I "Heart" Me!bourne

Oh yes i do! And i'm not afraid to admit it! Despite being a hongkie, a bit of a foodie and a complete shopaholic, i still rate Melby over HK any day. Few of you mite know that i'm fanatical of Melbourne's secluded alley ways and lanes full of obscure fashions and kooky cafes. And of course, there are our bars: be them upstairs, downstairs, around a dark corner or requiring a special glass elevator to transport you to the entrace - the theme is them same: seclusion. Perhaps this obsession with exclusivity is related to Victoria's gold rush past; that good things only come to those who.... dig?

Only true Melbournians are able to discover and enjoy the riches of Melbourne, and only true Melbournians are allowed. Perhaps at this point, we may seem a little snooty (i assure you we are not - once you discover us, we are a most hospitable city), and today i discovered a book full of little reasons to be 'proud' of our little city. Reading the introductory chapter of The Melbourne Book: A History of Now, author Maree Coote explains that Melbourne is one of the few international cities with such a short history (a mere 160 years which makes us basically a baby compared to Rome, London or Paris - or not even, maybe we are still the sperm!). And unlike Sydney, we were free from a convict history giving us a sense of moral superiority over them on which to build our fair city.

Melbourne was born over a period of less than one generation: from the money, people and trade which lingered on from the gold rush, the property boom in 1837s would be something which property developers of today can only dream of. Builty on a fury of hopes, opportunities and dreams, today Melboune surely is the most livable city in the world.