Melbourne is awesome!!!

Well, I know it's been a while since our last update, but what can I say, we've been too busy living the dream! We both agree that Melbourne is easily the nicest city we've ever had the chance to stay and I'm sure it won't be the last time we visit. You may notice I said 'both' as most of you will now know ozfest has now been reduced to only two. Gerard and our good friend Micky both decided to go home in December to have Christmas with friends and family and nurse their bank accounts. It was a sad day to see the lads go.

As I understand it both Gerard and Micky were very good at keeping their return home quiet which almost resulted in some very messy underwear from their folks! Gez walked out of a darkened room when his dad returned home to an "empty" house and nearly gave the poor man a heart attack! If only he filmed it, that would have been a classic Jeremy Beadle moment.

So myself and Shad found ourselves relatively alone in the big city. We manged to sign a three month lease in a share appartment on King Street which is right in the centre of the city, an ideal location for lots of partying sightseeing. We shared this very small appartment with five (yes five!) other people: Haga (Japan), Chisato (Japan), Alex (Oz), Lee (S Korea) and Hansey (India), which was a very international mix.

The flat was initially very quiet with everyone staying confined to their own rooms and the only social interaction being a passing hello on the way to the toilet or kitchen. So, in order to get things moving we did what we do best - we bought lots of food and drink and had a party! Instantly everyone came out of their shells and got to know each other, although let me tell you the language barriers were pretty difficult. Thankfully everyone understands the language of alcohol and games which held us together for the next three months!

So here we go with some pictures. We'll start off with Christmas in the appartment which was certainly a little different to Christmas back home. Without mum's cooking, turkey, a tree and all of the other home comforts we had to do our best to make sure everyone had a good time. A BBQ for dinner and lots of drinks were the order of the day!

Lee, Chisato, Haga, Danny, Shad, Chumbawumba, Mairi and Matia

Chisato, Shad, Mairi, Hansey, Max, Mitsubishi and Haga

Aww, look at those wee pressies! Who needs a tree when you've got a microwave!?

Two very excited little elves

Just look at those wee smiley faces

Shad was very excited about Christmas

Sarajh and Haga

Going out in style at New Year's

Haga, Hansey, Shad, Chisato, Lee, Max and Wee Jimmy

Haga and Danny share a moment

Lee doing his sales pitch for Korean Chilli paste! BUY NOW!

BBQ with Shad, Shoko, Haga, Chisato and Mokoto

Mokoto, Shad and Shoko big it up!

The lights of Melbourne at night

"You can see our house from here!"

Australian Tennis Open

Don't worry folks, there's more to come. Just thought I'd post this stuff just now so you can see some of what we've been up to. It's bloody hard work updating this things, especially when theres more travelling to do! We're actually in Adelaide at the moment, leaving for Cairns on Tuesday then will be heading for the Whitsundays, Frazer Island, Byron Bay, Serfers Paradise and Sydney before heading to Japan for a few weeks. It's gonna be awesome! I can see the last set of posts on the blog being a little bit late due to the travel plan so you'll have to bear with us. Stay in touch!