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Melbourne boasts great events, a passion for food and wine and a fabulous arts scene. Known as a style-setter, Melbourne is home to a non-stop program of festivals, renowned dining, major art exhibitions and musical extravaganzas. Discover alleys leading to opulent bars, exclusive restaurants hiding behind non-descript doors and boutiques in Melbourne's hidden laneways. Come equipped with a giddy sense of adventure - you'll need it if you're to get anywhere near the heart of the labyrinth. After all, it's easy to lose yourself in Melbourne.
Population: 3.2 million
Climate: your guess is as good as ours, be prepared for anything
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| AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND 2 NIGHT PACKAGE |
| AUSTRALIA V ENGLAND SPRING CARNIVAL PACKAGE |
| Visit Philip Island at dusk. This nature reserve offers plenty to entertain the visitors, but the highlight is the nightly parade of penguins - who return ashore and head for their sand dune homes at sunset after spending the day fishing. Think of it as the penguin equivalent of the commute home! How many penguins you get to see depends on the time of year - expect anything from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand! |
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| Take a trip to St Kilda. This beachside district is an oasis of calm in the middle of the city, as well as playing host to some of the trendiest bars and nightclubs in town. |
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| Grab a bargain in the department stores. Central Melbourne is a shopper's paradise, and with two huge, superb department stores - Myer and David Jones - located just a stone's throw from each other, you're sure to find something you like - and pick up a few presents for the folks back home while you're at it. |
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| Go to Melbourne Zoo. This massive zoo boasts over 350 species of animal, many of which are indigenous to the Southern Hemisphere. Expect to see creatures that you've never seen in zoos on this side of the world, including different types of wombats, koalas and kangaroos, as well as platypus and quokka (a type of wallaby). There are also lots of exotic birds, reptiles and insects. |
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| Browse around Queen Victoria Market. A Melbourne institution, this huge market sells everything from bargain basement clothing and accessories to fresh produce. The pets section is fun to browse around too (although actually buying one is ill-advised as you can't bring them back to your home country). |
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Melbourne is preoccupied with eating food and drinking coffee. That's hardly surprising as it is one of the great cities of the world when it comes to eating out. In terms of culinary delights, this is the capital of Australia. Here you have literally thousands of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops to choose from, and, what's more, most of them are probably ethnic.
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LYGON ST, CARLTON FOR ITALIAN
Lygon Street has the biggest selection of Italian restaurants and cafes of anywhere in Australia, and was the first suburb in Melbourne to promote eating outdoors and tables and chairs on footpaths. Lygon Street is a great place to spend a warm summer's evening with a group of friends, especially if you're sitting in the garden cafe of one of the terraces that line the street.
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BRUNSWICK ST FITZROY AND ACLAND ST ST KILDA FOR BOHEMIAN
Brunswick Street is art with a capital A; the people who live here ooze art. It's the best selection of small, unpretentious cafes serving tasty food of any food precinct in Melbourne. It's organic vegetable shops and flowers on the footpath, alternative bookshops and Nepalese wares. Above all, it's the people walking past on the footpaths - rich, colourful and interesting. You could spend a lifetime in Brunswick Street and not once be bored.
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CHAPEL ST SOUITH YARRA FOR MODERN CUISINE
Chapel Street is perhaps Melbourne's most vibrant fashion and food strip. It has always been upmarket but today it is especially appealing to upwardly mobile young folk with money to burn. Here, designer labels go hand in hand with fancy bistros. The street gets crowed on weekends as cafes compete with boutiques for passing trade.
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| VICTORIA ST ABBOTSFORD FOR VIETNAMESE |
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SOUTHBANK FOR MODERN
Southbank is the area that stretches along the southern bank of the Yarra River. It starts the moment you cross Princes Bridge, turn left and walk down the steps to the river. Southbank was once an old and neglected area, mostly industrial, which has recently been rejuvenated as the heartbeat of the central city area. This has been done by using the Yarra River as a central feature and by introducing entertainment facilities along the river bank. The main focalpoint is the Southgate Arts & Leisure Precinct, which is Melbourne's main entertainment precinct and which has upmarket shops and restaurants, trendy cafes, food courts and a five-star hotel. This area also is the home of the Arts Centre and its theatres, as well as the Hamer Hall (previously Melbourne Concert Hall). At Southgate, a huge emphasis is placed on outdoor eating and sidewalk entertainment. A market is held along the footways at the eastern end of the river bank on Sunday mornings. |
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| CHINATOWN CITY FOR CHINESE |
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