Victoria

VICTORIA - YOU'LL LOVE EVERY PIECE

With its lush countryside and cities and towns reminiscent of Europe, the state of Victoria offers visitors tremendously varied scenic, cultural and dining-out experiences.

Victoria provides dramatic contrasts in a compact area. The state is slightly smaller than the United Kingdom and all destinations within it are no more than a day's drive from Melbourne, the capital.

Melbourne is known for arts and culture, entertainment, food and wine, sporting spectaculars, shopping and business. Outside Melbourne, alpine areas covered in snow during winter lie within hours of desert plains, pristine beaches, windswept coastlines and rugged rock formations.

MELBOURNE STYLE

With splendid parks and gardens, Melbourne stands on the banks of the Yarra River and the shores of Port Phillip Bay. The city is Australia's second-largest and home to about 3.2 million people. Its inhabitants enjoy the world's most liveable metropolis, according to a survey of 100 capital cities conducted over two years by the Washington-based organisation Population Action International. More than any other Australian city,

Melbourne evokes comparisons with Europe in architecture, climate and style.

Some 170 languages are spoken in this multicultural city and the diversity of restaurants is second to none. More than 4,000 restaurants, cafes and bistros feature more than 70 styles of cuisine. Melbournians love to eat out. The city's European feel is particularly notable in the evening, when people are out promenading, eating, strolling and chatting.

Melbourne suburbs are conveniently linked by tram, a form of transport so convenient you'll wonder why other cities did away with them.

Melbourne is Australia's major events capital - home to such international sporting events as the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the Melbourne Cup.

MELBOURNE'S STREETS

Among Melbourne's many fascinations, several streets and suburbs are particularly worth mentioning. Toorak Road and Chapel Street, South Yarra, offer the city's best shopping, dining, strolling and people-watching. Check Toorak Road for established fashion names; Chapel Street for trendy young designers. There are shoe boutiques, gourmet food shops and a huge range of restaurants and bistros.

The beachfront suburb of St Kilda is best known for its cake shops and modern bistros, bars and cafes. It has two distinct faces: the 24-hour nightlife of Fitzroy Street and the cafes and delicatessens of Acland Street. St Kilda's landmark is Luna Park with its laughing face and roller-coaster rides. There is also an historic pier with a cafe at the end and fabulous local art & craft markets along the esplanade each weekend.

Lygon Street, Carlton, is Melbourne's slice of Italy, with pasta restaurants galore. Dotted among them are quality fashion boutiques, wine bars, cheese shops and delicatessens.

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, reflects the bohemian side of Melbourne. Lively Fitzroy is home to many vibrant subcultures. Exotic restaurants and cafes, Spanish bars, comedy and live-band venues buzz with activity day and night. Fitzroy's streets are crammed with alternative lifestyle shops, second-hand clothing and furniture, plus gifts made by the many artists and artisans who call this suburb home.

SHOPPING AND SPORTS

Locals boast, "If you can't buy it in Melbourne, you can't buy it!" As a shopping hub, Melbourne offers a wide mix of styles and stores, ranging from major department stores, high-fashion boutiques, sophisticated speciality stores and gracious, historic arcades to open-air markets featuring handmade jewellery and craft and factory outlets offering bargains. Melbourne has something for every budget.

Victorians are passionate about sport. It is not just a recreational pleasure, but a way of life. No matter what the season, there is a sporting event in Victoria to capture the hearts and minds of fans.

The sporting year begins with the Australian Open tennis tournament in the January heat. The world's best players serve it up at Melbourne Park in the heart of the city. Across the road is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) built for the 1956 Olympic Games. In summer, its hallowed turf is home to test cricket and exciting one-day matches.

As summer gives way to autumn in March, the roar of finely tuned engines can be heard across the city as the world's best race for the chequered flag takes place at up to 300 kilometres an hour. Melbourne has the honour of hosting the first round on the Formula 1 calendar.

Winter brings cooler conditions, but the action hots up for the football season. Australian Rules football, Aussie Rules or footy, call it what you like, but the game is intense and so are the fans. The climax comes in September when 100,000 people pack the MCG for the Grand Final.

Spring - and the horserace that stops a nation is run on the first Tuesday in November. The world-famous Melbourne Cup is the highlight of the Spring Racing Carnival. Other major events to watch out for in Melbourne include the 1998 President's Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Course and the combined Olympic Sailing Championships at Port Phillip Bay in 1999.

ENTERTAINMENT

Victoria has world-class cultural facilities. You can take in a top-ranking show in the lavishly restored Regent Theatre or the magnificent Victorian Arts Centre, enjoy top-class ballet, opera, jazz or the latest rock act. Art galleries dot the city and suburbs, sculptures decorate public spaces and the Museum of Victoria contains a superb collection of Aboriginal artefacts.

Melbourne hosts the International Comedy Festival in April, the International Film Festival in June and the Melbourne Festival in October, the latter being a high point on the Australian arts calendar. More than 3,000 international and local artists, writers, actors, singers and musicians celebrate the festival in more than 500 performances.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Melbourne is the gateway to the splendours of Victoria. In a day, you can visit the picturesque Bellarine or Mornington peninsulas with their beautiful ocean beaches on either side of Melbourne. The historic bayside villages of Portsea and Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula and Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula have long been popular playgrounds for Melburnians and all boast grand hotels and other stately buildings.

Within a few hours' drive of Melbourne, you can explore the Macedon Ranges, quaint spa country towns such as Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, the reconstructed goldmining village of Sovereign Hill at Ballarat, or the fairy penguins at Phillip Island.

The Yarra Valley wineries are little more than an hour away. Many boast exquisite settings with superb restaurants - and you can stop at art galleries along the route and detour to the hills of the Dandenongs, pausing for Devonshire tea at one of the many European-style tea houses.

For a spectacular overnight stay, travel down the Great Ocean Road - one of the world's most stunning coastlines. View the breathtaking Shipwreck Coast and 12 Apostles. Return via the magnificent Grampians, with spectacular rock formations and Aboriginal art sites.

THE HIGH COUNTRY

Victoria is also home to the breathtaking scenery of the High Country, with spectacular snowfields in the winter and mountains covered with wildflowers during spring. Central Victoria is dotted with former goldmining towns steeped with history. Further north is the mighty Murray River with its historic paddleboats.

Australia's accessible Outback - The Murray Outback - lies in the state's north-west, only an hour's flight away. There you can explore Mungo National Park, where human remains dating back 40,000-years have been found. Huge sand dunes, named The Walls of China, fringe lakes for 30 kilometres where now-extinct mammals once roamed.

To the east of the state, sample the gourmet food trail of southern Gippsland, the beautiful scenery of Wilson's Promontory, the solitude of Ninety Mile Beach and the splendid inland waterways at Lakes Entrance.

WINERIES AND BEYOND

Victoria has about 200 wineries. They range from small family operations to large corporations and from modern wineries with restaurants and accommodation to atmospheric old cellars. Winemakers welcome visitors.

To celebrate the best of Victorian food and wine, more than 30 regional festivals are held during the year at charming country wineries - many of which are close enough to Melbourne for a day trip.

Outside Melbourne, Victoria offers snowcapped mountains, desert plains, inland waterways and long white beaches - all within hours of each other. The state's road network is generally considered Australia's best, making coach excursions and self-drive trips commendable options. Tourism Victoria produces a range of free brochures outlining drive tours through the regions - all sensibly paced and packed with fascinations. Its latest publication, Victoria, highlights several touring routes through the state.

The Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley are located an hour's drive east of Melbourne. In the valley, wineries provide tastings, winery tours and, at certain times, talks on local wines. Establishments include Fergusson's, Domaine Chandon, St Hubert's and De Bortoli's. One of the best ways to traverse the Dandenong Ranges is on Puffing Billy, an old steam train that runs between the towns of Belgrave and Emerald.

Another Yarra Valley highlight is Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, 61 kilometres from Melbourne, which houses probably the largest collection of Australian wildlife in the country, with more than 200 species of native birds, mammals and reptiles.

MEET THE PENGUINS

Phillip Island, 137 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, is famed for its wildlife, particularly its dusk parade of fairy penguins. These cute little creatures waddle through the sand dunes up to their burrows night after night right on sunset, just as their ancestors have done for thousands of generations.

The Penguin Parade Visitor Centre has a simulated underwater display where you enter into the penguins' life at sea, followed by more sights and sounds of the penguins' lifestyle on the beach and sand dunes.

GOLD, WOOL AND SHIPWRECK

Victoria's Goldfields region is another attraction easily reached from Melbourne. It centres on the gold-rush towns of Bendigo and Ballarat; each built on the riches of local gold finds. Ballarat's Sovereign Hill is a faithfully recreated gold-rush town set on about 25 hectares. The town is historically accurate and as close to the real thing as you will encounter outside the 19th century.

A short drive from Melbourne along the Princes Highway past Port Phillip Bay brings the traveller to Geelong, Victoria's second city, a thriving commercial and industrial centre and major port, with more than 200 buildings classified as historically important. Geelong is home to the National Wool Museum.

From here, visitors can set out along the Great Ocean Road, one of the world's most dramatic and inspiring coastal drives. It takes in the lush Ottway rainforest, the windswept seascapes of the Shipwreck Coast, the extraordinary Twelve Apostles rock formations near Port Campbell and some of the finest grazing lands in Australia. In winter, southern right whales can be seen from a viewing platform on Logan's Beach, Warrnambool, as they migrate here to give birth. At Port Fairy, whitewashed cottages lining the wide streets look as they did when whalers and sealers lived in them more than a century ago.