This underrated Victorian town is at its best in winter

There are two inescapable things about Nagambie: the insistent signage everywhere reminding you that champion racehorse Black Caviar was born here in 2006, and the throngs of families and schoolkids who fill the Victorian town to the brim in the warmer months. I used to be one of them, competing in the town’s annual high school rowing regattas, but the memory of burning lungs and aching thighs has kept me away for 20 years.

Lakeside at the Nagambie Lakes Leisure Park.

When I became a father last year, I knew someday my road would inevitably lead me back here to join the other families, like a duck returning to its familiar nesting ground. But it’s June when I drive into town, and the masses of families are nowhere to be seen. A bronze statue of Black Caviar presides over an empty carnival-coloured obstacle course bobbing in Lake Nagambie. The dense pack of campervans that normally park along the shore have been reduced to a thin line shrouded in fog.

I’ve driven 90 minutes from Melbourne to see what Nagambie, a small town in the Goulburn Valley, has to offer in winter, when the vineyards have been picked bare and the crowds dissipated. But I’m here to challenge my own memories too. Two decades on, now with a partner and baby, could Nagambie win me back?

As the social and sporting centre of town, Lake Nagambie is naturally the first place to stop, and Nagambie Brewery and Distillery has prime views over the water. It’s quiet outside, but inside is crackling as locals gather around the combustion hearth and eat thin-crust margherita pizza. It’s here that water from the Goulbourn River is transformed into ales and gins, and we worship this miracle by sipping our way across a paddleboard of lagers and English-style brown beers. With the road into town studded with wineries, a cosy place to enjoy some liquid bread is a welcome addition to the town’s line-up.

A social centre with prime views over the river.

Stretching our legs, and burning off the carbs, we take a stroll along High Street. Lured in by the tantalising smell of coffee, we get lost among the vines at The Botanic House, a cafe and boutique shrouded with lush ferns and fiddle-leaf figs. Bashing a path to the exit, we cross the road to peer through the windows of the aptly named antique shop Sundries Too Numerous to Mention (a sign reads: “closed most of the time and open at others”). Later, surrounded by artisanal linens and ceramics at homeware store Harvest Moon, we debate whether we really need yet another wooden cutting board, as our son attempts to dismantle a book display.

We then head to Tahbilk Wetlands & Wildlife Reserve in the hopes of wandering along its eco-trails, but arrive to learn the tracks are flooded thanks to recent rains. Pointing our wheels to the road, we instead drive to nearby Mitchelton Estate. The estate, which comprises a restaurant, day spa, subterranean Aboriginal art gallery and luxuriously moody hotel, is arranged in a cluster to capture the intimate ambience of Switzerland’s alpine chalets, with an imposing watchtower looking out over the vines.

Unable to resist the allure of a cellar door with a roaring hearth, we sign up for a wine and cheese flight. Guiding us on our sensory journey is Tayla Harwood, who explains how the vineyard’s former life as a grazing station on the riverbanks enriched the soil and made the Mitchelton property an ideal location to grow riesling, shiraz and marsanne.

Muse Restaurant at Mitchelton.

Leaving in high spirits, we find Dan Hawkins, the executive chef at the on-site Muse Restaurant (at the time of our visit), building a blaze beside the river using gumwood. Alongside wild venison, kangaroo and crayfish, in winter the kitchen serves a rotating woodfire dessert, and invites diners to join chefs by the fire to watch their meal being baked. Tonight it’s clafoutis, and I can smell quince stewing on the charcoal.

“Woodfire cooking has had a resurgence lately, which I love because the aromas coming off the smoke act like a seasoning for the food,” says Dan, who will sometimes add vine cut-offs to the flames to enhance the flavour. “Fire gives your food those crispy, charred edges that add a whole extra dimension too.”

(While Hawkins has now departed Muse his replacement, Nigel Brown, has been shortlisted for Chef Of The Year at the Victorian Accommodation Awards.)

It gets dark quickly, and soon the stars are winking down at us, just in time to bid goodnight to our son as he’s put to bed in our nest for the night, a spacious Silverline campervan offered to us by Jayco. It’s large enough that we don’t worry he’ll roll out of the bed, and we’ll be able to comfortably fit in alongside him later, but until then it’s quality kid-free time together by campfire. We roast marshmallows, play ring toss by firelight, and have enough wine to last till dawn.

Inside the Silverline camper.

I still don’t know if I’ll be able to face Nagambie again in the heat of summer, but like the lake’s migrating egrets and herons, I know I’ll be back again in winter for more feasts by the fire.

THE DETAILS

Nagambie is a 90-minute drive from Melbourne. Let’s Go Motorhomes offers Jayco campervan hire from $175 a day. See letsgomotorhomes.com.au
Upgrade to a luxury room at Mitchelton Estate from $349 twin-share. All rooms are wheelchair accessible, and one room has accessible bathroom facilities. See mitchelton.com.au/hotel

The writer was a guest of Jayco Australia, see jayco.com.au