spend 4 weeks touring the area, a week in perth, broome, monkey mia, etc.......... but its a long way off so i'll see what happens.

thanks for the birthday cards and e-mails i received.

nicki - it was great getting that comment from you, they are always appreiciated and you can e-mail anytime as well - nfl202020@hotmail.com - do you and paul drink red or white? i'll try and bring a few local bottles home.

paul - i know your probably glad to see SD win so i won't say too much about it, lol except that i never thought i could cheer for NE to win this season but i sure will be this week!!!!

oh, i sent the post yesterday to my home address so there should be 2 parcels arriving sometime next week.

take care, g