Ok, so new additions arrived, new things to be done... on Friday we all headed out to the Australian Open; Mat had managed to get us a few free tickets as he used to work there, so not only was I off for a day at the tennis, but I was going for free - thanks Mat! - every little helps when you're a backpacker (not that i feel like one much at the moment!!) The day was fab, Chris and Peta had to work unfortunately but the rest of us bundled into Jen and Al's car and headed off.. we were all quite excited, 
Gwen loves tennis as much as you Mum so you can understand how happy she was to be going... on arrival we decided to head for the Vodaphone Arena.. with day passes you're allowed into that arena, and having settled ourselves in, got the food supplies out (thanks Jen) and made ourselves comfy, we ended up spending the entire day there watching the likes of Nalbandian, Henin-Harden and a few others that i really should remember the names of but can't I'm afraid. It was a fab day and Jess and I devised a highly technical and intelligent way of deciding who were were cheering for in each match..... for the girls it was down to who's outfit we liked best and for the guys, well naturally it came down to who was the cutest!! A method that paid off mostly and in all but one match we backed the winner! There's a lot to be said for placing your alleigences based purely on cosmetic value eh Jess?! We didn't leave there until pretty late and there was still tennis going on - unlike Wimbledon, play continues really late, oh and also unlike Wimbledon.. it was really quite hot, so much so that they actually closed the roof of the arena and put the air con on... although in our humble opinion that just made it hotter. After we tore ourselves away from there we headed back to base (aka Chris and Peta's) and got ourselves some yummy pizza's for tea.. another good day in the company of the Hyde's and the Gardoll's!
The following morning (Saturday) we all leisurely chilled out at home and considered what to do for the rest of the day... affter much consideration we decided to just relax some more - tough life eh! - Peta, Mitch, Jess and I ventured out for a little shopping trip, needless to say Peta and I didn't come away empty handed and both ended up with the same top (different colours mind!) great minds, good taste and all that! Have to say Peta, it was lovely to have a friend to shop with - travelling with men so much doesn't make for having good shopping companions so thank you chick!
That evening we all dolled ourselves up (although my idea of dolling myself up these days is swopping my reefs for slightly more presentable flip flops and doning one of my less 'beachy' tops so next to Peta, and all the other city girls Melbourne is home to, its safe to say i'm not exactly a vision of glamour! ah well!) anyway, I digress, we all went out for a meal that evening, the favoured option was Mexican so off we went in search of one... and found possibly the hottest restaurant on earth thanks to the air con being broken. The forecast weather wise for the next day was 42 degrees and it had already started to feel like that in this restuarant.. anyway, we braved it and took to fanning ourselves with menus and anything else we could find and nipping outside with our wine inbetween courses to cool off. We were also given a free bottle of bubbly to make up for the air con being broken which we were only happy to accept, funnily enough!! All in all, the evening was lovely and very amusing when Mitch ordered possibly the hottest dip on earth (although we were told it could be made hotter if we'd like!!) Despite efforts by Chris and myself to offer Mitch several hundred dollars for him to neck the whole lot, he refrained and after the tiniest taste of it on the tip of my finger i can understand why! Chris, Peta, Gwen and I all had tears in our eyes after just that small an amount, while Mitch and Al went for a whole fork full of the stuff and couldn't speak for a fair while afterwards.. understandably so, good work lads!!! After our hot mexican in a hot restaurant we decided we'd head off and get some ice-cream to cool us down.. any excuse eh! We found ourselves a cafe and Gwen and I shared the most gorgeous lemon meringe pie (although obviously my Grandma's remains THE best one ever!!!). After that we returned home and i think everyone stayed full for the next 24 hours after eating so much it's ridiculous!! Once again, i have to say, i was spoilt this evening... Al treated us to dinner and Gwen to desert... I know i keep saying it but i really am very lucky, everyone's being so good to me. Backpacking, what's that??!
After our leisurely day on Saturday, we ventured out on Sunday morning to Melbourne Gaol, home to the infamous Ned Kelly.. was really interesting and being a bit of a geek i really enjoyed it, i love all that historical stuff and some of the stories you hear of the prisioners there are fascinating - in a morbid kind of way that is!Pictured here is Jen and Mitch dressed in Ned Kelly's 'armour'... sorry guys, couldn't resist putting it on here! After our trip into history, we headed to the internet cafe to catch up on some bits and pieces, i pinched a load of Chris and Peta's CD's to put on my iPod and it was also time for me to think about leaving these lovely people and the home comforts they'd given me and sort out my onward plan... Following an email from Bryn and Vikki (of Phi Phi appearance) who were now at Bryn's brother's in Perth, I'd decided to head over there for a bit so booked my flight for early tuesday morning.. which, as well as feeling excited about going somewhere new, also made me feel a little sad about leaving Melbourne. The rest of Sunday was spent chilling out at home, the forecast had been right and it was 42 degrees so we basically stayed inside in the comfort of the air conditioning. Early evening, when it had cooled a fair bit (it's true what they say about Melbourne having 4 seasons in 1 day weather wise) we all took Cooper for a walk in the park.. was really nice to get out and have some fresh air and Coop enjoyed rushing around and wreaking havoc with the other dogs.
On our return from the walk, things took at unexpected turn.. in Melbourne (and possibly throughout Oz, I'm not sure) they have certain times of the year when people put all of their unwanted furniture/belongings out on their front lawn and if you want it you can come along and collect it... for free! If, by a certain date, no-one's claimed it, then the council come round and collect it all up and take it away... imagine that.. perfectly good stuff on the lawn.. free pickings! Anyway, Mitch is shortly off to Uni and when we returned home, we spotted on Chris and Peta's neighbours lawn, 2 perfectly good sofa's, ideal for kitting Mitch out at Uni... so after testing the comfort of them out, the boys were put to work and before we knew it they were safely stored in the shed, ready for Mitch to use when needed. After that, Jen, Mitch, Chris and Gwen had caught the bug so next thing they've all piled into Chris' truck and off they went under cover of darkness, fully equipped with head torches, off to scour the neighbourhood for freebies..... 2 hours later and we see them return, mission successful... a couple of clothes stands, 2 new double beds - complete with wheels - and a set of garden furniture!!! I was very happy, given that one of those new beds was promptly set up in my room and i had a nice new bed instead of a mattress on the floor (although that was very comfy, i'm not complaining!) I think to be fair... that might be another example of the fab Hyde family hospitality to the random English girl their son brought home with him!! Needless to say, the scavengers amoung us went to bed exhausted, happy and pretty damn pleased with themselves that night! Good work team! ;0)
The next morning, being Monday, Chris and Peta had to work again (I vaguely remember what that feels like.. heehee!) and the rest of us headed to the shopping centre... Gwen had been given vouchers for Christmas by Chris and Peta and expressly instructed to spend it only on herself... on things she wanted and not needed that is.. in other words 'Clothes'. Much to mine and Jen's delight this meant a shopping trip... i can't afford to be buying myself clothes these days so helping someone else buy them is the next best thing... and a successful trip it was too.. Gwen got kitted out with some fab new stuff and will be causing a storm when she gets back home and back to work!
The rest of the day and evening was spent just chilling out and Gwen and I both headed off to bed early seeing as we had to get up at stupid o'clock thanks to my flight. Again, Gwen went above and beyond to help me out and was very kindly driving me to the airport before heading back home to Barooga - a several hour drive from Melbourne - so, after saying my goodbyes to the lovely Hydes' and Gardolls' off i went to bed, feeling quite sad about leaving... I've been here a week and a half and I feel very lucky to have been welcomed so much by Mat and his family... thank you so much for being so fab to me all of you and i look forward to seeing you when i get back to Melbourne next month, you truly are stars and Mat, you're right to be as proud of your family as you are (and they of you too, obviously!) xx
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