Melbourne

We really liked Melbourne. Nobody could tell us what the 'big sights' were - and Federation Square, which was created to give a focus to the city that doesn't really have a centre, is an incredibly ugly bit of architecture. It looks like a sixth former's 'city of the future' art project, all big blocks of strange, angular buildings.

What we did find was a lot of beauty - it's very green - and a slower pace. More cafes, more relaxed, more warmth. We loved the Dandenong ranges; beautiful mountains just outside the city with the most amazing purple flowers everywhere.

More than anything we met some lovely people. Mike and Rochelle let us borrow their house for a week, Dave and Lisa looked after us, cooked us two fantastic barbecues and lent us their double buggy, and a nice lady got her street atlas out of the car and helped me find my way home when I got hopelessly lost out on a run.

We made it to the Open only to find that there were no British players left in the singles (I guess we shouldn't have been so surprised), but it was fun to wander around and we managed to see Andy Murray being very polite to the ball girls at a doubles match.

The car.. Well, it was the solid, reliable 5th member of the family that we needed on a trip like that. I love air conditioning.