Melbourne Museum

Conveniently located between the Carlton Gardens and the monumental Royal Exhibition building in Melbourne, Australia, the Melbourne Museum is an award-winning tourist destination with many wonders to offer. Being the largest museum in the southern hemisphere, the Melbourne Museum has several tourist attractions that are well-known around the world. These attractions include a lush rainforest that houses a variety of endangered and endemic species of plants and animals; a children's gallery, fantastic exhibition areas with the famous Phar Lap -- a legendary racehorse as the showcase, an educational center, the Discovery Center, the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Center, function areas for different events, a souvenir shop and a cafe.

The Forest Gallery is a lush real-life version of Victoria's tropical forests that boasts a collection of almost 8,000 flora and fauna. The Forest Gallery's main exhibition is the Forest Secrets, which was created to tell the story of what it is like to live in a forest and how the actual forest changes as years pass by. The Forest Secrets exhibition is further divided into many areas pertaining to the different elements that cause changes in the forest: Water Zone, Fire Zone, Earth Processes Zone, Climate Zone and Human Intervention Zone.

The Science and Life Gallery aims to promote scientific knowledge among its visitors. This gallery is divided into specific zones: Marine Life, Bugs Alive, Southern Diversity, Virtual Room, and the First Computer zone. In the Marine Life, visitors will learn about the wonderful world of sea creatures living in magnificent underworld gardens. For those who love insects, the Bugs Alive zone is the perfect destination as this exhibit boasts a collection of live spiders and bugs with giant models to illustrate their life cycles and way of living. Travelers will marvel at the different plants and animals found only in Australia when they enter the Southern Diversity exhibit. In the Virtual Room, visitors can travel to different areas through digitally enhanced exhibitions and 3-D effects. Another popular attraction is the First Computer zone where visitors can see the world's fourth computer and the only first-generation computer left in the world.

In the Evolution Gallery, visitors can have a glimpse of what the world looked like during the time of the dinosaurs. It also tells the history of the earth through the animals that have lived in a specific era, such as the ancient trilobites and giant dinosaurs that have roamed the earth during the Jurassic Age.

The Bunjilaka Aboriginal Center showcases the ethnic tribes that are part of the Australian heritage. Rituals and activities of the Aboriginal tribes are shown to visitors to further empower the Aboriginal community. A smoking ceremony usually starts the day as members of the Wurundjeri Aboriginal people go on through their daily activities.

The Mind and Body Gallery showcases the anatomy of the human brain while the Australian Gallery focuses on the lives and communities living in the Land Down Under, with exhibits about the history of Melbourne and the famous Australian race horse Phar Lap.