Sydney - Melbourne

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Hi all,

I've now made it to my last stop in Australia, I fly to New Zealand on the 5th!

Before coming down to Melbourne I had a quick 2 night stop in Canberra to see what the capitols really about. It's a very strange city, very well layed out but really spaced out - things are not really walking distance apart. It was designed from the ground up to be the capitol which explains the layout.

Contrary to what Australians tell you there are things to do in Canberra, at least until 5pm (when the whole city seems to close). I visited the Parliament House, which has a good free tour - it's fairly new, very nice but very small compared to the UK's!
I also stopped in at the National Gallery of Australia whist passing, it's a large art gallery showing a lot of Aboriginal art.
Probably the best attraction in Canberra is the War memorial, I visited it twice, spending at least 4-5 hours there and still only saw about half of it! It contains a huge museum showing various war memorabilia and stories from any conflict Australians have been involved in.

I arrived in Melbourne after another 8 hour overnight coach journey Thursday morning. I'm staying in St Kilda but have been into the city a few times. It's a very nice city with a great tram system. The one probably is that I'm struggling slightly to find things to do - most of the usual things I have already done elsewhere!
When I first went into the city I did manage to find the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, which has a large exhibition on the history of computer games, with over 125 playable games! From some of the very first arcade games invented to some of the latest. I spent all day there and still didn't get around it all - it's $15 to get in but I might go back there to finish it off sometime!
Also in Melbourne I've explored St Kilda (I don't think much of it - although it does have some great cakes, one street is famous for them) and been to another large art gallery.
In the next few days I intend to visit the botanical gardens - supposed to be among the best in the world and might get along to a design museum in the city.
So far I've managed to miss on of the main backpacker tours in Melbourne - the Neighbours set, hopefully I can keep myself away from it!

I'm not sure if I'll get round to posting another blog until New Zealand, but will try as soon as possible.

Marc

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