Just for starters

Apologies for the lateness of this first post! Thing have been a little crazy here, and I am struggling a little to get my head around the time difference. For some reason I can totally get it when I'm half a day behind, but it's a little more surreal when I'm half a day ahead!!

The flight was long, but uneventful, and I arrived in Melbourne at 6:30am to find it 18 degrees and drizzling. A friend from the UK met me at the bus station and put up with me being tired and grouchy for the rest of the day! The drizzle turned to heavy rain, but later the sun came out and we wandered into the city. My first thoughts on Melbourne are most definitely good! I love the vibe, and the quirky buildings. And I definitely like the sun! Later, we headed to the beach at Port Melbourne and took in the sea (dodging the jelly fish and trying to decide if they were poisonous or not. I decided not to find out) which was surprisingly calm and un-sea-like! Finally, I headed to meet my friend Cathy, who is kindly putting me up while I find a place to live, on the tram.

Friday the sun came out in force - and I took in the views from the top of the Rialto Tower - the second largest building in Melbourne. Just to clarify, nothing in Melbourne is particularly tall, the Rialto being only 54 floors. I quite like the fact that there aren't many high-rises here.

Yesterday was Sound Relief - two charity concerts given in Melbourne and Sydney to raise money for the bushfire appeal. Gladly this coincided with three things; the bush fires are finally out, they raised a record breaking AU$245 million and Melbourne was drenched in a record breaking 25ml of rain during the day - a much needed thing in the drought. The concert was 11 hours long and ranged between bands I knew well, to bands I knew nothing

of, but I am assured (both by Cathy and the reaction of the crowd)

that they are part of Aussie culture through and through. There's something pretty incredible about seeing Coldplay playing "You're the Voice" (a song that even I know well, but had never realised it is such an Aussie anthem) with John Farnham (they were in Sydney but

they played it for us on the big screens) with 80,000 people on their feet and singing all around me. The fact that everyone was wearing blue, green and yellow ponchos made it all the more surreal.

So today I'm catching up on my emails - slowly but surely (thanks so much for all the emails - keep them coming, I will reply eventually!), and continuing the room hunt...