Hi everyone. I'll be going to Australia in November 08 and I was hoping to get some guidance on whether or not to visit Melbourne.

My itinerary has me in Sydney and surrounds for about 7 days total. I was wondering whether someone could advise me as to whether i should cut that in half and spend 3-4 nights in Melbourne. If so, I could cut a day somewhere else and have 4 days Sydney and 4 Days Melbourne. Otherwise, i was thinking of staying 6 days in Sydney and overnight in Ulladulla.

I also was wondering whether someone could recommend an interesting pub/inn/bb or other accomodation to stay in Brisbane.

Thanks for help.

I live in Sydney and love visiting Melbourne (fantastic food, great shopping, generally much better art exhibitions than Sydney, if you are interested in that kind of thing), so my answer would be yes, divide the time between the two.

However, I wouldn't go to Ulladulla, it is one of the least appealing towns on the south coast. If you want to visit the south coast try Hyams Beach Jervis Bay, Pretty Beach, or further down, Narooma.

I would definitely divide your stay between Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney has a wonderful harbour, but that is not all to see downunder. In fact if we believe the pundits Melbourne will be a bigger city than Sydney by 2028 so don't miss it !

By all means "do" Sydney but what about "doing" something other than a city such as seeing something of the real Australia? For instance what about flying to the Gold Coast and seeing some of the hinterland there and parts of Northern New South Wales? Beautiful part of Australia with lots to do and see.
You will get people who love or live in Melbourne and say its worth seeing but for my money no city in Australia is worth time except Sydney from an International visiting point of view.

Yeah, Melbourne is worth visiting. At that time of the year, the weather could be warm, or not. Global warming has changed the weather there over the last couple of years.

Streets to check out:
Chapel St south Yarra for high end shopping
Brunswick St and Gertrude St in Fitzroy for grungey and alternative shops. Great cafes. Try Mario's for breakfast. It is a Melbourne institution. It's near the corner of Johnston and Brunswick Streets.
Acland St in St Kilda has cafes and plenty of amazing cake shops.

The city centre itself is well worth visiting. If you are into architecture, check out the Southern Cross train station. Then there's Federation Square and the Arts Centre.

The Botanic Gardens are great and there's a good cafe there - not the one near the lake. That's expensive. There is another one and for the moment the name escapes me. It's almost opposite the Shrine of Remembrance which is worth a visit. You can get great city views and photos from the top of stairs at the Shrine (it's a war memorial).

Also, you can do a great river walk along the river from Federation Square to the MCG. The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) is the biggest sports stadium in the country. You can do tours of it. The walk along the river to the MCG is picturesque.

There's good eating almost everywhere in Melbourne. The city centre has a huge number of options.

A good day trip is a visit to the Yarra Valley wineries. It's about an hour's drive out of the city. But you can also get a tour company to take you there. There is an tourist information office in Federation Square just opposite the Flinders Street train station. They should be able to help you out with tour bookings etc. Otherwise, hire a car and do your own thing.

Hope that's of some help.

Have a look at www.thatsmelbourne.com.au as a starting point.They are 2 very different cities and both worth visiting . If you want to ask some more precise questions about specific areas of interest we can help .

we loved Sydney ( stayed 8 days) and Melbourne ( 3 days).You don't have much time, but if you can manage Melbourne is worth a visit no question.