Melbourne - At Stu and Zoes

I had contacted Zoe and Stuart - friends of my brothers who are living in Melbourne at the moment and they invited me to stay. They live just outside Melbourne in a suburb called Highett.

Zoe and Stu picked me up from the coach station. It was great to get a room to myself and they made me feel very welcome.

Next day we took the dog, Fred - for a walk along the beach near where they live.



That night we bought a BBQ and I had my first Aussie barbie (even if it was cooked by an English man!!



Next day Zoe had a day off so we headed into the city. The place was heaving as there was a big parade for the Aussie rules football final. We walked around the Botanical Gardens and had a general look around the city. That night we headed out and had a few drinks around the St Kilda area.

Next day we headed to Phillip Island. We did a few walks around the beaches before going to the Nobbies and Seal Rocks. We also stopped for a bit at the Motocycle Grand Prix track.

That night we went to the Penguin Parade where I saw the world’s smallest penguins, the Little Penguins, emerge from the sea and waddle ashore to their sand dune burrows. It was amazing to watch but it feels more like a sporting event as there are hundreds of people sitting in grandstands waiting for the penguins to come in from the sea. You aren't allowed to take photos because the flashes confuse the penguins but you can see them as they gather into groups at the seas edge. When the group gets big enough the penguins build up courage to cross the beach. They are funny to watch as they often get part way out of the sea - then some of the group will chicken out and turn back before the whole group runs back to the sea. Every now and again you'll get one brave penguin who crosses the beach by themselves. Once the penguins are all in you can see them outside their burrows.

Next day we spent chilling out around St Kilda. We grabbed some food and looked around the market near Luna Park before walking the dog along the beach.

You can take the train from Highett straight into the city so pretty much everyday I headed in to check out the different attractions.

I visited the Observation Deck where you get some great views of the city.





I checked out the Melbourne Museum. I did a guided tour to find out what was worth seeing. The best bit was Forest Gallery which has real trees and animals including this bird who thinks it is incubating an egg (the egg is plastic!):



There were tonnes of other galleries and exhibits including:

The Robinson Kitchen set from neighbours signed by all the stars.



Bugs Alive with over 100 species of live insects and spiders.

The virtual room - This was very impressive with an eight screen, 360°, rear-projected, stereoscopic display system. You put on 3D glasses and can walk right around the scenes viewing the action from different angles. Apparently the museum is working with NASA to use the technology as part of the astraunaut training.

The museum had tonnes of other stuff including a whale skeleton and dinasaur bones.

I also visited the Australian Centre for the Moving image which had a computer games lab featuring the best of the independent games festival 2006. And Memory Grid short film exhibition. Outside Federation Square down by the Yarra river there was a free photography exhibition with huge prints of different scenes from around the World all viewed from above.