Penultimate day in Oz! :-(
Spent the morning in the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. The ACMI has 3 main exhibition spaces. 2 of these hold their special exhibitions, some of which they charge for. The remaining space is their free permanent exhibition.
The current special exhibition is on the works of Disney. Lots of drawings from various stages if some of their best known animated feature films showing the various processes involved.
Random fact: The voice artist who portrayed the evil queen in Snow White changed her voice when the queen turned into the old apple seller by removing her false teeth!
The main exhibition was a little difficult to get much out of. There's no clear ideal path to take through the exhibition, even though it's meant to chronicle the development of moving image. Some of the displays also felt cluttered and it was sometimes difficult to see what info card related to why exhibit. There were also a surprising number of exhibits not in working order.
The weather always seems one step ahead of me. Decided last night that I'd spend this afternoon over at St Kilda for an afternoon by the beach, and hopefully some sunset photos. It is doing its best to rain though. Perhaps the world can't handle the thought of me in shorts! Well, I shall go get some lunch and see how the weather looks. It'll be a nice tram ride out, regardless of what I end up doing there!
Update: 2235
Well the weather stayed mostly dry, so quite a long day out at St Kilda. Think I arrived there shortly after 2pm and got the tram back to the hotel at 21:45 (and it's a 20-30 min journey).
Had a walk along the pier. At the end there is a breakwater, most of which is now locked off as a penguin breeding area. There's a small boardwalk area where you can play hide and seek with the penguins. They're good at it; able to hide in the small dark gaps between the rocks of the breakwater. Did manage to spot a few and get some photos. It seems most of the penguins are active after the sun's gone down. Around the time of sunset there is a volunteer onsite. I'm not 100% sure what they do (apart from tell people not to use flash photography and turn off any white lights) as I was getting hungry and still had to find somewhere to eat, so left before anything happened. I don't think it's any Parade of the Penguins like you'd see at the attractions; but here you're seeing them in their natural habitat and at no charge.
Then had a walk along the promenade. Not a lot to see, but I found it a nicer beach area than Bondi. There are a few bars and cafes along the promenade with views straight out over the sea - no roads in the way. The whole area has a bit more character to it as well.
After a quick beer headed back to the pier and breakwater for some more photos, especially if the sunset. Once again, the weather wasn't ideal with a few brief periods of light rain and a fair bit of cloud. Still, there were enough breaks to get a red sky in places. Plenty of photos taken; be interesting to see how they turn out.
Talking of photos, I'll get an updated count soon. Just need to wait for the battery to recharge!
Last day in Oz tomorrow! Flight is late in the evening, so still gives me most of the day in Melbourne. Just need to see if the hotel can let me do a late check-out.