My arrival back in Melbourne was no where near as depressing as last time. It was, however, five in the morning so the hostel was closed, but they still used the same door code sequence and I was able to get in and watch music videos on Channel 10 until the reception opened.

Unlike England, office buildings in Australia have no security. I suppose they don't have to worry about some idiot leaving bombs lying around. At lunchtime I went to the staff canteen in the State Bank Centre for a nice subsidised meal and met a couple of the people I used to work with. They obviously told the boss that I was back in town as next thing I knew, I got a call from the temping agency telling me that I was starting work the following day. I certainly fell on my feet with that job!

Whilst in Melbourne, it was surprising how many people from my travels turned up, which was handy given the mass exodus to Sydney. This included the three Germans I'd met at Airlie Beach and the three English girls I'd met at Coober Pedy, who also stayed to work. Everyone seems to follow more-or-less the same route.

The weather gradually started to pick up as summer came rolling in and some days the temperature hit 40ºC. We start to suffer back in Britain when the temperature is way below that! We're not used to it of course (I took great pleasure in hearing about the weather back home) but also our attempts at air-conditioning are laughable compared to the Australians. Walking into an office or shop was like walking into a fridge.

The ever-militant bus and tram drivers were on strike more often than they were working again, but they were well justified and the whole city was behind them. A new scratch card ticket was being introduced which meant that there would be no conductors and you would have to buy books of tickets in advance from shops. Things were getting very heavy with, for example, break-ins at the tram depots with trams abandoned in the city centre, bringing everything to a standstill. Drivers were also refusing to check scratch cards and, of course, no one was scratching them so the cards could be reused.

I had exhausted most of what there was to see in Melbourne the last time I was there. The main tourist trap remaining was the Penguin Parade and I also found time to visit the Stock Exchange.