Melbourne Victoria "World's Most Liveable City"

Known as the "Garden City", Melbourne is renowned for its culture, festivals, gardens, wide boulevards and sporting events. It is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city that is host to a multitude of international sporting events including the Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam, the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, International One Day and Test Cricket matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the world famous Melbourne Cup.

Melbourne was recently voted "the world's most liveable city" and is a modern, progressive city.

Things to See and Do in Melbourne

The central business district of Melbourne is based around the delta of the Yarra River at the top of a large bay. The city area contains some of Australia's finest parks, gardens and historic buildings, all within walking distance. Melbourne is also Australia's entertainment, sporting and cultural capital. Nearly every cuisine is represented in the many hundreds of Melbourne's very reasonably-priced restaurants and cafes.

Places of interest include:

• Melbourne Zoo, recognised as one of the world's best.
• The observation deck of the Rialto (southern hemisphere's tallest building) for a bird's-eye view.
• The sporting precinct which includes the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), scene of the Melbourne 1956 Olympics and still one of the world's great stadiums, as well as Rod Laver arena (venue of the Australian Tennis Open).
• Many waterfront promenades and cafes along the Yarra River or docklands precinct.
• Some of the finest examples of historic gothic architecture (used as backdrops in many major movies).

Public Transport in Melbourne

The Conference venue is within easy walking distance to most hotels in the Melbourne central business district (CBD). Although it is rapidly expanding, the geographic area of the Melbourne central business district is around 5kms X 5kms.

The Melbourne CBD (and its suburbs) is one of a few cities in the world that has a low cost electric tram network, as well as an underground train system. There is a free-of-charge historic tram that runs regularly around the perimeter of the Melbourne CBD. This free historic tram is designed for visitors to Melbourne and has high-quality maps and tour guides on board – a most recommended means of getting around the Melbourne CBD.

The city and suburbs is also well-serviced by taxis and buses, or for something a little different, catch a water taxi along Melbourne's famous Yarra River and docklands area. One of the reasons that Melbourne is regarded as one of the world's safest and most livable cities, is because it is quite safe to walk and travel around Melbourne, day and night.

Melbourne is well serviced by trains, trams, buses and taxis both in the city and surrounding suburbs. For more information about the transport network, go to VicTrip ( www.victrip.com.au )

For more information about Melbourne visit the VIC Tourism website http://www.visitvictoria.com