Victoria (The Garden State)

Melbourne Region
Melbourne is a diverse and cosmopolitan city .The town is home to some of Australia's biggest shopping complexes and sophisticated boutiques, glorious food halls and elegant restaurants, with a wide range of ethnic foods being readily available. It is regarded as one of the cultural, culinary, sporting and shopping capitals of Australia with a great selection of events and festivals to entertain locals and visitors.

Around Melbourne

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There are many possible day-trips out of Melbourne, mainly around the shores of the huge Port Phillip Bay, encircled by the arms of the Bellarine and Mornington peninsulas. The Mornington Peninsula on the east side is home to some of the city’s most popular beaches, packed on summer weekends. Western Port Bay, beyond the peninsula, encloses two fascinating islands – little-known French Island, much of whose wildlife is protected by a national park, and Phillip Island, where the waddling ashore of masses of Little penguins each night is among Australia’s biggest tourist attractions. The Bellarine Peninsula and the western side of Port Phillip Bay are less exciting, but they do give access to the west coast and the Great Ocean Road.

Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs

Inland to the east, the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Range offer beautiful countryside, wine-tasting and bushwalking. The Yarra Valley stretches out towards the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, with Yarra Glen and Healesville as targets for excursions into the wine country and to the superb forest scenery beyond. To the east, and still within the suburban limits, the cool, high Dandenong Range is as pretty as anywhere in Australia, with quaint villages, fine old houses, beautiful flowering gardens and shady forests of eucalypts and tree ferns.

To get to all these destinations and to have a good look round, you really need your own vehicle. On weekdays it is possible, although not exactly easy, to explore the Dandenongs by public transport. Trains run via Ferntree Gully to Belgrave at the southern edge of the Dandenongs. Buses from Belgrave follow a complicated schedule – enquire at the Met Transport Information Centre (tel 13 1638) in Melbourne. Healesville comes within the orbit of the suburban transport system: take a train from Melbourne to Lilydale and then bus #685; for a visit to the Healesville Sanctuary, it’s best to take the daily bus departing from Lilydale.

A bus company runs a daily service for V/Line from Melbourne to Eildon via Healesville and Marysville, the V/Line service to Mansfield passes through Lilydale and Yarra Glen daily (for further information: V/Line tel 13 6196). There are local buses from Belgrave to Emerald.

Getting there
Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport is 22km northwest of the city on the Tullamarine Freeway; the Skybus service (from the airport every 30min between 6.40am and 11.40pm, then hourly until 6.40am; $10; tel 03/9662 9275) will take you to the Melbourne Transit Centre (Greyhound Pioneer Bus Terminal), the Spencer Street Railway Station and Bus Terminal, Town Hall and Exhibition Street (the night services between 12.40am and 4.40am run to the Town Hall only). On weekdays (7.40am–4.10pm), Saturday (8.10am–12.40pm) and Sunday (1.40–5.30pm) the bus driver will drop you off at most city hotels on request. A taxi from the airport costs around $28 to the city centre, $35 to St Kilda.

Greyhound Pioneer buses arrive at the Melbourne Transit Centre on the north side of the city centre at 58 Franklin St, whereas McCafferty’s, Firefly and V/Line use the Spencer Street Bus Terminal on the west side. Spencer Street Railway Station nearby handles country and interstate trains. Some hostels pick up from these terminals, as well as from the Tasmanian ferry terminal.

About 4km southwest of the city centre, the ferry terminal is served by the #109 tram to Collins Street in the CBD. Skybus also runs a service to ferries to Tasmania which dock at Station Pier in Port Melbourne, departing from Melbourne Transit Centre at 3.45pm, and from Spencer Street Railway Station and Bus Terminal, bus bay #45, at 4pm ($4); Spirit of Tasmania sails year round (departures Mon, Wed and Fri evenings), while Devil Cat operates between December and April (daily departures during peak season, 4 per week at other times).

City Transport
Melbourne’s efficient public transport system of trams, trains and buses is called The Met, and a range of tickets is available. Unless you’re going on a day-trip to the outer suburbs, you can get anywhere you need to, including St Kilda and Williamstown, on a zone 1 ticket. 

A ticket covering zones 1 and 2 will get you as far as Brighton Beach, Sandringham and Carrum on Port Phillip Bay, Springvale and Glen Waverley in the southeast, Alamein and Canterbury in the east, and to the end of all Met train lines in the north and west. Zone 3 includes the “far east” and “far south-east” – Frankston, Cranbourne, Ferntree Gully, Ringwood and Lilydale. 

An ordinary zone 1 ticket costs $2.30, a short hop $1.60; these tickets are valid for two hours, or all night if bought after 7pm. A day-ticket ($4.40 for zone 1; $7.10 for zones 1 and 2; $9.50 for zones 1, 2 and 3) is better value if you’re making a few trips in zone 1, or if you are planning a trip to the outer suburbs. For longer stays, a weekly ticket ($19.10) is an even better bargain. 

Automated ticketing has recently been introduced: you’ll need to validate your ticket by machine every time you board a new vehicle. Coin machines on board trams supply tickets for short trips and 2 hours; these and day tickets are also available from train stations, bus drivers, the City Met Shop at 103 Elizabeth St and at other selected shops (most newsagents, some milk bars and pharmacies). The supposedly smooth-running system has its hiccups, such as out-of-order coin machines, fare dodgers, and ticket inspectors riding trams and blocking station exits in an attempt to catch them.

Services operate Monday to Saturday from 5am until midnight, and Sunday from 8am until 11pm, supplemented in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday by NightRider buses (hourly 12.30–4.30am; $5), which head from the City Square on Swanston Walk to the outer suburbs, more or less in the same direction as the suburban train routes. Each bus is equipped with a mobile phone, on which the driver can book a taxi to meet you at a bus stop (free call), or you can call a friend ($1) to meet you. For further information, call the Met Transport Information Centre (daily 7am–8.55pm; tel 13 1638).

For more information on City Transport, go to:

Information Services
The Victoria Visitor Information Centre is housed in the Town Hall at Swanston Walk, corner of Little Collins Street (Mon–Fri 8.30am–5.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am–5pm; tel 03/9658 9955 or free tel 1800/637 763. Transport, tour and accommodation telephone booking service with AUSRES (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 9am–5pm; tel 03/9650 1522). There are free pamphlets galore, including six colour-coded Heritage Walk brochures describing self-guided walking tours in the city and surrounding areas. The Another View brochure gives a glimpse of Melbourne’s pre-European history through seventeen sites on a walking trail explained from a Koorie perspective. Next to the information centre is the City Experience Centre (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 9am–5pm), which has up-to-date information on Melbourne, in particular on events and activities around town, provided by helpful staff, or from videos, touch-screens and permanent displays. Of special interest is the centre’s free Greeter Service, whereby visitors are matched up with local volunteers according to language and interests. This gives you an unparalleled insider’s viewpoint, for which you need to book at least three days in advance (tel 03/9658 9955, fax 9654 6168; greeter@melbourne.vic.gov.au). Information Victoria, at 318 Little Bourke St (Mon–Fri 8.30am–5.30pm; tel 03/9651 4100 or tel 1300/366 356), has free maps and brochures, as well as a notice board of city events, and a shop selling the city’s largest range of local maps.

Around the city are the three volunteer-staffed Visitor Information Booths, at Bourke Street Mall (Mon–Thurs 9am–5pm, Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 11am–4pm), Flinders Street Station (same opening times except Fri until 6pm), and at the Queen Victoria Market (Tues & Thurs 9am–2pm, Fri 9am–4pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 11am–4pm). An interactive touch-screen terminal, where you can look up anything from a cab phone number to a Chinese restaurant, is located on Collins Street outside the Sportsgirl Centre (between Swanston and Elizabeth streets).

Alternative sources of information include the NRE Information Centre, 8 Nicholson St, East Melbourne, run by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (Mon–Fri 8.30am–5.30pm; tel 03/9637 8080); and Parks Victoria (telephone information service only on tel 13 1963); both dispense information about national parks and conservation areas in Victoria; and the National Trust office, Tasma Terrace, 6 Parliament Place (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm; tel 03/9654 4711), which sells several historical walking-tour guides. Melway, available from all newsagents, is the best street directory. The Friday edition of The Age contains an excellent pull-out listings section, EG, detailing the week’s entertainment as well as fairs and markets, art and craft exhibitions, sport, and other events in and around town.

Climate
Melbourne enjoys a temperate climate of mild temperatures with four distinct seasons free of extremes. Summer temperatures often reach the 30oC mark, while winter averages 15oC.

For more general information on Melbourne, go to:

For more regional information on Melbourne, go to:

Maps
wpe17F.jpg (271994 bytes) Victoria

wpe7B.jpg (204221 bytes) Melbourne, Geelong and Mornington Peninsula

wpe7D.jpg (210147 bytes) Central and North Melbourne (incl. Airport)

wpe7F.jpg (235692 bytes) Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne