Even though Melbourne is full of hip dining, hotels, and other cosmopolitan amenities, some of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders are just an hour or two away.

restaurants and nightclubs, and a (very) high-end shopping promenade. After a relaxing lunch at Donovans, serving fresh, locally caught seafood right on St. Kilda Beach, we left to find our first surprise of the fam — in- stead of our motor coach, a pack of leather- vested bikers with sidecar-equipped Harleys were waiting for us. We spent the afternoon zipping through the

city, stopping for a few site visits, and returned to the Crowne Metropol for a quick indulgence at the hotel’s Isika Day Spa before dinner at Rockpool Bar & Grill, the centerpiece of the complex’s many dining offerings. The highly anticipated second day of the trip — which included an aerial tour of the Great Ocean Road and a stop to see the magnificent Twelve Apostles rock stacks — brought the destination’s eclectic bounty of offerings into focus. Even though Melbourne is a thumping metropolis full of hip dining, hotels, and other cosmopolitan amenities, some of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders are just an hour or two away, such as the penguins at Phillip Island and the rolling hills of Yarra Valley, where we spent days three and four.

Our third day began with a guided tour of Melbourne’s boutique- and café-filled alley- ways. Then from a city park helipad we boarded helicopters for a 30-minute flight to Yarra Valley — the Napa Valley of Victoria, you might say. We landed at Rochford Wines, a sprawling estate with plenty of space for groups, and were promptly greeted with

TIPSTER Face-to-Facebook

Online-registration company Amiando offers these tips for creating an effective event page on Facebook:

 Be eye-catching: Always include a recognizable image.  Stay active: Update regularly and send a reminder on the run-up to your event.  Viral marketing: Encourage attendees to comment on, RSVP to, and share your event; this will appear in their friends’ newsfeeds.

 Post-event marketing: Get attendees to post on your page after your event. n SOURCE: “Successful Facebook Marketing for Events,” Amiando (info.amiando.com/facebook-marketing-for-events)

www.pcma.org pcma convene April 2012 27

champagne and lunch. The owners, just as ebullient as the sauvignon blanc we sampled, treated our group to an educational wine tasting. And yet another round of surprises awaited on the winery grounds — Segway races, followed by a private petting-zoo-like experience with some of Australia’s most popular critters, including a baby wombat, crocodile, and wallaby.

After a night at the nearby five-star

Chateau Yering, it was back to Melbourne for AIME’s opening festivities — but not before a 5 a.m. wake-up call for a sunrise hot-air-bal- loon ride. Surprisingly serene, the experience was fun for even the most heights-challenged members of our group, and the “cleanup,” where participants were required to help take down and fold up the balloon, made for a fun team-building activity.

Back in Melbourne for our last afternoon of

site visits, we explored event spaces along the waterfront. I learned that the city has been voted the world’s most livable multiple times during the past several years, and I could easily see why. Melbourne has a safe, walkable downtown filled with myriad green spaces, restaurants, and attractions. And, as I’d already learned, getting around is quite easy. Although next time, I may opt for the (free) City Circle tram instead of the Harley to keep helmet hair at a minimum. n

— Jennifer N. Dienst

FOR MORE INFORMATION: mcvb.com.au and aime.com.au

MEETOLOGY® Speechless

A potential weapon in the war against chattering audiences — the “speech- jammer gun”: bit.ly/ speech-jammer.

SOURCE: Meetology Research Institute (meetology.com)