Great Otway National Park stretches from Torquay along the Great Ocean Road, winding deep into the Otway hinterland, before culminating at Princetown on its western boundary. A landscape of striking contrasts, it is characterised by rugged coastline, sandy beaches, lush ancient forest, fern-filled gullies, cascading waterfalls and winding trails. Spanning more than 1,000 km, it’s …
The drive from Yackandandah to Mount Beauty winds through some of the most breathtaking countryside I’ve encountered in Australia. A tapestry of roads – Myrtleford-Yackandanda Road, Carrolls Road, Happy Valley Road, and the Great Alpine Road – passes gloriously through rural areas that could have auditioned for Lord of the Rings! Rolling farmland, tranquil valleys …
Victoria’s High Country never fails to impress. Yackandandah, Bright & Harrietville are just three of many gems of the Alpine region.
One hundred and ten kilometres west-northwest of Melbourne lies the historic town of Ballarat. Victoria’s coldest city and ground zero for the civil disobedience that led to an armed uprising in 1854, aka the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat is famous for its rich gold rush history. It took us two cracks to get the Rat done. …
A part of Melbourne’s DNA, the Shrine is a rockstar mononym. Aka Shrine of Remembrance, it is Victoria’s national memorial honouring the service and sacrifice of Aussies in war and peacekeeping. A cultural landmark, it opened in 1934 as a place to grieve and remember Victorians killed in the First World War. Now it provides …
Set on the upper reaches of the Yarra River, surrounded by lush forests of mountain ash, Warburton is less than ninety minutes from the Melbourne CBD. We had two staycays there because tbh, one just wasn’t enough! On our first sojourn, we had a quaint little Airbnb studio apartment, walking distance from the main street, …
A couple of scenic hours’ drive southeast of Melbourne, Phillip Island is famous for the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, a rev-head’s paradise each October. For the other months of the year, this little island punches well above its weight in tourism offerings. San Remo, the gateway to Phillip Island and a hot spot for plucky …
Around 236 kilometres northeast of Melbourne, Wangaratta is in High Country Victoria, sitting at the junction of the Ovens and Kings Rivers, within cooee of the Victorian Alps. As luck would have it, we caught a window of opportunity en route that exists only between mid-August and mid-September, witnessing the canola fields in full bloom, …
If the minutiae of historic incarcerations, executions, and the reasons for them are your jam, you can’t miss the Old Melbourne Gaol. Located in Russell Street, in the Melbourne CBD, construction of the OMG (I did lol when I acronymed that) began in 1839, opening its doors to the criminally inclined in 1845. By 1850, …
Only 150 km’s north-west of Melbourne, created during one of the world’s greatest gold rushes between 1851 and 1900, Bendigo is a regional city of unparalleled opulence and grandeur. The gold boom attracted a mass of nationalities seeking their fortune, and within 20 years, this melting pot of cultures bequeathed a stunning architectural legacy. There’s …