ABOUT MELBOURNE. Welcome to Melbourne, mate! It is Australia�s second great metropolitan city with 3 million people. [see map of Melbourne] The rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne has been going on for more than 100 years, so don�t tell Melburnians (Melbourne folks) that you prefer Sydney or something like that � or the "damp" Melbourne weather will get you.

While Sydney has a sense of the rough diamond about it, Melbourne is considered more as a cultured pearl: lots of class, but not much sparkle. Melbourne is like Boston while Sydney is like New York. But even Sydnesiders (Sydney folks, mate) now grudgingly admit, Melbourne has now also changed into a vibrant, exciting, sophisticated city with a thriving arts scene, a pub music circuit that has produced some of Australia�s most famous bands, and a disproportionate number of the country�s best restaurants. Nevertheless, Melbourne�s continual winning of polls awards as one of world�s most liveable city is still hard for Syneysiders to acknowledge.

Why the cultured difference, you may ask, mate? Unlike Sydney, Melbourne was not founded as a penal colony. Instead, the city�s early settlers were free men intent on building a new prosperous life for themselves from Europe. It was founded in 1835 by John Batman, a land speculator! He rowed up the Yarra River, and persuaded the local Aborigines to "sell" him 600,000 acres of land in exchange for blankets, mirrors and axes! A year later, the early settlement was named in honour of Lord Melbourne, then Britain�s Prime Minister. It was the discovery of gold at nearby Ballarat in 1851 that propelled Melbourne�s growth in population and wealth � it drew thousands of fortune seekers from Europe, America and China. It grew so much that it became Australia�s largest city for awhile � overtaking Sydney!

As such, Melbourne has a sizeable migrant population from Europe and Asia. In fact, it is the largest Greek city outside Greece. No wonder the Olympics was held here first (in 1956) than in Sydney (2000), huh ? Without further elaborations, lets take you on a virtual tour of Melbourne. [Click to START your guided spin around Melbourne]or READ ON AND CLICK AS YOU GO

Touring around Melbourne

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A great place to start is to have a magnificent aerial view of Melbourne city at the Observation deck at the Rialto Towers in Collins Street. This gives you a great overview to Melbourne. (see panorama)

Then take a walk from the architecturally distinctive Flinders Street Train Station in the city across the elegant Victorian Princess Bridge over the Yarra River to the Southgate complex. (see panorama)

The Southgate complex, on the southern bank of the Yarra river, is a major arts and leisure venue. (see panorama) On St. Kilda Road is the massive bluestone National Gallery of Victoria. (see panorama) Alongside, the Victorian Arts Centre with its tall spire is the hub of Melbourne�s music, dance and drama scene. The Hamer Hall (formerly known as the Melbourne Concert Hall till June 04) is adjacent, along with the Performing Arts Museum, one of the world�s best theatre museums.

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MELBOURNE CITY GUIDES:

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Touring outside Melbourne and around Victoria

If you are a lover of wines, Yarra Valley located 60 km north-east of Melbourne city center, is a haven with more than thirty wineries open for tastings and sales. It is nearby to Healesville Sanctuary. Top wineries include Domaine Chandon (owned by the same company as Dome Perrignon), and top Australian names like Coldstream, St. Huberts and De Bortoli. (see panorama)

Steam train buffs and kids will enjoy a trip on the Puffing Billy in Belgrave. It is the only survivor of narrow-gauge steam trains which connected Melbourne to nearby country areas in the late 1800s.

Lovers of nature will really enjoy the world-famous Penguin Parade at Philip Island located about 2 hrs drive to the south-east of Melbourne, where colonies of small fairy penguins march back from the sea everyday (see panorama) during sunset. For an even more pristine nature experience, Wilsons Promontory National Park, at the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland further along Philip Island, offers spectacular remote walks for sceneries, diverse flora and fauna. (see panorama) If you drive even further along eastwards, along the South Gippsland Highway, the town of Lakes Entrance is a holiday and fishing town leading to the Gippsland Lakes for excellent lake, beach and deep sea fishing. (see panorama)

The historical gold-rush city of Ballarat is located 80 km west of Melbourne city. Attractions here are the Eureka Stockade, which is a memorial and re-enactment of the Eureka Rebellion in the 1800s, and Sovereign Hill � a re-creation of an old mining town, and a living museum depicting life as it was in the gold rush days. (see panorama) Another nearby gold-rush town is Bendigo, which has great 1800s architecture to boot plus a Chinese gold-miners heritage museum. If you are into cult movies, checkout the Hanging Rock Reserve, near Mt. Macedon, made famous by the Peter Weir movie "Picnic At Hanging Rock". (see panorama)

Driving further westwards from Ballarat via the Great Western Highway is the spectacular Grampians National Park. The Grampians are a series of stark and spectacular sandstone ridges eroded into bizarre shapes and famous for brilliant wildflowers in spring. (see panorama)

Victoria�s Alpine region in the north-east is a major winter-sports area and an extremely scenic area to boot, especially in autumn when tree leaves turn to gold and red. Mount Buller, Mount Hotham, Mount Buffalo and Falls Creek provide very good donhill skiing. (see panorama)

At the foothills of the mountains, historical Beechworth has to be one of the prettiest and most interesting town in Australia. Not too far away, in "Kelly Country" � named after the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, is the town of Glenrowan. This was where Ned Kelly had his last legendary shootout with police in the late 1800s � wearing a suit of iron armour.

The Great Ocean Road, which skirts the state of Victoria�s coastline from Geelong to Nelson on the South Australian border, is without doubt one of the world�s great coastal scenic drives. The towns of Torquay, Anglesea and Lorne are extremely popular with holidaymakers and surfies. Otway National Park, with its towering rainforest tress, straddles the Great Ocean Road as it nips inland west of Apollo Bay. Arguably the most spectacular stretch of the Great Ocean Road coastline is the 27 km stretch of the Port Campbell National Park. (see panorama) This area is the home of the world famous Twelve Apostles, which jut out to the sea near limestone clifs to which they once belonged. (see panorama) Other lookouts (see London Bridge) and (see Bay of Islands) are at strategic scenic points along the Shipwreck Coast, where the winds and pounding wives have made it a graveyard for 160 ships. The city of Warrnambool is the largest city along the Great Ocean Road. (see panorama) Warrnambool is also a world-best whale watching area at Logan�s Beach where the rare Southern Right Whales come to breed between June and September.

Title: Melbourne - Australia's Garden City

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