We decided to visit the XXXX Museum, since the beer is such a big part of Austrlian life, but I can tell you, we weren't happy about it! The tour began with a look at the different ingredients used and a look at the history of the company, told by statues of the past owners of the company (who were in fact Irish - not that you could tell from the hilarious accents!!). We then walked through the factory to see the beer being put into the tinnies and stubbies! Then it was time to see the bar! We got 4 free drinks with the tour so we set about trying the different beers. The Sparkling Ale (only available at the Ale House in the Museum), XXXX Gold the popular lager, XXXX Stout and Hahn Premium (a light lager). We luckily got talking to the old man behind the bar who was impressed to hear that we were from Burton-On-Trent (which we learnt was one of the first places to start the lagering process!!) and so we got to have another of the Sparkling Ales (we were only supposed to have one!) and then he gave us another card, allowing us to have another free drink - so we thought it would be rude to decline! After 5 hours at the museum, the tour being only one of those, we went to the Regent Theatre to watch a film (Inside Man, which was really good). The theatre is set in an old and very grand building which was really impressive.

The next day we went to the famous Australia Zoo, which is owned and run by Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter! As it was Easter Week, he was there too, with his wife Terri and his daughter Bindy Sui (named after Steve's favourite Croc and his dog!) and his son Robert. Steve and Terri took the croc show and his daughter had her own singing and dancing show, with her own backing dancers. 'The Croc Men' - great for the kids, but quite funny for the adults too and very, very, very camp! The crocodile show was really good, Steve showed us all what NOT to do if you were to encounter a croc...by doing a belly flop into the water and flailing around! The croc obviously went swimming after him and Steve managed to get out of the way just in time! His helper, Wes, a director of the Zoo and Steve's best mate from school, also tempted the croc, Douglas, by having salt and pepper sprinkled on his bum! Douglas had taken a huge chunk from his buttock and leg a few years back, and after the taste of flesh always becomes agressive at the sight of Wes!! Luckily he was safe this time though! After watching the bird show we had a walk around the zoo and saw all the animals, mainly from Australia, but there was also an Asia section where we saw Elephants, Tigers and Cheetars and an enclosure for Harriet, the 174 year old Tortoise that was once owned by Charles Darwin! It was a great day and we even treated ourselves to Steve Irwin T-shirts!