Melbouren is a two hour flight to the Sovereign Islands

Melbourne

Sovereign Islands Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.7 million (2006 estimate), and is a 2 hour flight from Brisbane.

Melbourne is home to Australia's three largest corporations, Telstra, BHP Billiton and the National Australia Bank. It is also home to the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the majority of companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Melbourne, often referred to as the sporting capital of Australia, hosts many major Australian sporting events including: the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival (including the 'race that stops the nation', the Melbourne Cup), the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the AFL Grand Final. Melbourne hosted the first Olympic Games in the southern hemisphere in 1956, as well as the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

In February 2006 a AUD$1 billion project was announced to build a 5000 seat international Convention Centre, Hilton Hotel and commercial precinct adjacent to the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre with construction to commence in May 2006 and complete in February 2009. This will provide a final linkage of development along the Yarra River, linking the Crown Casino to the multi-billion dollar Docklands redevelopment.

Today Melbourne is one of the world's most diverse and multicultural cities. Almost a quarter of Victoria's population was born overseas and come from 233 countries, speak over 180 languages and dialects and follow 116 religious faiths. As the capital city, Melbourne has over time become a large urban centre and the home to around 80% of the state's population.

Melbourne is seen as an international educational hub, with many students from Asia and the subcontinent choosing to study at one of the city's many high schools and universities. Melbourne's two largest and most prestigious tertiary institutions are the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Both are members of the Group of Eight. Melbourne University is the highest ranked institution in Australia.

The city has hosted several major international sporting events. Annually, Melbourne hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments; the famous Melbourne Cup horse race; the 'Boxing Day' cricket test match held each year from 26 December30 December at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Since the 1956 Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne, the city has hosted numerous sporting events which rotate host cities. Melbourne co-hosted the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, including many pool matches as well as a quarter final all of which were played at the Telstra Dome; hosted the 2002 World Masters Games; broke new ground as the first city outside the United States to host the World Police and Fire Games in 1995, and the Presidents Cup golf tournament in 1999; and was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the World Polo Championship in 2001. The city has hosted FIFA World Cup qualifiers in both 1997 and 2001. Most recently, the 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne. Seventy-one Commonwealth nations competed in the Games.

Melbourne has been the setting for many novels, television dramas, and films. Fergus Hume's international best-seller Mystery of a Hansom Cab, which outsold the Sherlock Holmes stories at the time, was set in Melbourne of the Gold Rush era. Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory tells the story of Melbourne businessman John West (based on the real-life John Wren) and is set in a thinly-disguised Collingwood, a Melbourne working-class suburb. Perhaps the best-known novel internationally is Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach. In 1959, it was made into a film directed by Stanley Kramer, and starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Anthony Perkins. The film depicted the denizens of Melbourne quietly slipping off into eternity as the last victims of a global nuclear holocaust. Filmed on location in and around Melbourne (a great novelty for Melbourne at the time), it is perhaps best remembered for a comment Ava Gardner never made, describing Melbourne as 'the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world', commenting on the dreary conservatism of Melbourne in the late 1950s. The purported quote was invented by journalist Neil Jillett. Similar filming was undertaken when a 2000 television movie remake was produced.

Melbourne has twice shared top position in a survey by The Economist of The World's Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions such as crime rates and health care, once in 2002,[9] and again in 2004. The US's Utne Reader puts it thus: "Add a long tradition of civic pride, communities of new immigrants from around the world, and the best food in Australia, and you have a recipe for what many claim is the hippest city in the Southern Hemisphere" (Nov/Dec 2001).

Melbourne has four significant airports. Melbourne International Airport located at Tullamarine is the city's main international and domestic (Virgin Blue and Qantas) gateway. Avalon Airport, located between Melbourne and Geelong, is the main hub of Jetstar, a low cost airline owned by Qantas, and is also used as a freight and maintenance facility. Moorabbin Airport is a significant general aviation airport in the city's south east. Essendon Airport, which was once the city's main airport before the construction of Tullamarine, handles general aviation and some cargo flights, and is the base of the Victoria Police air wing and air ambulance.