3 weeks in Australia?

So my friend and I are going to go visit distant family in Melbourne in April. We have around 3 weeks to spend there and no money problems and are wondering what the frick to do once there.
Of course a few days will have to be centered around family and other boring stuff but other than that we have only free time and were considering renting a camper / caravan and drive to Sidney and back to Melbourne again, preferably on the coast because why not. Something like pic related.
What should we visit? Any must see attractions? I wanna go see some animals I guess. Maybe a zoo? I guess going to Canberra is a possibility as well since it's kinda there but again I wouldn't know what to see there.
Should we even do it? Is it possible to camp and sleep wherever and whenever we want? Is it safe to do so? Should we stay in camps to avoid the plethora of animals that apparently can't wait to stick, poison, kick, bite, maim and eat us?

YouTube videos and Tripadvisor guides insist I should go see street art, get lost in the alleyways and other such nonsense. I don't really care about the cities, I think they are kinda all the same.

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  1. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Melbourne has lots to do to but it depends on your personality type and what your interests are. If you're a normie there will be plenty to do. Also, definitely don't go to Canberra. There is pretty much nothing to do or see there except Parliament House. Yes camping is easily done and no you won't have to worry about animals killing you, this is mostly just a meme. It's more of a legitimate concern in northern Australia where there are crocodiles. Also driving from Melbourne to Sydney is kinda boring but you will get to see the 'real' Australia I guess.

    T. Melbourne anon

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >There is pretty much nothing to do or see there except Parliament House.
      You've never been to Canberra in your life if this is your advice.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        i went on year 9 camp there because my school was too povo too do anything else. It was boring except for parliament house.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      OP here. Thanks for the replies! So basically we are still indecisive about what to do once in Australia but a general idea would be not to stay in Melbourne for long.

      Is the coast boring as well? I've seen some scenic pictures and stuff so I assumed it could be cool. The museum sounds good as long as there's interesting stuff in it (paintings are boring imho). Any trips you'd recommend? The distances seem kinda massive for a european like me

      >There is pretty much nothing to do or see there except Parliament House.
      You've never been to Canberra in your life if this is your advice.

      What do you think might be worth visiting in Canberra? Seems like a relatively small city in comparison to Sidney and Melbourne

      Yeah they keep trying to herald Melbourne as the city of art, but you'd probably enjoy these instead:
      >ACMI (free entry and right in the CBD to see some actually cool art stuff)
      >Eureka Sky Deck
      >Watch an AFL match (Melbourne has the MCG, a stadium which is the heart of Australian Rules football here. The big matches are always on Friday/Saturday nights)
      >Melbourne Zoo is boring, Werribee Zoo is better but an hour out from the CBD
      >Geelong has the superior surf beaches to the west of Melbourne, Rye has low, flat water and more party life to the east of Melbourne
      t. Melbournian

      cool suggestions, thanks! Open range zoo sounds like something we might like!

      What about parties? Should we expect discos and pubs or beach parties?

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        I lived in Canberra for three years, a miserable place to waste your life but it does have worthwhile attractions for tourists - I'm not sure if it's worth your time to go out of your way if you're only in Australia for three weeks as it's a fair distance from anywhere and not on your coastal route.
        With that said
        >parliament
        An interesting look at our democracy and a circus if you come when it's sitting (question time is infuriating but entertaining).
        >old parliament
        Our parliament until the current one was built in the 80s - now a museum about our political history. In my opinion this is worth much more time than the current one, but admittedly if you're not into political history, let alone Australian political history, you may not get as much out of it
        >war memorial
        A large museum about every conflict Australia has been in. Massively over funded because of political reasons so it's a solid museum considering we aren't exactly a war mongering nation and we've only been attacked on soil in one war.
        >national gallery
        A solid gallery if you like galleries. We also have a portrait gallery separately in Canberra but I was bored and I actually know who the portraits are of, I doubt you'd get anything from that one.
        >national museum
        If you're around and you like museums I'd say give it a look. Overall it's much less interesting than what I've gone through above though.

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          Canberra also has a lot of nice nature very centrally located and isn't too far from Mt Kosciuszko, Australia's largest peak which is a reasonable hike.
          It also has some surprisingly good restaurants and bars, but you pay a premium for them - the city has an unusually high ratio of white collar workers because of public servants and government adjacent industries (lawyers, consultants, etc) so it's a very expensive city despite being less than half a million people in population.
          As a bonus I'll mention "summer nats" - if you're there just after Christmas you can see absolute frickwits from all over the country travel to Canberra for a car show that nearly none of the locals will ever attend. If you want too see the fabled Australian bogan in its natural habitat, this is it.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        The coast isn't boring but it is a long distance so it's up to you how much time you want to spend driving. Eastern Victoria is relatively barren because it's very mountainous, most of Victoria's cultural sights are west of the mountains. The south coast of New South Wales is much more populated due to the distance to Sydney so there's a lot of beach towns with nice accommodation options.
        The alternative is to drive inland on the west side of the mountains, funnily enough it's basically the opposite where you can see some neat old Victorian towns but then spend hours at a time driving through underpopulated farming regions in NSW until you get to the Blue Mountains.
        I'll give a shout out to the Great Ocean Road if that interests you at all, unfortunately it sounds counter productive to your itinerary. It's a beautiful drive along Victoria's coastline culminating in the 12 Apostles.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        just wander down Chapel St or the CBD on a weekend and you will find something going on at lots of places anon

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Do you want to spend three weeks in the city or trip out around the region?
    I wouldn't spend more than three days in the CBD because though there's a lot of official buildings you'll tire of them.

    Melbourne meuseum is particularly good, you might as well pass through the free gallery in federation square, queen Victoria market is worth a lunch stop but beware of hustlers, you might as well picnic on the yarra river, just buy some shit from 7-11.

    Melbourne has some decent clubs but nothing to freak out about, the rowdy parties run for students are probably more fun. Drugs are shit in Melbourne so don't get your hopes up.

    The public transport has great coverage but is slow, you might take a train to the beach.

    In three weeks you're going to go mad though so I'd plan at least a few trips out

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      what are you smoking

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Yeah they keep trying to herald Melbourne as the city of art, but you'd probably enjoy these instead:
    >ACMI (free entry and right in the CBD to see some actually cool art stuff)
    >Eureka Sky Deck
    >Watch an AFL match (Melbourne has the MCG, a stadium which is the heart of Australian Rules football here. The big matches are always on Friday/Saturday nights)
    >Melbourne Zoo is boring, Werribee Zoo is better but an hour out from the CBD
    >Geelong has the superior surf beaches to the west of Melbourne, Rye has low, flat water and more party life to the east of Melbourne
    t. Melbournian

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Op here again.
    I got a general idea of things now, thx to all.

    Let's talk about accommodation and living expenses. Is there any difference between shop brands? 7-11s are usually cheaper from my experience, does that apply?

    What about restaurants, bbq and similar? I'm quite a foodie and would like to experience some local cuisine if there is anything worth eating. We'd prefer not going to bug infested Chinese restaurants and kebab shit holes. We'd like to try eating kangaroos if that's allowed... Any specialty we want to look out for? I'm not against the idea of buying food in a grocery store and throwing a bbq party so... Any tips?

    Oh and last thing: I'm used to being expansive and just talking to people on the street but I don't know if that's socially acceptable there and don't want to be labelled a weirdo.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      no, there is not much difference between shops. 7-11 is not going to be signinicantly different from any other servo.

      Local cuisine is not a thing, unless you call tim-tams, Milo and vegemite cuisine. You can buy kangaroo meat however, just go to any supermarket. If anything, you are better off going to your so called 'bug infested Chinese restaurants'; there are heaps of different cuisines in Melbourne given how multicultural the place is.

      Generally speaking, people would tend to think you are a bit of weirdo but go for it anon.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      You can absolutely eat kangaroo, its a healthier alternative that helps the environment, given the need to cull them.
      Melbourne is very well known for food, look up some best of lists online.
      Coles and Woolworths are the two major super market lines, individual stores will vary in quality. You're better off going to a butcher for quality meat though. Beaches often have public BBQs too.
      You can talk to people on the street, especially in country towns, most Australians are friendly even if they don't always initiate.

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