Melbourne...

...it's like a baby London. As far as cities go, this one is great! Kris is busy all day in her conference, so I'm roaming the streets looking for things to do when she gets off work, and let me tell you, there's plenty to choose from!
It may be a mix of the best of Seattle and London, with some history, some classical and gothic architecture, but with a trendy cafe and bar scene, good arts opportunities, and seemingly infinite variety of restaurants. And, like both of those cities, it is considered to be more overcast than the rest of the country.
We've been to the opera, the pub, a stand-up comedian (did I mention that this is the international comedy festival site?), and tonight will go to Miss Saigon. The only disappointment so far is that the Percy Grainger museum in the Melbourne University was closed for building works. After all that, there's still all the sports facilities, more comedy, the casino (briefly the largest in the world), more museums (musea? museae?) than you can shake a stick at, and Captain Cook's cottage, transported here from northern England, which I actually find kind of odd. It's not like this city has nothing of its own, that it needs to bring an entire house 15,000 kilometers as a footnote for the guidebooks.
All of this is in a relatively central area -- I haven't even been to St. Kilda's yet, although that's today's adventure -- which is much more easily traversed afoot than is the sprawl that is Sydney. Yup, as far as cities go, this is a definite keeper!

I'm sure they are glad we approve.