Here’s how you can get back to nature less than 100km from Melbourne
SEEING Victoria’s natural beauty doesn’t mean a long car trip. These cheap, easy day trips will get you to fresh air and greenery under 100km from the CBD.
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MELBOURNE has a wealth of natural beauty right on its doorstep.
Just beyond our sprawling city’s urban fringe, and in among its suburbs, there are plenty of ways that you can get back to nature within 100 kilometres of the CBD.
Here are 10 of the best.
WERRIBEE GORGE STATE PARK
Werribee Gorge State Park, near Bacchus Marsh, has plenty to keep both active and less-active people happy.
There are a series of walks through the rugged gorge area ranging from 80 minutes to 4.5 hours that are rated medium or medium-to-hard by Parks Victoria, and the more adventurous visitors can go rock climbing high above the Werribee River.
The Quarry and Meikles Point picnic areas have basic facilities including toilets, tables, seats and wood barbecues (BYO wood).
Meikles Point has a swimming hole for a cooling summer dip, and is a great place to watch the sunset.
Entry is free
FAIRFIELD PARK BOATHOUSE
Tucked away off Heidelberg Road in Fairfield, the boathouse overlooks a shady stretch of the Yarra.
Visitors can rent a rowboat, kayak or canoe (with all the gear, including personal flotation devices) and cast off among the towering river redgums there.
If boating isn’t your thing, it’s still a great spot to while away a warm Melbourne afternoon listening to bellbirds and watching the river roll by.
The boathouse, built in 1908, features a restaurant and tea rooms for when the hungries hit.
Entry to the grounds is free
THE NATIONAL RHODODENDRON GARDENS
The National Rhododendron Gardens
High up in the Dandenongs at Olinda, the gardens are a riot of colour and scents from the rhododendrons, azaleas, daffodils, camellias and cherry trees planted there.
The gardens are open every day except Christmas Day (excluding severe weather and elevated fire danger days) and entry is free.
Take in some fresh mountain air as you stroll the gardens or take the short walk to the Olinda township for a meal or a snack, or eat at Café Vireya at the gardens.
The Alfred Nichols Memorial Gardens, the R.J. Hamer Arboretum, the George Tindale Memorial Gardens and Pirianda Gardens and the lookout at Mount Dandenong are also within easy reach.
COLLINGWOOD CHILDREN’S FARM
The farm, on a bend in the Yarra at Abbotsford, is an oasis just a few minutes from the CBD that’s aimed at teaching children about sustainability and the origins of food.
It’s also a haven for rare breed livestock.
There are sessions each day where kids can cuddle guinea pigs and milk cows, and the farmyard is full of animals to pat.
There are additional activities on weekends and holidays, and a school holiday program will operate over the Christmas break.
Picnic on the grounds or have a meal at The Farm Café, on-site.
Entry is $10 for adults ($5 concession), $5 for kids ($3 concession) and $20 for families ($10 concession).
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ORGAN PIPES NATIONAL PARK
This incredible volcanic feature was formed when the nearby Jacksons Creek cut a deep valley through a million-year-old lava flow.
The organ pipes are basalt columns that formed deep below the surface as the lava cooled and cracked.
There are other volcanic formations on the site including Rosette Rock (basalt columns that radiate like the spokes of a wheel), the Tessellated Pavement (basalt columns worn down by the creek) and a scoria cone.
There is plenty of birdlife in the park along with skinks, lizards, possums, echidnas and sugar gliders among the restored bush setting.
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There are toilets and a picnic area in the park, which is just off the Calder Freeway near Diggers Rest.
Entry is free, and the park opens each day from 8am to 4.30pm, or until 6pm on weekends and public holidays during daylight saving.
HANGING ROCK
See the landscape that inspired Joan Lindsay’s 1967 mystery novel Picnic at Hanging Rock and the eponymous 1975 film near Woodend, about 70km northwest of Melbourne and less than half an hour from the Organ Pipes.
The unusual rock formation is a volcanic plug that has eroded over six million years and is a striking feature a few kilometres from the Calder Freeway.
Despite its reputation, it’s quite safe to picnic at Hanging Rock.
Bruce Springsteen, Cold Chisel, The Eagles, Rod Stewart and Leonard Cohen have performed concerts beneath the rock. In fact, Springsteen is playing there again in February.
There is a wide expanse of lawns within the bush setting for children to run and play, and a cafe is on site.
Markets and events are held there throughout the year, and the New Year’s Day picnic races pack in thousands of punters each year.
The Hanging Rock Reserve opens from 9am to 5pm each day, except Christmas Day. Entry outside special events is $4 per pedestrian, $10 per car, $20 per minibus and $50 per coach.
BLACKBURN LAKE SANCTUARY
This park is one of the few areas of notable remnant bush in suburban Melbourne, and it is a haven for a range of birds, possums, sugar gliders, echidnas, blue-tongue lizards, insects, fish, and trees and plants that once appeared all over the eastern suburbs.
A new entrance and visitor centre opened in January, which also houses an environmental education program.
It’s also significant for art lovers. McCubbin’s Lookout is reputedly the spot where Heidelberg School painter Frederick McCubbin painted his 1893 work Bush Idyll, which set what was then an Australian record when it sold at a 1998 auction for more than $2.3 million.
There are opportunities to learn about the ecology of the lake and the bush, the lake’s history and its indigenous past and plenty of walking trails to explore the park.
Entry is free.
WARRANDYTE STATE PARK
Bushwalkers, animal lovers, canoeists and history buffs love the Warrandyte State Park, which covers the Pound Bend area by the Yarra River and is the closest state park to the Melbourne CBD.
The park includes remnants of Warrandyte’s gold rush past including a memorial to what is claimed as the first discovery of gold in Victoria, the Whipstick Gully and Black Flat areas that feature traces of mining activity and the Pound Bend Tunnel, a failed attempt to divert the Yarra River and get to alluvial gold in the river bed by diverting the river through the tunnel.
Pound Bend and the Jumping Creek Reserve have great picnic areas, places to picnic and play and walking tracks so you can enjoy the bush.
You can ride your horse in some areas and discover the Wurundjeri people’s connection with the region, too.
Entry is free, and the park is open every day.
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, CRANBOURNE
Unlike its city cousin, the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne celebrates Australian flora.
It includes the Australian garden, a 15-hectare display of our native plants on a journey of water that takes in arid Central Australia, dry river beds, our vast river systems and the coastal fringes.
The garden is dotted with art and architectural installations along the way.
There are a range of walking loops for all abilities, a cycling trail and the Rockpool Waterway, which runs along the length of the eastern side of the gardens and allows the kids to paddle on warmer days, with a designated wading area.
Entry is free. The garden is open every day except Christmas Day
THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF CENTRAL MELBOURNE
You don’t need to move far beyond the CBD to get back to nature.
Melbourne is well served by parks and gardens just beyond the CBD grid where to can relax, unwind and forget that you’re in Australia’s fastest growing capital city.
King’s Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens are great examples of the foresight with which our gardens were planned in the Victorian era.
Birrarung Marr is a relative newcomer, created along the Yarra out of what used to be the northern stretch of Batman Avenue and part of the Jolimont Rail Yards.
Captain Cook’s Cottage and the Fairy Tree at the Fitzroy Gardens, and the stunning Treasury Gardens lie just east of the city, while the Carlton Gardens (featuring the world Heritage-listed Exhibition Building and the Flagstaff Gardens) cover the north of the CBD.
Entry to the parks is free. The parks themselves (but not some facilities) are open every day of the year.
Do you have other suggestions from great green getaways close to Melbourne? Tell us in the comments below.
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