Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth & Sydney   Sydney, New South Wales, established in 1788, is not Australia's capital, yet in many ways it feels like it. The city has a definite flavor of history, with sandstone cliffs, rocks and caves still containing Aboriginal rock carvings, reminders of a more ancient past but made more significant in the present-tense as Sydney has the highest Aboriginal population of any Australian city.

Brisbane, the largest city in Queensland, claims almost 1.5 million residents, yet the city moves at a slower pace then one might expect. The site of a prison colony established in 1824, the city contains a historic precinct, museums and botanic gardens. Brisbane's Aboriginal past can found at the Nudgee Bora Ring and several Aboriginal walking trails at Mount Coot-tha. The city's transportation includes buses, the electric Citytrain network and a useful ferry system for easy crossing of the Brisbane river.

Melbourne, Victoria, is Australia's second-largest city and is inhabited by about 3 million people, everyone of which will tell you that their city is one of the world's most livable cities. Beautiful and lavish landscaped gardens and parks in the English style provide green spaces near the city centre, while Victorian-era building facades extended along tree-lined boulevards creates a metropolis that lives up to it's boasting. Some of the country's best cafés, pubs and speciality shops can be found here, as well as the century-old Queen Victoria Market for the serious shopper.

Perth, Western Australia's capital of 1.3 million people, has a youthful and easy-going reputation. Sailing or swimming are a common after-work activities, and windsurfers, sailors and jet-skiers are everywhere.

Toronto   Toronto is economic and cultural focus of English-speaking Canada based on northern shore of Lake Ontario. Canada's largest metropolis, Toronto has been working hard to create a city to proud of through real estate development, sponsorship of the arts, a very good public transport system, and on the reclamation of the lakefront.

Vancouver   Vancouver is all about land and sea as it sits snugly on a narrow peninsula bordered by Burrard Inlet, English Bay and False Creek, with greater Vancouver spreading south to the Fraser River. The city's 1.8 million residents enjoy every type of outdoor activity that's been invented, from sailing, swimming, fishing, hiking, to skiing, golf or tennis.

Auckland   is New Zealand's largest city and is home to the country's major international airport. Known as the "City of Sails" due to the Hauraki Gulf's draw for sailing sports, Auckland claims fifty extinct volcanoes which ring Waitemata Harbour.

Christchurch   Capital of the Canterbury region and the largest city on the South Island, boasts a population of 306,000. Named after an Oxford college, it still has the feel of a traditional English university town, yet it is also a centre of cultural diversity, with a continental café scene and a distinct Kiwi identity of its own.