The last week or so.

True to my word, this won't be long.

Melbourne was wet and cold, but still probably my favourite of the big cities I've been to so far. I did literally next to nothing on the Saturday - completely missed all the Anzac day stuff, went and explored a bit in its aftermath, had a few coffees in local cafes, but just generally spent the day in the hostel either asleep or reading or writing the massive blog post below this one.

The day after was my last day there, so I was determined to make something of it. What better than a trip to the beach? Well erm... possibly not taking a trip to the beach. I'll let myself explain:



Anyway, I spent two hours (like I say, I was determined) at the beach, didn't get any sun whatsoever, caught the 20 minute tram back and went and dried off in the hostel.

Once again, Chinatown proved a useful place to fill up. I found a Singaporean (is that the right word?) restaurant tucked away in a back street and it was filled with Singaporeans, which I took as a good sign. Got a very nice (and phenomenally spicy) meal for $10, two free cups of hot brown water and a thoroughly patronising talk from the waitress about how westerners can't handle spicy food. I guess she does have a point though, I was sweating quite a bit.

I spent the evening around the river and federation square, taking in the Melbourne night life with a slightly more sober outlook than I had done previously.

Next morning was an ealy start. My coach left at 8.30 and wouldn't arrive in Canberra until 6 in the evening. So Monday was boring. Nice meal in the evening though, courtesy of Penny. I'm staying with some old family friends while I'm in Canberra, which has proven good for both the budget and the stomach.

The last two days have been spent in Parlaiment House (very big and white-housey), the city centre shopping mall (free coffee courtesy of Ben's friends who work at Gloria's Coffee house), the war memorial (fascinating place and far too big to take in in one day), the national gallery of Australia (like the Tate Modern without the same budget), Tidbinbilla national park (mountainy place just west of Canberra - me and Penny saw two wild Platypusses), some nice restaurant somewhere for Ben's going away meal with his mates, which was cool. Good food too. Oh and the theatre to see Dylan Moran stand-up, which wasn't quite as good as I'd have expected, but still very good.

Anyways, that's all. Not really any photos to show unless you like photos of military aircraft, in which case check my Flickr over the next few days (yes Dad, there was a Lancaster there...)

Ciao for now,
Matt