Perth however, stood out as one of our favourites. If I was to put the cities we've seen to date in order of preference, I would have to say...
1) Brisbane
What can I say? Home is where the heart is.
When I used to live on the Gold Coast and I'd drive the one hour up the highway to Brissie to pay the family a visit, I would reach the top of the rise in the road heading towards Brisbane and there's one point that you have a full frontol view of the city, which is simply beautiful by night, just at that moment when I would see the images of my city, I'd know I was home.
2) Sydney
Firstly, I would like to point out that this rating is from a tourists point of view and definitely not from a prospective residents'. I would rather eat live cockroaches than live in Sydney but to visit Sydney for a day or two is seriously cool.
Whether it's driving over the bridge, or catching the ferry to Manly, visiting Darling Harbour or ChinaTown, or of course the good old Opera House. I fly the flag for Sydney, it's a cracker of a place. A year or so before we left for the trip, when Tom's mum and brother where over from the UK for a visit, we all went to watch a ballet at the Opera House. Throughout the entire performance, I felt as though the dancers were performing just for me and I was the only person in the entire audience. The acoustics were so defined that you could hear even the lightest tap of the ballet shoe on the floor, even from the nose bleed section!!
3) Melbourne
Without a doubt Australia's most characteristic city.
This place has funk, retro & edgy written all over it. It's so retro that no doubt it has created a new name for 'retro' and I'm too out of touch to even notice.
Park the car and take the tram! Then spend the day drinking on the lovely grassed area at St Kilda Beach, grab a gelati and take a walk down to the jetty to watch the little penguins wake up from their homes amongst the rocks and set about their daily migration out to sea.
4) PerthOur most recently introduced city, Perth, rolls in at number four. It's nestled in amongst the lovely Swan River which gives Perth a real outdoors / summer loving feel to it. Kudos to the Perth City Council for the free buses that run throughout the entire CBD everyday of the week. And of course, the buses were packed which in turn generally means less cars and therefore less traffic. The Bell Tower is worth a look but only from the outside, unless you feel like forking out $18 per person to walk up the stairwell to the top.
5) Adelaide
They say it's the city of churches and not much else but I didn't seem to notice anymore than usual. Adelaide won't overwhelm anyone with anything absolutely outstanding but yet it still manages to have quite a nice feel to it. The CBD always seemed to be very well presented and there are some rather impressive old buildings to appreciate. We only saw a snippet of the Adelaide Hills but from what we did see, it lived up to its name of lucious rolling green fields and its abundance of wildlife.
6) Hobart
Hobart reminded me of a mini Sydney with its harbourside city. The Salamanca markets were a huge let down, don't get me wrong they weren't bad, they just weren't good. Mt Wellington was an absolute winner offering great views of the city but take your jumper cause there was snow up there when we were there... in summer!
7) Canberra
Sorry Uncle Bruce!!
I think my opinion of Canberra is a little unfair because I had already visited it quite a few times before the trip. However, the War Memorial was outstanding!! Plan to spend an entire day there, you may not think you'll need that long but trust me, you will and you'll be thankful for every minute.
So, that just leaves one more city left to be seen - Darwin. I guess I'll have to update this space on its placement in a few weeks time.
Tom found a new bike...
Lots of little artistic touches throughout the parks in the city centre...
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