melbourne general info

Melbourne is Australia's second largest city with a population of about 3.5 million people. It is probably best known for its trams, parks, bayside beaches and the Westgate Bridge!

Getting Around

Melbourne is well served by public transport. There is an extensive tram netwok serving the city, inner suburbs and some outer areas, a suburban train network and inner-city underground, and government and private bus services cover most areas. Tram, train and government bus fares are based on sections travelled and are relatively cheap, particularly if you can take advantage of day and weekly tickets. Many services are now air-conditioned. For information on public transport contact The Met - their website includes fares, routes, ticketing and general info on Melbourne.

Taxis are also readily available and use a meter to calculate the fare.

Things to Do

Millions of pages of guides, both printed and online, cover the major tourist attractions in and around Melbourne. There does not seem to be much point trying to duplicate all this information, but links to some of the online guides are:

	City of Melbourne - the official city website, has the latest what's on and what to do in the city.
	Citysearch (Melbourne) - what's on and what to do in Melbourne, including gay events, part of the Melbourne Age newspaper website.
	Lonely Planet (Melbourne) - general information on the city and surrounds
	Melbourne Sidewalk - a great guide to everything going on in Melbourne, including lots of gay scene info, part of the NineMSN site.
	Midsumma - official web site for Melbourne's premier gay and lesbian festival.

If telephoning or faxing, the country code for Australia is 61 and the area code for Melbourne and VIC is 3 (03 if calling from within Australia but outside of NSW). Numbers starting with (1800) are free calls, (04XX) and (015) are mobile phone numbers, and other numbers, eg (0055) and (1900), are usually pay per minute calls.

Melbourne Gay Guide:
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