Melbourne is the capital of Victoria is Australia's financial and commercial heart. It is also Australia's most "European" city, a 20th-century metropolis with an abundance of 19th century charm. 

Melbourne has long enjoyed a reputation as the seat of Australia's Establishment, were background and connections still have their relevance in its corridors of power. In the Queen City of the South, stockbrokers, lawyers, bankers and company directors are more often than not the product of the city's elite grammar schools and colleges. Think of old clock towers and quadrangles, school blazers, playing fields and cricket pitches –the legacy of the great schools of England –and you're beginning to get the picture.

Melbourne has always been Australia's capital of genteel, refined, European tastes. One has always come here for fashion and theatre, art galleries, restaurants and shops; Melbourne has wide, leafy streets, public gardens and gorgeous fountains, and is crowded with Victorian architectural gems erected when gold was the cornerstone of its prosperity.

Melbourne nestles comfortably on the banks of the Yarra River –a rather unimpressive sight, and the butt of money a cruel joke. Still, it is spanned by ornate bridges, and one can watch the precisely coordinated movements of the rowing eights that train in the shadow of the skyscrapers.