Melbourne

Melbourne has a very large metropolitan area, but most sights of interest are within the city centre and the rest can for most part be reached within about 20 min from the centre on the train or tram. Melbourne's city centre is laid out in an orderly grid system, similar to the grid system of Manhattan, meaning that navigating the city centre is easy. Public Transport Victoria's Journey Planner (http://ptv.vic.gov.au/) can suggest the best way to get from point A to point B, with schedules, maps and connections. Melbourne has a reputation for a well-planned road system.

By taxi

Yellow Melbourne taxis are ubiquitous in the centre but less often spotted in the suburbs. The largest companies are Black Cabs (http://www.yellowcabs.com.au/) ☎ 13-CABS/132227 and Silver Top (http://www.silvertop.com.au/) ☎ 131008, both of which — despite the names — are also yellow in color. Fares are standardized so that the meter starts ticking at $3.20 and clocks up $1.617/km, meaning that short hops within the centre can go for under $10 but longer hauls get pretty expensive pretty fast. Midnight-5AM is 20% more, booking by phone or taking a taxi from the airport costs $2 extra and sitting in traffic is $0.56/min. Between 10PM and 5AM, taxi fares are prepaid: you pay an estimated sum to the driver in advance and the fare is corrected on arrival.

Some taxi companies do not provide a lost property service. Lost items by law must be forwarded to the police if they are not claimed. Melbourne's taxi network is fairly safe, although waiting for a taxi at a rank can sometimes become violent due to the lack of taxi's compared to demand particularly outside Flinders Street, but there is a police box next to the rank which generally operates at night.

By car

The major car rental chains are well-represented and include Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz & Thrifty. Independent car rental companies are also plentiful and can offer good value for money. If you are looking to cover a long distance by car, ensure your rental policy includes unlimited mileage - most economy to standard sized car rental include this already.

There are a handful of intersections in the city centre where you must do a Hook turn to turn right due to tram tracks running down the centre of the road. Follow the signs, pull to the left of the intersection if you are turning right, as far forward as possible, and when the light for the street you are turning into turns green the traffic on the street you are on stops make the turn.

Check out CityLink's (http://www.citylink.com.au/) site for details of Melbourne's T-shaped tollway which links the Westgate, Tullamarine and Monash formerly South-Eastern freeways. It is a fully electronic road with no manual tollgates. You can buy a day pass in advance, or within 3 days of having driven down it, giving your registration and car details. You can do this by phone, Internet, or at some Shell petrol stations. The registered owner of the car will get a fine in the mail if you do not buy a pass within 3 days. The tolled sections are indicated with blue and yellow signs, rather than the standard green and white. CityLink can cut a worthwhile amount of time from your journey, especially if you are driving from, say, the south-eastern suburbs to Melbourne Airport. Motorcycles are free, cars are around $11/day. Larger vehicles are more.

The EastLink tollway has recently been completed. Formerly called the Scoresby, then the Mitcham-Frankston freeway, it links the Eastern, Monash, Frankston and Mornington Peninsula freeways. Like the CityLink, it is a fully electronic road with no toll gates. If you have a tag or account, tolls range from 28c for short trips on some segments, to a toll cap of $5.15. Weekends are 20% off, and motorcycles are half price. If you don't have a tag or account, passes are available for the cost of the trip cap e.g. travelling one way will cost you $5.15 in a car. Passes are available online at (http://www.breeze.com.au/) and can be purchased before or up to 3 days after the trip.

Tags from other Australian cities work on CityLink and the EastLink tollway, but passes do not.

One option for travel on both CityLink and EastLink is the Melbourne Pass. It costs $5.50 to start up an account, and tolls are debited from your credit card automatically once the accumulated tolls and fees reach $10, or when the pass expires after 30 days, but can be extended once for another 30 days. No tag is required. The pass can be purchased online at (https://www.roamexpress.c...)

In the centre, parking at meters and ticket machines can be as much as $3.50 per hour.

Motorcycles and scooters are well catered for as footpath parking is both free and legal providing the footpath is not obstructed. Scooters are becoming very common, however for all size scooters a motorcycle license must be held.