Melbourne

Melbourne is the state capital of Victoria, that state in the south east corner of Australia opposite Tasmania. It has around 3.7 million apparently extremely satisfied residents - Melbourne having already twice been voted The World's Most Liveable City in recent years.

A little history. The name came from the British Prime Minister William Lamb, who was also Viscount Melbourne. The Europeans first came here in 1835, and when gold was discovered in Victoria in the 1850s the inevitable gold rush saw the city boom as a port and supply centre. In 30 years it had actually become the second largest city in the British Empire and even today it has more surviving Victorian architecture than any other city apart from London. It enjoyed a brief spell as national capital at the turn of the last century before losing the honour to . . . Canberra.

Anyway, enough history. You want to know what you can do here, right? Fine. Well for starters there's sport. Australia is well known for being a country which takes its sport very seriously and does it extremely well - much to the annoyance of most Brits that you speak to. Melbourne is rightly termed the sports capital of Australia. Australian Rules Football started here, you know, that mix of football, rugby and wrestling played on an oval pitch with an oval ball. The championship final is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest stadium here with a capacity of 120,000. In fact, believe it or not, there are 29 stadiums here that can hold 10,000 or more people.

A number of international events take place here. The Australian Open tennis tournament, cricket test matches - you know, English baseball with matches that go on for five days and often end in a draw, The Motorcycle Grand Prix is at nearby Phillip Island, the Melbourne Cup horse race, and many others.

If you don't like sport, no worries. Go and visit the two tallest towers - Rialto Towers and Eureka Tower. The former was the tallest until June 2006, at a height of 251 metres. But then Eureka came along and at 46 metres taller took the crown as the tallest skyscraper in the southern hemisphere. Both of them have observation decks which give you a memorable view.

After that head off to one of the many arts centres and concert halls for a cultural experience, before making a beeline for Crown Casino, Melbourne's answer to Las Vegas. It's a casino but with restaurants, shops and nightclubs with cabaret shows. If Sinatra were still alive you could bet your bottom dollar that he'd be here doing his stuff.

Docklands is the recently renovated waterfront at the Central Business District and is a nice place to pass a few hours shopping, eating and generally relaxing. In the evening there's plenty to do as the city has a huge number of bars and nightclubs. Who knows, you may even bump into a famous Melburnian such as Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, actress Cate Blanchett, actors Geoffrey Rush and Guy Pearce, or a whole host of musicians including the Minogue sisters Kylie and Danii, Nick Cave, ACDC, or even Olivia Newton John.