And it was true, the views were spectacular. The entire coastline was made up of high, towering cliffs with gorgeous beaches at their base. We were lucky with the weather again, and the mid-afternoon sun sparkled off the water and lit up the brightly coloured layers in the cliff's rock. From the whitish yellow sandy beaches at the foot, bands of orange, brown, red and yellow rock spanned the width of the cliffs. There were plenty of stops to make along the road at view points which showed off some of the more spectacular features. At each lookout was a short geological explanation of the feature's formation, as well as interesting anecdotes about how it was named, or stories of some of the many shipwrecks that line the coast.

The first stop for us, was the Bay of Islands (where have we heard that name before?), where there were high pillars of varying sizes dotted along the coast like small, tall islands. As we ate our grapes, we watched the high and deadly surf beat against the cliffs and rocks at which so many ships crews have perished. As we drove on, Mark continued to read Harry Potter which was getting more and more exciting. We stopped at each lookout, but had soon got the gist of how the coast looked. At each stop it was either an arch or a cave or another island, but there were plenty to see as we drove too. We saw the remains of London Bridge, once two adjoining arches, now only one, detached from the mainland.

The final stop, and probably the most famous of all was the Twelve Apostles. These were frankly somewhat of a disappointment as they were a mixture of islands, most of which were very short and eroded. To top that off, as hard as we tried and tried again to count them, there simply were not 12. We could see seven, which really isn't close enough, you cold make allowances for one or two, but 5 less than there should be, that was a bit of a rip-off.

It was still only early, and with Harry Potter keeping us enthralled, we drove on. About two hundred kilometres on. We reached Geelong at eight o'clock and finally found the Big 4 holiday park. We booked two nights, set up our tent and were off again, back to the centre of the town. It's Tuesday again, so we went to the cinema and having missed the 8.45pm showing of "The Green Mile", chose "House on Haunted Hill" instead. Supposedly a horror, this film was entertaining enough and contained a few interesting twists and moments of suspense. It was dark and late when we drove back to our cosy little tent and went to sleep ( after a little more Potter).

By this time it was already 4 o'clock in the afternoon and we really had some other things to do still, so we drove into town. We had lost one of the screws which was holding our number plate on and had to find somewhere to replace it as our bit of washing line didn't look too attractive. We decided it was too late really once we'd been told where to go, and we could easily get it in the morning on our way to Melbourne. So we picked up a newspaper in order to look for job adverts and have a TV guide and returned to the holiday park. We borrowed the tennis rackets and had a quick game followed by a quick swim before cooking our supper of satay chicken and rice. As there was no more Harry Potter, we filled the rest of the evening in with writing diary and chatting over some more grapes.

The next Big 4 had a similar story, it didn't look as good as the brochure promised, and this one had a maximum stay of 7 days. So, on through the busy city traffic to Frankston, right on the other side of Melbourne and then 40 km south of the city centre. By the time we got there, we'd seen enough traffic lights to last a lifetime and checked in immediately for 6 nights. We cooked a barbeque feast, with tasty hamburgers, potato slices, onion and baked beans. We were joined in the little covered kitchen area by a few of the permanent residents in the park, one of whom promptly plugged his TV in. So, while we waited for our food to cook (which took forever), we were able to write some more diary and even watch TV. We sat up until nearly the end of "The Ghost and the Darkness" and then went to bed in our trusty tent.

Next we went to centrelink, to look up jobs on their computer. There were quite a few hopefuls and we asked at the desk if we would be eligible, as we are not eligible for the dole or had a job seeker ID number which some of them asked for. The man told us that we may be, but that employers or national employment agencies may choose not to help us. Feeling put off, we gave up on the whole idea and decided to phone one of the numbers in the TNT guide and simply do fruit picking for two weeks. That could wait until Monday, so we went to Coles and bought lots of food, taking it back to the campsite after a quick 30 cent ice-cream. One of the better features of this particular holiday park is that we could use the tennis court (and borrow rackets) for free. We played for a little over an hour before having a very refreshing swim in the pool. After we showered, we returned to the kitchen where we watched a little more TV over dinner before going to bed.

Deciding to come back in the evening for a film we wandered off to explore the rest of the complex. Suddenly, we remembered that we should check our voice mail, and sure enough Nora had just rung. We found the nearest payphone and called her back immediately. Laura, delighted at being able to make plans to meet her, chatted enthusiastically with Nora for a while, sharing a few experiences to date. We finally managed to put the phone down, having arranged to meet her in Frankston on Monday.

It was getting towards the end of the afternoon by now, so we headed towards Melbourne's centre. Disappointed that it was simply another city, and not a particularly beautiful one, we had a snack in Hungry Jacks while we decided what to do next. In order to watch a film at the Crown complex, we had to be sure we wouldn't miss the last train home. Just to be absolutely certain, we settled for the early evening showing. So we returned to the Crown and bought two tickets for "The Green Mile".

The cinema lived up to our every expectation, with a vast screen and comfy seats. The film was even better than expected, with an excellent balance between a dramatic, prison film and a weird Stephen King style plot. A new idea at the cinemas here is Gold Class, where you pay more, but have luxurious reclinable seats with footrests, a bar and other delights in the cinema. We quickly made a mental note of this for Mark's birthday, and walked to the station. It was only a short wait for the next train, and an hour and a half later we were driving the final leg of our journey home in the car.