About the Grand Hyatt Melbourne

Hotel Grant Hyatt Melbourne is the conference venue for 2006. You can book a room at Grand Hyatt Melbourne for a discounted rate by using one of these forms (PDF version, MS Word version).

The Grand Hyatt Melbourne is located at 123 Collins Street, near the corner of Russell Street, inside the Melbourne Central Business District (CBD).

Grant Hyatt website is http://www.melbourne.grand.hyatt.com. The phone number is +61 3 9657 1234 (please dial only the last 8 digits from Melbourne).

Traveling to & from Melbourne Airport

Melbourne Airport is located approximately 25 kms from the Melbourne's CBD (using the freeways) and less than 25 minutes by car. Multiple international car rental companies operate from the airport. (Driving is from the left of the road in Australia.)

Airport Taxis

Taxis are available from the ground floor level of Melbourne Airport, outside the International Terminal and both of the domestic Terminals. Expect to pay around A$35 to A$40 in total for the 25-minute trip into the Melbourne CBD.

(A A$2.00 taxi parking fee applies at Melbourne Airport. This A$2.00 per vehicle fee only applies to passengers leaving Melbourne Airport from a taxi rank. A A$3.00 per vehicle pre-booked taxi fee also applies for passengers catching a limousine or taxi from the Premium Parking area opposite Terminal 2-T2. Taxis will also charge small additional fees for using the tollways to the CBD.)

Skybus

Skybus offers a shuttle bus service from the airport to Melbourne CBD and city hotels. This service operates 24 hours, 7 days. Buses run every 10-15 minutes throughout the day and every 30-60 minutes at night.

The Skybus Super Shuttle operates from two locations at Melbourne Airport, right outside terminals:

• Terminal 1-T1, serving Qantas Domestic and Jetstar Domestic,
• Terminal 3-T3, serving VirginBlue, Rex, Ozjet and Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar International and all other international airlines.

It arrives at Southern Cross Train Station inside the Melbourne CBD. Adult one way tickets cost $15 (or $24 return).

Using the Skybus Hotel transfer service

From Melbourne Airport, take the Skybus Super Shuttle to the Melbourne city terminal at Southern Cross Station (in Spencer Street). You can then transfer onto a Skybus Hotel Shuttle mini-bus, which delivers you to your hotel or motel. No booking is required and the mini-buses are available during operating hours: from the city 06:00-22:00 Monday to Friday and 07:30-18:30 Saturday and Sunday.

Departing Melbourne

Reservations or bookings are not required for Skybus Super Shuttle. However, if you are departing Melbourne and want to be picked up at your hotel or motel in central Melbourne, you will need to book Skybus Hotel Shuttle. Book your hotel connection pick-up by calling 9600 1711 or contact your concierge to make the booking. It is recommended that you book your pick-up the day before departure.

The Skybus Hotel Shuttle will take you from your hotel to Southern Cross Station (in Spencer Street), where you will board a Skybus Super Shuttle express service to the airport.

Skybus will use its best endeavours to provide transfers to all passengers at the nominated time, but reserves the right to offer alternative pick up time or decline transport due to capacity and/or operational requirements. So please leave enough time for departures.

The CBD has taxis working 24 hours, 7 days. It is a choice, i.e., if you cannot make it to the times when the mini-bus is working.

For more information, Skybus can be contacted on 9335 2811. This information has been provided courtesy of www.Skybus.com.au and www.melbourneairport.com.au

Getting around Melbourne

For travel within the city, please use the trams that run regularly up and down Collins Street. Payment options are available inside the trams. Trams run regularly up and down the main streets, stopping regularly as they head towards the inner suburbs from outer suburbs. For longer distances, you can use the nearest train/railway station to the conference hotel, the Parliament Station:

Tickets for the trams can be purchased on board and tickets for the train should be purchased at the train stations before boarding the train. The trams and trains run on the same system and a two hour ticket is $3.10. It can be used as many times as you want on trains and trams in the two hour period. An all day ticket costs $6.10. Other longer term tickets are available from Metcard Dealers (e.g., local Seven-Eleven stores).

Trains run underground in a loop around the city (known as the “City Loop”). The main train station for suburban trains is Flinders Street. Trains to the country run from Southern Cross station (formerly Spencer Street).

For more information of public transport, please check: http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/

Melbourne train & tram map: http://www.railpage.org.au/railmaps/melbourn.htm

Driving around the Melbourne CBD is possible and parking is available throughout the City. However, parking can cost up to $28 per day, but it is possible to receive an “early bird” discounted rate before 10 am at some car parks. Due to the tram system please take care when turning onto streets with tram tracks since a right turn is executed from the left most lane – called a “hook turn”. If you are already contending with driving on the left hand side of the road, this may prove a further challenge! Trams have the right of way on the streets and when lights are flashing on a tram this means cars are not to pull up beside the tram as passengers are about to get off.

Some mapping sites for directions around Melbourne are as follows:

http://www.multimap.com/wi/949.htm

http://www.street-directory.com.au/melbourne/

Tourist Information Centre

The Tourist Information Centre is located at Federation Square, opposite Flinders Street Station near the Yarra River. An information brochure on Melbourne and a map of the Melbourne CBD will be included in the Conference Satchel. The Melbourne CBD is set out on a grid and is easy to navigate on foot or with a tram.

Melbourne City Tourist Information Centre link is as follows:

http://www.totaltravel.com.au/travel/vic/melbournearea/innermelbourne/directory/touristinfo

Here is a list of sites and pictures in and around Melbourne.