Don’t be deterred by the annoying accent. Australia’s a pretty loveable place if you disregard the whining nasal Aussie drawl. And it’s not all about kangaroos, crocs, cork hats and Vegemite. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that Australia’s second city is a cosmopolitan, cultivated haven for the avant-garde. Really!

With a non-stop agenda of film and food festivals, post-modern architecture, exhibitions and extravaganzas, it’s hardly surprising Melbourne’s the cultural capital of Australia.

Much unlike its arch rival (a more money-orientated) Sydney, Melbourne is a style-setting megalopolises of healthy hedonism and high art. Syders certainly outnumbers its fellow municipally in quantity, but it’s no match for the quality that is to be found in Melbourne.

From the high-octane excitement of the Australian Grand Prix to the Melbourne International Comedy, Fringe, and Arts Festivals, and the three-week-long gay and lesbian Midsummer Festival, Melbourne is one of the world’s most livable cities.

In the last 10 years Melbourne has undergone something of a renaissance, and nowhere more so than urban playground St Kilda. Once a seaside resort for its genteel inhabitants, the suburb fell out of favour in the ‘70s, taking on a seedier edge as the red-light district of the city.

Today the foreshore has been transformed into a spruced-up site for swanky waterside socialising. An eclectic mix of hip boutiques, continental cake shops, restaurants, and bars are concentrated in vibrant Fitzroy and Acland Streets, watched over by the famous fairground face of Luna Park.

Downtown Federation Square opened in October 2002, and its development was one of the most complex and ambitious construction projects ever undertaken in Australia. Standing in the heart of central Melbourne and linking the city centre with the great Yarra River, Federation Square fuses art and hospitality embraced by 21st century cutting edge architecture.

The Square's expensively expansive desert-toned plaza affords commanding views of the riverside and cityscape, where new perspectives of the city can be seen through the gallery’s glass matrix.

Across the square you’ll find the first exhibit of its kind in the world: the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, dedicated to the motion picture in all its forms – from early cinema to the latest digital media. This state-of-the-art facility houses two multi-format cinemas and the world’s largest dedicated subterranean screen gallery across four levels.

Hop on to one of the classic green-and-yellow trams and you’ll experience a different vibe altogether. North of the CBD (Central Business District) is Fitzroy, once the working-class heart of Melbourne and now a magnet for shoppers, drinkers, and café dwellers.

Here you’ll find a myriad of traditional eating houses, hip bars, and alternative coffee shops lining the alleys and Victorian-era arcades off the main streets of Brunswick and Smith. Laneways are filled with art galleries, design outlets, and fashion boutiques showcasing the innovation and skill of Melbourne-based artists and designers, whether you’re searching for haute couture or vintage.

Perhaps the most magnificent of its kind in the world, Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens are one of the highlights of the city. Elegant expanses of lush lawn slope towards ornamental lakes graced by elegant black swans and waterfowl. Massive trees cast boughs of shade over hidden sculptures and regular al fresco theatre productions on 38 hectares of manicured garden beds.

Something of an institution, uptown Victoria Market has served everything from imported gourmet food to exotic Australian fruit to locals for 120 years. One thousand stalls are spread out over seven hectares to create the largest open-air market in the southern hemisphere. This bargain-hunter’s delight has a vibrant atmosphere of shoppers, buskers, and sellers permeated by the aroma of fresh fruit and veg.

For the youngest city of its size in the world Melbourne more than holds its own when it comes to wining and dining. A melting pot of cultures and a microcosmos of restaurants, cafes, bistros, and bars offer a smorgasbord of the world’s cuisines. Thanks to long established Chinese, Italian and Greek communities you can splendour in the atmospherically decorated Little Bourke Street at the spine of the Chinatown precinct, go Italian on Lygon Street, or enjoy The Antipodes Festival in March which hosts the world’s largest Greek Festival.

If the chardonnay-swigging chaotic café culture is all too much to bear, venture outside the high-rise jungle to the regional areas of Victoria State. The area proffers dramatic coastal vistas, outback wilderness, vineyards, rugged peaks, and wildlife. The Great Ocean Road has some of the best surf in the world, bettering the breaks of any of Sydney’s ninety or so beaches. And when you’re out riding the waves there’s not an Aussie accent to be heard.

By Abbey Stirling/MOLI