Left Melbourne, Arrived in Auckland New Zealand

We spent our last day in Melbourne out in the city, shopping and checking out the sights. Izzy and Nicola visited a Disney exhibition that was on so me and Luke made the most of the sun. We could have spent at least a few more days in Melbourne, but our flight to Auckland was already booked.

We arrived in Auckland late afternoon yesterday. The flight wasn't too long, only around 4 hours from Melbourne. The time is a further couple of hours ahead from Australia, this must be the furthest into the future I can get from the UK! After all the fun and freedom we had on the Great Ocean Road, we ditched the bus idea and hired a camper. Wicked Campers were so crap and the service was shocking we stepped it up a bit and went for a Jucy Camper. It's worth every penny more! The van is mint and really well equipped.

Netiher of us had any idea where to go, so we came to the conclusion that we would do the South Island first, and started the long drive to the south coast of the North Island. I managed about 4 hours of driving before getting tired at around midnight. We stopped in a small town called Taupo, which is near enough in the centre of the North Island. I knew there was a lake nearby and guess that we had parked by it, but we woke up this morning to this amazing sight...

The further we drove the more dramatic the scenery became, I'm very excited to see what the South Island has to offer.

Melbourne & the Formula One

We have had a great time in Melbourne since arriving back aftger driving the Great Ocean Road. Yesterday was our first full day in town, so we went to check out some shops and an 'Indie Crafts Market' that Izzy wanted to visit. I'm so glad the F1 brought us here, because Melbourne is ten times nicer then Sydney. It's cleaner, friendlier, nicer atmosphere and has better shops. The market was really nice too; it was in a warehouse in Docklands and most of the things on sale were hand made. One couple had a stall selling vegan cupcakes, and offered me a deal. Take some photos for them and they'll give us a couple of free cupcakes!

Obviously the main reason I've been excited for Melbourne is the Formula One! I was pretty worried the weather was going to be cold like it has been the last week, but we were really lucky with the weather, it was bright sunny skies for pretty much the whole day and well into the twenties. The result wasn't quite what I hoped for, I did want Hamilton to win but second place wasn't too bad. We also met up with mum and dad as the they were in Australia too, and Luke and Nicola.

We spent a while on the grass at turn 3 watching the Australian V8's, then moved to turn 7 for a better view, and then eventually to the grass on turn 10 for the end of the race.

Melbourne is an awesome venue for the F1, it is set in Albert Park, which for most of the year is public roads through and around a massive park in the middle of the city. At the end of the day after all the racing they open up the track and all of the spectators are allowed to walk around it. We were all so tired from spending the whole day there so didn't walk the whole thing. 

^ Kissing the tarmac on the straight after turn 10... and here's a little video of the opening lap at turn 7. The atmosphere was incredible and I forgot how loud the cars are.