Monday 7th we fly down to Melbourne. We're invited to spend the next two days here with an old friend of Robin's from London. When we arrive, it's as hot as Sydney, though we're learning that someone from Melbourne would say it's hotter than Sydney, in fact they would say that everything in Melbourne is better than Sydney. Likewise someone from Sydney would say their city beat Melbourne at whatever issue was at hand. This rivalry has been going on for over 150 years, and is why the country's Capital - Canberra - was placed in a separate, newly developed state, as neither Melbourne nor Sydney could stomach the idea of the other being the capital.

On our first evening in Melbourne, we swim, sample some of Victoria's fine wines and dine outside at our host's beautiful Italianate Victorian house. On Tuesday, we had a guided tour of downtown Melbourne. We took in the Queen Victoria Market, a bustling and massive fruit and veg market with 100's of stalls, Gertrude Street with its trendy shops and restaurants, the Italian quarter in Carleton where we have Melbourne's famed coffee, and the performing arts centre, as well as St. Paul's Cathedral. Dinner tonight at home, a delicious meal with our host's neighbours, was fascinating as they both come from Tasmania, our next destination.

Wednesday 9th we take a short trip up the Yarra Valley to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. Our first (and possibly last) chance to see certain Australian wildlife and we do. Koalas, wombats, platypus, emus, echidna (like a porcupine but cuter) and a lot more—many previously unheard of by us. There are a lot of strange creatures in this country! Although the place feels more like a zoo than a wild park, it was an interesting excursion and the sanctuary is doing good work in helping to save some species that are in danger of extinction. We made it back to Melbourne in time to fit in a short visit to the National Gallery of Victoria, which probably has the best collection of European 17th, 18th and 19th century paintings in Australia and we were not disappointed except that we did not have nearly enough time to wander. We managed to tear ourselves away in time to get to Port Melbourne to the start of the next part of our trip.