being from the southern hemisphere, this does not sound like such a good plan, but I won a travel prize from the department ($1250) and there is a meeting in australia I want to go to:
There are lots of us living here! It is a beautiful place in July and remember - if you don't like the weather ....wait ten minutes!
Melbourne is beautiful any time of year - the ten climates a day is a bonus!
I don't have the dates for the show in Melbourne but from memory I think it comes a bit later that 1-6July - can you stick around for a while? You can't come all this way for just a couple of days! Much and all as I hate to recommend the Harbour City over good ol' Melbourne, I think the show in Sydney is closer to these dates (inter-city rivalry is alive and well down here! rofl) But there are some great quilting groups around town you could probably arrange to visit.
I was born and grew up in Melbourne, then moved all over Australia and now live 200km west - which is about as far from Melb as I want to go. There are a million reasons why we win awards as one of the world's most livable cities.
As for shops - there are some fabulous shops, but don't expect to see the size and range they have in the States, and the prices may make you faint with shock lol but some of our Australian fabrics are gorgeous. And if you get tired of shopping (!?) you can always head out west and drink some of the local vintages which are pretty darn good!
Quilty things are really nice - but you should take the opportunity to see a bit of our beautiful country if you get down here.
Melbourne is a beautiful city all year round! And really, it doesn't matter when you come, the weather is so changeable, you could enjoy a beautiful sunny day in July or as we are now, get caught in a cold, wet snap at the end of spring. It snowed in some parts of the outer city yesterday and hailed everywhere else. It doesn't snow in Melbourne in the middle of winter, so that gives you an idea of how cold it is at the moment.
our art gallery is worth a look (good for a wet day) as is the zoo. We have beautiful parks, some historic buildings and the Queen Victoria Market
I agree with Cheryl - the range and size of quilting shops is not so great and it's not likely you'll get much here you can't get at home. And the Crafts and Quilt Fair is July 26-29 in Melb.
chris :-)
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