So, you're about to arrive in Melbourne, just before the conference, and am wondering what to do. Well, I'd think about checking out Federation Square, there are plenty of cinemas in the city centre (major commercial ones but also art house). For arthouse I'd check out the Kino (eastern end of Collins St), the Lumiere (Lonsdale St between Russell and Exhibition Streets), or the ACMI screenings (which I think might be free this Sunday afternoon) which are at Fed. Square.
For food, well hard to go wrong as long as you keep away from most of the cafes and restaurants that run down Swanston St. (Good rule, further north up Swanston St, that's closer to RMIT btw), the better the food. Don't bother with anything between Collins and Bourke Sts, once north of Bourke I still wouldn't stop until you've crossed Little Bourke, then you can start looking. There's an asian soup place (Mekong, I think) that is awesome, just ask for the beef or chicken soup, don't bother with the menu.
For breakfast Hairy Canary on Little Collins St, just up from the Town Hall, would be worth a look. Isn't cheap but usually good. There's also the Italian place next to the Town Hall (cnr Swanston and Little Collins) that is OK.
Chinatown runs along Little Bourke from the top of Spring St (the eastern end of the city) down to Swanston St. Hard to go wrong here but local knowledge is useful. Supper Inn (in the delightfully named Celestial Lane) is a perennial favourite. Always full.
Oh, Federation Square now has lots of cafes, haven't been so can't say but reports are excellent food but priced for the visitor or the professional... You'll find heaps of 'what to do in Melbourne' information at the Melbourne visitor centre which is at Fed Square, right on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets. If you cross the Yarra (that's the river just next to Fed Square) you'll find dozens of cafes right along the south bank, it continues for about a kilometre I guess, into the casino precinct which is also full of riverside cafes. Broad range of food and prices, if the weather's good this can be very nice. Usually some good buskers down here on a weekend if you want 30 minutes of circus style entertainment.
Dag is a word that gets a lot of use. Technically it refers to the grotty bit of gunk that collects around a sheep's tail and is why in this country sheep have their tails docked. But colloquially it refers to someone who is, well, a bit of a nerd (in that 1970s sense of nurd). It has a wide range of values, so to say to someone "You're a dag" can actually be a form of sweet talking, but in other contexts it has all the negative connotations of being unfashionably out of date, socially clumsy, and just, well, daggy. Generally you don't want to be a dag.
Yep, it's a cliche. The first bit of local argot to help you get by is "g'day". An abbreviated version of "good day". Do Australian's actually say this? Yes, but not always. When would you use it? When you meet someone. Can it ever be offensive? Not this one. (Unlike say, dag, which is very context sensitive.) Would would we think highly of anyone else using it? Not likely.
In this map of Australia you'll notice that Melbourne is down in the south east of the main continent. Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria (Australia is a federal system), has over 3 million people, and has seriously good food courtesy of our multicultural community - once upon a time, perhaps still, Melbourne was the world's third largest Greek city. The Lonely Planet site has some good info (a Melbourne company by the way). If you're from the northern hemisphere, then Melbourne is more or less at the same latitude (nearly) as Philadelphia or the lower part of Italy or the middle of Portugal. Not as cold as the former, not as warm as the latter pair.
This is a difficult topic, since everyone else in Australia likes to complain about Melbourne's weather. We have hot summers and, by Australian standards, cold winters, and the weather can be extremely variable (even in one day). In May the average maximum wanders between 11°C and 20°C. For my money 11°C would be an exceptionally cold May day, and I'd expect somewhere around 15°C or 16°C to be the norm.
The mornings can be cold (10°C) and it can take most of the day to get to the maximum - Melbourne isn't one of those cities where you only get a few degrees variation during a day (unlike Singapore, or Bergen for that matter - in both cities a temperature variation of 4 degrees in a day is almost odd). Expect some rain (we're in the middle of a serious drought, so if we get 5 days of rain don't expect the locals to begrudge the weather.
That time of year there's about 10 hours of direct sunlight, sunrise is around 7am and sunset will be pretty early, something like 5.30pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology are our weather soothsayers and if you follow the "Melbourne Forecast" link on their Victorian page you'll get a current forecast. Oh, and we use Celsius to measure temperature, I've forgotten how to convert it to Farenheit, but 0° is frozen water and 100° it boils.
In Australia the unit of currency is the Australian dollar ($) (aka "ostreylean dolla") and it is a decimal system and the little bitty bits are called cents. 100 cents to a dollar. We got rid of 1 and 2 cent pieces quite some years ago, so the 5 cent piece is our littlest bit of currency. The Australian dollar is worth around 60 US cents and 56 Euro at the moment. The coins are 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents, and 1 and 2 dollars. The denomination of notes are $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
You'll find a currency calculator at cnn, and at x-rates.
Trams are the major form of public transport us locals use in the inner city. And they rock. The tram fare system (that's a silly web site with frames so I can't easily show you where to find the zone information) is divided into a series of zones, but all you need to know is that zone one will cover all the travel you will be doing on a tram. (Here's a better site.)
You can purchase tickets on the trams from machines (we used to have conductors, we are still angry that they're gone) or from newsagents, convenience stores, and the like. If you want to purchase your tickets on the tram, note that the silly machine only accepts coins, not notes, and that ticket inspectors don't think the fact that the machine might be broken is a very good reason to travel without a ticket. (The good populace are in the midst of a four year informal civil disobedience campaign about all this.) Generally you either get an all day or a 2 hour ticket.
Now, the more complicated bit. You have to 'validate' your ticket each time you travel. This means feeding the ticket the right way round into one of several little pod things on each tram. If you bought your ticket from the machine on the tram, it is already validated (but you're supposed to validate it for each additional bit of travel). If you got your ticket from a shop, it isn't validated and so you have to validate it the first time you use it. Once validated it is time stamped and you can use it up to the time stamped.
If you're traveling by tram over more than 2 hours then the all day ticket really is the one to get, much much better value. At the moment an all day ticket costs $5.20, and a 2 hour ticket I think is $2.60.
The conference is being held on the city campus of RMIT which is in Melbourne's Central Business District. This is an easy walk from any of the accommodation venues we have suggested, and any other accommodation that is within the CBD.
RMIT is on Swanston and Latrobe Streets in Melbourne, and Swanston Street is one of the major tram routes in the city and is easily accessible by public transport.
The conference also has an event at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, which is more or less located at the other end of Swanston Street. This is a 10 minute walk from RMIT, or a 5 minute tram ride.
Experimedia at the State Library of Victoria is hosting the +PlayEngines+ exhibition which is a part of DAC, and the artists day we are hosting on Friday, May 23. The State Library is next door (well, over the road) from RMIT.
The DAC DayOut being held on the Wednesday involves the entire conference moving to the Yarra Valley for an informal day of networking, recovery, and reinvigoration. This is included in the registration cost for all delegates who register for the full conference and we provide the buses (and food, and wine tasting). You just have to be able to get to RMIT to get the bus on the Wednesday morning.
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has a city and a Bundoora campus. The conference is being held on the city campus (luckily for you, Bundoora is 30 kilometres north!). The main city campus is located in Melbourne's Central Business District (CBD), which is what North American's would recognise as 'downtown'. It is probably 7 minutes walk from the conference hotels, and is serviced by literally dozens of trams and a major city rail station.
In a few minutes walk are major city restaurants, the Queen Victoria Market, city cinemas, galleries, bars, and so on.
A map of Melbourne's CBD is available. As is a map of RMIT's city campus. The conference will be held in RMIT's Storey Hall, which is building 16 on the RMIT map.
BTW, if you go to http://www.whereis.com.au/ and put in 124 Latrobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria, as your address you'll also get a pretty useful map.
