Having arrived in Melbourne the weekend of the Melbourne cup it was pretty crazy but I enjoyed walking about and seeing everyone dressed up in their big hats!!
Pretty easy to get about Melbourne on the tram system.
And there were loads of these old horse drawn carriages everywhere.
St Paul's Cathedral.
I met up with the lovely Shauna (a friend from home who is working in Melbourne at the moment) beside the cities xmas tree - it was pretty tacky!!
A slightly more modern cycle rickshaw that I came across in Asia.
Melbourne
The Exhibition Centre - can certainly see the colonial influence in the old buildings.
Some volcanic rocks etc at the museum.
A little more interesting right enough when you see them under fluorescent light.
The more modern side of the city - this is part of the Melbourne Museum.
The museum even had it's own mini rainforest with some wildlife. Chom Moo Poo enjoyed this part the best - she found the rocks quite boring!!
Aboriginal Art at the Ian Potter Art Gallery.
The Chinese Horoscope for those born in the year of the rat.......
Some old classical paintings in the galleries.
Yes it is a chair - this was in the contemporary display at the gallery - personally I would expect to find it in Ikea!!
An Aussie Magpie.
The Shrine of Remembrance to the War Dead.
Melbourne Botanic Gardens.
A black swan - there are no white swans here but you see these lovely black swans in all the parks and rivers - I believe they were not indigenous but imported by Europeans in the early days of Oz.
Melbourne at sunset.
The Old Melbourne Gaol - interesting museum with lots of stories of the bush rangers and early criminals of Victoria region. There are Death Masks on display of a lot of those that were hung here including the famous Ned Kelly.
Me at the Chinese Museum which has one of the world's longest dragons on display.
Sitting on the Lord Mayor's seat at Melbourne Town Hall - comfy seat but let's be honest I am definitely not diplomatic enough for a life in politics :-)
Lots of graffiti (or should I say Urban Art!) around the back streets of Melbourne.
Shauna and I caught the tram out to St Kilda - Melbourne's beach suburb.
St Kilda looked a little quirky and like it would be good fun - unfortunately the afternoon we headed there it was blowing a gale so after a quick walk around we found a cafe and had some delicious fish and chips.
From Melbourne I headed to Bendigo (2 hours North of Melbourne) where I stayed with Joan and John who are the Aunt and Uncle of my mate Audrey. John took me on my personal guided tour of the city and explained the history to me. The area was originally used by sheep farmers from the early settlers until gold was found and there was a gold rush. 
As well as gold white clay was found in the area so a number of potteries were set up and I got a tour of one that is still operating and had some lovely ceramics for sale (which I did manage to resist buying!!).
The inside of the firing dome is glazed from all the salt glazing of the pots over the years.
An old 'Ute' that was used at the Pottery factory.
There are a lot of old miners cottages still in use around Bendigo - they are all different and very quaint. You can certainly tell the population of Australia is small compared to the size of the country - the houses are generally one storey with same (if not more) floor space as the 2 storey houses at home and most (even in the bigger cities) have big garden areas.
John also took me to the Deborah Gold Mine in the centre of town. There are loads of old gold mines around the area and the whole city is believed to still be standing on a fortune in gold -though none of the mines are now operating (something to do with the price of gold being pegged and it not being profitable enough anymore). First time I have been in a mine and it was interesting to see how the tunnels were cut out and how they drilled for the gold. Though the average worker here would only have had a life expectancy of about 40 years due to the dust etc and it was very unlikely they were able to sneak out a little bit of gold for themseles as at the end of their shift they were stripped and showered and their clothes inspected!!!
Lots of camper vans on the roads - backpackers hire/buy them to get around but I liked this one!!
After a couple of days in Bendigo I caught the bus up to visit Ian and Marj (Joan's brother and his wife) on their farm at Barraport near Bort. The bus passed through a few small quaint towns and I loved all the old buildings.
I arrived in Barraport just before sunset - though I was told this one was not one of the nicer one's!!!
Ian let me tag along with him and explained the workings of the farm to me. Here the sheep are being moved padocks - there are a couple of Alpaca's on the farm as well they help to protect the sheep from prey such as foxes.
Getting up close and personal.
After herding the sheep Socks needed to cool down in the trough!
Angus one of (Ian and Marj's grandsons) and I try and look cool in the heat!!
Boort the nearest town to the farm with a population of 850 people was friendly with a nice community feel about it. I was invited along to join Ian and Marj and some locals at a game of croquet - I did warn them it was probably pretty dangerous letting me play a sport with a mallet!! But I managed to score a couple of points - not bad for me :-)
John (a neighbour of Ian and Marj) who has been in a wheelchair since childhood makes sculptures from old spanners - these horses were just two of the big sculptures in his garden.
Not only that but he also has an avery with hundreds of beautiful birds - it was quite inspirational to see how John had not allowed his disability to stop him doing the things he wanted to.
Rass and Socks having a quiet chat on the farm....
My first sighting of Kangaroos - they move so fast it was lucky I managed to catch them in a photo at all.
Chom Poo Moo enjoyed her time on the farm as well - she was quite amazed at how straight and long the roads in Australia are.
Warning signs for Kangaroos that can just appear from nowhere on the road.
Barraport's only road sign!
My last night on the farm we went out for dinner with the Potter clan - Ian & Marj, Adam & Kim, Angus, Tom & Jack - who had all made me feel very welcome and looked after me on the farm.
Tom, Jack and I enjoy some ice cream for pudding - the boys were all adorable but little Jack has one of the cheekiest smiles and knows how to use it - the teachers will be putty in his hands when he gets to school :-) 
There has been a drought for 10 years in this area and it has had a huge impact on the farmers. This year the rains came a little late and lots of the crops didn't grow or were not good quality for grain so will be used as hay. It's sad to see how much work goes into this for the results to be completely out of the farmers control. The rain that came whilst I was on the farm caused additional work as it was too late to help the crops but as it soaked what had already been cut and raked the paddocks had to all be raked again to make sure the hay dried before being bailed (otherwise it will catch on fire!!).. I got to drive the tractor a few times which was fun - don't panic I didn't have to reverse park it anywhere - and I rode on the combine harvester (wasn't brave enough to drive that!!)
I knew you would be disappointed if I had no bugs for you so here it is the Red Back Spider which is one of the most common poisonous spiders in Australia - but don't worry we had to hunt for it in the barn for 15 mins they tend to stick to dark damp places and not in houses!!!
I went back to Bendigo for a couple of nigths and Joan, Genivieve, Siobhan and I went to the park to feed the possums. They are much cuter than this one looks in this photo but I didn't manage a clearer picture.
There are loads of really colourful birds everywhere - parrots and gallahs just fly past your head but they are too quick normally for photo's but I managed to catch this little one having some lunch!!
There is also a Chinese Museum in Bendigo as after the gold rush here lots of Chinese men came over to work here - they faced a lot of discrimination and hatred from the locals (though I am not sure you can call them locals given they were almost all first/second generation Eurpoean Immigrants!!). This is one of the early gold coins they used.
The gardens at the Chinese Museum.
Some colourful paintings at the small temple in the gardens.
Bendigo has some lovely buildings and a nice atmosphere - thouch classed as a city it has much more of a big town feel about it.
Joan and John took me over to Echuca (aboriginal term meaning the meeting of the waters) - a Port Town on the Murray River where the paddle steamers would be used to transport the wool from the farms in the area which would otherwise have taken months to be moved overland.
Me on the old wool wagon.......
Catch of the day!!!Australia has not been disappointing - the weather has been a bit cold and rainy at points - I even had to buy a jumper on my first day - but otherwise I have been having a great time here.
The Aussies are very laid back and friendly and more than a little crazy - just about anything goes here.
Audrey a friend of mine from work had arranged for me to call on some of her family in Bendigo and out on the farm and they were all great and so hospitable I felt at home. Ian & Marj and Joan & John chauffered me around the sites and explained everything to me which was very good of them and not to forget all the delicous home cooking that I was spoilt with (after months of resteraunt food it was a treat). And I loved spending some time on the farm .So a big Thank You to all of you.
I started this blog update about a week ago so I already have a whole other update to do after my trip down the Great Ocean Road and now I am over in Perth but I will get another done shortly with some more piccies for you.
Hope your all enjoying the snow and the xmas shopping....
Bye
Jack xxx
