Australia Day rocks! Having woken up after a good sleep I faced clear blue skies and sunshine on the other side of my hotel curtains.

Feeling refreshed I headed out to the National Museum Australia. A 45minute walk later through Canberra's virtually deserted Sunday morning streets found me outside the museum. The building itself was architecturally interesting, although I didn't quite get it! I wanted to see the 'Old Masters' exhibition of aboriginal bark paintings. I was delighted to discover that entry was free as it is Australia Day! The paintings were incredible and it was amazing to see so many in one place. My favourite was a piece by Narratjin. I spent a couple of hours at the museum, looking at the early aboriginal display as well as that of the early settlers. There was some interesting stuff but I found the displays quite disjointed and I lost interest quickly as I couldn't follow the stories they were trying to tell.

On the way out there was an exhibit by a local reptile house. I stroked a Black headed python and said hello to a full size bearded dragon. I wondered if he was related to Byron and whether he'd let Connie take him flying?!

I had a leisurely stroll in the sun back to the hotel via a sushi shop for brunch. I saw lots of Galahs and a dead fruit bay hanging in a tree. A short taxi drive to Canberra airport finds me on an earlier plane to Melbourne, which saves me an hour of waiting at the non too exciting Canberra airport. I am enjoying this Australia Day!

On landing I had no idea of how to get to the hotel, so I followed my nose (and some handy signage) and ended up in the Skybus into town. A comfy 20mins later I arrived at Southern Cross station where I was directed to the Travelodge n the Docklands. There was a bit of confusion over my access to our room, but a text or two later I was in room 1322. Very strange to walk into a hotel room that someone has already spent a night in. I decided to grab a quick shower and shortly after there was a knock at the door. Donks (aka VG2 aka Lesley, my silversmithing friend from the UK) was back. The door opening was followed by an unreasonable amount of girly screaming, bouncing and hugs. We had some bubbly to celebrate mine and Gary's engagement (cheers Gaz!) and it opened my gift of a wedding planner and wedding magazine....bridezillaland, here I come!

After coming back down to earth we headed out to help the Aussies celebrate their national day, after all, it would have been rude not to!

We walked down to the Docklands area where there were lots of things happening. All the eateries were fully booked so we ended up having fish and chips outside on the harbour. I embarrassed Donks by bouncing to a live band (they were terrible but quite entertaining!). We ended up drinking in a sports bar where we picked a spot between two screens showing the Melbourne Cup men's final between Rinky and Nadal, and the Aussie/England cricket!

At 9.30 a massive firework display happened with the fireworks going off the bridge, which Donks had predicted, but we didn't manage to get a particularly good view. Despite this, they are some of the most impressive fireworks I have ever seen.

We rushed back to our chosen prime spot for some more drinks and to follow the end of our sports. I was over the moon that Rinky won the title, so so pleased for him. We wondered if they would have been disturbed by the noise of the fireworks?! We then sat and laughed at a guy who was dancing outside the bar and encouraging others to dance with him. We managed to avoid him!

We headed back to our hotel for a well earned sleep after a long day!