Be a sport - visit Melbourne
With the 2006 Commonwealth Games about to get under way, Melbourne is very much in the spotlight. But, as Rachel Pelham discovers, there's much more in the city than sport this year...
On March 15, the Queen's Baton will arrive at the famous Melbourne Cricket ground to signal the start of a sporting extravaganza - the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The Australians know they have a lot to live up to after the universal acclaim for Manchester's efforts four years ago. But Melbourne is a city that always rises to the big occasion.
It's had plenty of practice. Every year Melbourne plays host to great sporting events; the Australian Open tennis in January, the Australian Grand Prix in March; and the world-famous Melbourne Cup horse race in November.
And no matter which touring cricket team is suffering at the hands of Shane Warne and Co, Melbourne always hosts the prestigious Boxing Day Test Match.
The Commonwealth Games was on everyone's lips during my recent visit to the city but I found that Melbourne has a great deal to offer even if you're not obsessed by sport. And this year the city is more attractive than ever.
My last visit was some three years ago and it's amazing how much has changed in such a short time.
Melbourne's famed night life is a perfect example. Opened in late 2002, the futuristic-looking Federation Square - a fusion of art galleries, entertainment, restaurants and bars opposite the city's main Flinders Street railway station - has become the place to meet for Melburnians.
My evening started in the new, ultra-chic Lower House bar before an excellent contemporary Japanese meal at the award-winning Taxi Dining Room, where great views of the city complemented the cuisine.
"Fed Square" can't rest on its laurels, though. Melbourne's regenerated Docklands, just west of the city centre, are coming up fast with top-class shopping, entertainment and restaurants of their own. And getting to them is an attraction in itself via the Yarra River Shuttle service or by water taxi, which showcases many of the city's popular attractions from the water.
The Yarra has always been Melbourne's beating heart. Along its banks you can find Las Vegas-style glitz at the Crown Casino, the city's acclaimed aquarium (dive with the sharks if you dare) and the upmarket boutiques and restaurants of Southbank, as well as Federation Square.
Later this year, the river will be home to a new star turn - the Eureka Tower.
Rising 300 metres, with 88 storeys, the tower will be Australia's tallest building and another architectural icon for Melbourne. Although primarily a residential development, visitors will be able to enjoy the views from a seven-storey summit complex with its own observation deck.
Star quality of a more human kind is also on the agenda in the coming months and nowhere more so than at the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne's central business district.
Australia's only remaining grand Victorian hotel, the Windsor, regularly welcomes some of the world's hottest celebrities - Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep are recent guests.
In a few short months, the Windsor will be home to a permanent new resident, Jamie Oliver's latest Fifteen Restaurant, in Australia for the first time. The concept has proved a big hit in London, Cornwall and Amsterdam, combining fine dining - sorry, pukka tucker - with a culinary training school for disadvantaged youngsters.
Jamie's new kitchen will have some stiff competition, with more than 3,500 restaurants already doing business in the city. But if there's one thing Melburnians like almost as much as sport, it's dining out.
They like secrets, too. So much so that some of Melbourne' coolest bars and lounges are elusive under-ground haunts hidden in the city's network of laneways (that's narrow side street to you and me).
To find them you need expert guidance and that's why I took a "Bar Secrets" walking tour, another new innovation in this forward-thinking city. Joining a handful of other lost but eager souls - numbers are limited to 12 - I explored the laneways in the company of tour guide and local girl about town Michelle Matthews.
It was an education. We headed down alleys you'd think twice about going down in London unless heavily armed, through dodgy-looking doorways . . . and emerged in some of the most unusual bars and lounges I've ever visited.
My personal favourite, Double Happiness, certainly lived up to its name - intriguing Chinese influences and the spectacular cocktails certainly made my night.
Melbourne's great shopping was a definite highlight of my last visit, with the city seemingly divided into convenient shopping precincts - Little Collins Street for shoes, Chapel Street for contemporary fashion, Brunswick Street for alternative street-wear.
But even Melbourne's retail therapy options have been transformed with two stylish recent additions. QV offers the full High Street experience in very funky surroundings, while GPO Melbourne is located in a 134-year-old heritage listed building that was once home to the city's main post office.
Melbourne has never disappointed me, and I'm sure the thousands of international tourists heading for the Commonwealth Games will love it too.
But even if you miss the Games, 2006 is still a great year to visit this exceptional, cosmopolitan city.
