Melbourne - Destination Melbourne

Melbourne, Marvelous Melbourne', is Australia's second largest city, capital of Victoria and sports-mad. Home of Aussie Rules Football (AFL), the MCG and the Melbourne Cup horserace, Melbourne is the sports mad persons heaven.

Apart from the sport Melbourne is also considered the cultural, artistic centre of Australia. A beautiful and exciting city, Melbourne has a huge array of fashionable shops, eateries and entertainment, with impressive architecture, galleries and gardens.

Beneath the skyscrapers of the central business district (CBD), the city has an understorey of Victorian-era facades adorning tree-line boulevards with hidden arcades, lanes and alleyways enclosing some of the cities best cafés, pubs and specialty shops.

Melbourne's trams run continuously up and down the cities boulevards offering a great way to explore the city. The central suburbs of St Kilda and Fitzroy are the places to go for live music, pubs and comedy clubs. These areas are also great during the day for their shops, atmosphere and locals.

Melbourne sits on the shores of Port Phillips Bay - a 261 km stretch of coastline encompassing two peninsulas. Around 30 minutes north is The Mornington Peninsula, home to 45 km's of coastal national parks with excellent bushwalks. A 40-minute ferry ride across Port Phillip Bay is the Bellarine Peninsula home to numerous dolphins and fur seals.

Population:	3 million people
Time zone:	Eastern Standard Time GMT +10hrs
Telephone code:	03

Melbourne - Destination Melbourne

Images courtesy of Tourism Victoria