Delighting in Down Under

So we are now in Melbourne and taking it easy in this chilled-out city. It reminds us a lot of Vancouver. It's a similar size and has a similar vibe to it. We've caught up with some English friends of ours who are in Melbourne for the holidays and to watch the Ashes series. It's great to catch up with everyone and be able to hang out in all the fabulous Melbourne restaurants and bars. We watched the last day of the Ashes series of cricket with them as well. However, it was supposed to go 5 days but the English bowed out early after an overwhelming defeat by the Aussies. So though we had tickets for today, we decided to explore the city and the St Kilda district (which reminds us of Southern Californian coastal towns like Santa Cruz). We head to Sydney tomorrow where we will be celebrating New Year's with Paris Hilton. Yes, you read right, Paris Hilton. Well, she's supposedly celebrating New Year's in Sydney too but we actually hope not to run into her. My godmother lives in a suburb of Sydney so we'll be staying with her and we will be meeting up with an old, old (think 5th grade) friend of mine named Sarah Aylott who lives in Oz. I'm so excited to see her and catch up. After New Year's we're heading to Cairns and the Great Barrier reef and we'll drive down to Brisbane from there. That's about 1500 miles of driving! But apparently a gorgeous ride all the way down. Of course we'll be posting pix...the internet connection is fab down here.