Princes Bridge is Melbourne's oldest surviving bridge, completed in 1888 during the city's gold rush flush. The sandstone balustrades and ornate lamp posts suggest an era when Melbourne genuinely believed it was about to become the greatest city on earth. For a brief moment in the 1880s, it probably was.

Standing on the bridge, the city arranges itself around you with unusual clarity. The MCG's light towers poke above the trees. The Eureka Tower's gold-plated upper floors catch the light. Ahead, the Arts Centre Spire points skyward, a structure that once caught fire after a New Year's Eve fireworks mishap.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Princes Bridge as a pivot point, tracing the Yarra's transformation from a swimmable river to one Melburnians say runs upside down, and connecting the bridge to the gold rush wealth behind the city's grand Victorian streetscape.