Places in regional Victoria to visit before summer’s end
Regional Victoria needs your help to rebuild after the devastating bushfires. These great summer escapes just a few hours from Melbourne kicks off a series on places to visit and help boost the local economy.
Regional Victoria is hurting after the bushfires, and needs your help.
A great way to support communities directly impacted as well as towns across the state is by taking a road trip – because Regional Victoria remains open for business.
This week heraldsun.com.au celebrates the fantastic places to eat, camp and even take the dog for a hike around our great state.
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WHERE TO VISIT BEFORE SUMMER FADES
Did you know Victoria is blessed with more coastline than NSW (if you count our islands)?
And we’ve got river beaches; world-class wine regions and some of the most incredible scenery in the country.
Here’s some country Victorian spots you shouldn’t miss while the weather’s warm.
METUNG
Set on the shores of Bancroft Bay on Lake King, Metung is an ideal spot to get away from it all.
It’s perfect for sailing, water skiing and fishing, with plenty of bream, flathead, whiting, prawns and other species on offer for anglers.
Visitors can take a cruise of hire their own yacht to enjoy the splendour of the lakes.
There are plenty of cafes and restaurants along Metung’s waterfront, but the legendary Metung Hotel has its own jetty and boardwalk and a grassy area by the boardwalk where you can while away a sunny afternoon.
Make sure you visit at noon to watch the local pelicans’ daily ritual — feeding time at the pub.
Stick around for a meal, or pop across to the village green for a picnic.
Accommodation ranges from camping and caravanning to luxury hotel suites and holiday homes.
Metung is about 15 minutes from Lakes Entrance and 20 minutes from Bairnsdale.
GREAT WESTERN
Step out of the summer heat and into the subterranean at Great Western, a small centre between Ararat and Stawell on the Western Highway, at two of Victoria’s oldest wineries.
Seppelt and Best’s wineries both call the village of Great Western home — Seppelt’s famed Great Western sparkling was produced at its fortress-like Great Western winery for generations.
Seppelt was established by Joseph Best in 1866, long before Seppelt took the reins, and in 1869 employed out-of-work gold miners to dig the first of 3km of tunnels beneath the production area above to mature his wines, known as The Drives.
Dame Nellie Melba famously bathed in champagne produced at the property in the 1890s, and she opened the drive named after her in 1910.
Today’s Best’s, just up the road, also has cellars that were hand-dug in the 1860s.
Unlike Seppelt, where miners chipped away at the rock with picks, Best’s cellar was dug with spades and buckets, with red gum supports around and above vast barrels of wine.
As pleasant as the cool, dense atmospheres inside the cellars can be, you can’t stay there forever.
So go to Ararat and head behind the imposing walls of the notorious Aradale Asylum and its former jailhouse annexe, J-Ward.
J-Ward was an old jail that became an asylum for the criminally insane. For a time, it housed recidivist criminals Garry David and Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read, who had a stay shortly after he had another prisoner hack off his ears.
A trip to this region places travellers well to explore the gold rush charms of Ararat and Stawell and the natural beauty of the Grampians National Park.
And if you’re still in the mood for a tipple, you’re within an hour of the Pyrenees wine region.
COBRAM
Northern Victoria is a vital part of Victoria’s reputation as Australia’s food bowl.
A stop in Cobram, by the Murray, will show you the incredible diversity on offer in this sun-drenched part of the state.
The Murray Farm Gate Trail takes you on a journey that includes fresh strawberries, biodynamic beef and produce, a garlic farm, a gourmet cheese factory, an apple, pear and stone fruit orchard, wineries, an olive grove and even an eatery that serves edible cactus.
Remember, summer is the ideal time to sample stone fruit including peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums and cherries — and the region from the Goulburn Valley across to Cobram is filled with orchards, many of which have roadside sales.
The town is on the Murray Valley Highway between Yarrawonga and Echuca.
It has all the services you’ll need for a great getaway.
Bask at Thompson’s Beach, a vast river beach on the Cobram side of the river with shady river red gums when the sun gets too much.
It’s little more than half an hour across to the Rutherglen wine region, 40 minutes to the amazing Barmah National Park, and an hour to historic Echuca.
NINETY MILE BEACH
Most beaches in Victoria will be packed to the rafters over summer, but the Ninety Mile Beach will still have large stretches of pristine surf beach to enjoy without the crowds.
The closest access to the Ninety Mile Beach from Melbourne is through Sale, about 200km east of Melbourne.
Sleepy towns along the beach offer basic services for travellers — no supermarkets but general stores, petrol stations, cafes and bottle shops among them.
Golden Beach, Paradise Beach and Seaspray are about half an hour from Sale.
Loch Sport, a little further up the sand spits that separate Bass Strait from the Gippsland Lakes, is about 45 minutes from Sale.
There are dozens of points with easy vehicular access to the beach along this lonely stretch of coast, with camping, caravan and holiday house options available, with some patrolled at least part of the time.
Beach fishing and swimming are popular down this way.
A beach wheelchair is available on weekends, public holidays and all of January at the Seaspray Surf Lifesaving Club.
It’s as unspoilt as a coastal holiday can get in Victoria.
LAKE HUME + ALBURY-WODONGA
It’s often pretty hot in this part of the world but that makes Lake Hume the perfect place for a holiday of swimming and water sports.
Lake Hume, one of Australia’s largest inland waterways, is only a matter of minutes from the twin towns of Albury-Wodonga, which straddle the Murray River.
The lake is fed by the Murray and Mitta Mitta rivers and is a haven for swimming, boating, skiing and fishing, with masses of campgrounds, caravan parks and resort-style locations to stay while you’re there, and all the facilities you’ll need within easy reach.
Use Albury-Wodonga as a base to explore the wider region.
Highlights include the historic goldfields town of Beechworth and the Rutherglen wine region (home of some of Australia’s best reds and fortified varieties).
MANSFIELD + LAKE EILDON
Mansfield, a three-hour drive north of Melbourne, is dubbed a “nature lover’s paradise”.
Close to Lake Eildon the region packs the perfect one-two punch for a weekend escape with the family. Enjoy all the 19th-century town has to offer including great local cafes and historic pubs then strap in for adventure.
Mountain biking, bushwalking, fishing, swimming, white water rafting and rock climbing are all within reach. And visiting the region’s top wineries means you can bring home more than just great memories.
History buffs note that Mansfield is part of the Ned Kelly Trail and it’s cemetery is where police officers gunned down by Ned Kelly and his gang at Stringybark Creek are buried.
GEELONG
Eastern Beach in Geelong offers one of the best sea bathing experiences around.
Its bathing enclosure, completed in stunning Art Deco style in 1939, offers safe and shark-free swimming. with a children’s pool, a lifesavers’ pavilion, changerooms, a diving tower, a kiosk and, in recent years, a restaurant.
The area fell into disrepair in the 1960s but the entire precinct, known as Waterfront Geelong, has been restored and beatified since the 1990s and is a showpiece today.
For the more adventurous, head to the Adventure Park Geelong, Victoria’s largest theme park, for the ride of your life.
The park is already one of the state’s great water parks, but this summer it will have a new attraction — a $4 million, 7.5-storey, 172m waterslide known as The Tsunami.
This twisted terror features rapid water, tidal waves and whirlpool funnels, with three separate tunnels carrying up to four riders at a time.
TORQUAY
If you love the beach and fancy a Surf Coast holiday but your surfing skills leave a bit to be desired, learn to surf while you’re having a break.
Go Ride a Wave is one of a number of companies that offer surfing lessons up and down Victoria’s Surf Coast.
The company has been operating since setting up in Torquay in 1987.
Group lessons and private lessons are available, and there are lessons for kids aged five to 12, with an intensive four-day school holiday program or one day a week during school terms.
Go Ride a Wave has now branched out into Queensland too, but why head north for a muggy Queensland summer when a summer on the Surf Coast beckons?
Torquay is a perfect base to explore the Great Ocean Rd, with Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay, Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove within driving distance, Geelong just 20 minutes away and a spectacular coastline and the Otway Ranges to explore.
PHILLIP ISLAND, PORT CAMPBELL
There is nothing as Victorian as going to see the penguin parade at Phillip Island.
The Phillip Island trek is a time-honoured tradition for Victorian families, and along with the seals at The Nobbies, the koala reserve and the old farm at Churchill Island, the Phillip Island Nature Parks are a great way to relax.
But Phillip Island is not the only place in Victoria to see little penguins in their nightly ritual, returning to their rooks from a day of feeding.
Little penguin colonies exist from the mid-north coast of NSW all the way to Western Australia.
There’s also the Twelve Apostles and London Bridge for your penguin-spotting needs.
It’s not the up-close experience you get at Phillip Island, but the Shipwreck Coast offers incredible scenery and commanding views from the clifftop lookouts above the beaches where large numbers of the penguins come ashore each night.
Sunset at the Twelve Apostles was amazing and then the Penguins came ashore to make it even better ðŸ§âš“ï¸ #ttot #travel pic.twitter.com/cN6JqgMVk4
— Millie Barlow (@millie_anne93) February 15, 2016
You can see how the penguins mass at the shore and waddle across the beach in large numbers making for the scrub at the bottom of the cliffs.
Binoculars are available free of charge from the local tourist information centre if you leave your credit card details with them.
The best part? This penguin experience is free — and there is a heap of other activities in the region.
PORTLAND
It’s about 360km from Melbourne, so not suited to a weekend away, but Portland is one of Victoria’s most underrated destinations.
It’s volcanic prehistory has given it Victoria’s highest coastal cliffs and a rocky hinterland that has been inhabited by the local indigenous people for thousands of years, featuring evidence of permanent structures thousands of years before European settlement and the remains of the world’s oldest aquaculture system, which captured eels and fish for food and trade with other mobs.
It’s known as Budj-Bim. It’s near Tyrendarra, between Portland and Port Fairy, and guided tours are available.
Starting and finishing at the Portland Maritime Discovery Centre, the Great South West Walk takes travellers on a 250km loop across the southwest corner of the state that includes Point Danger, Cape Nelson and Cape Bridgewaters, the long, sandy beach of the Discovery Bay coast, coastal lakes and world -renowned the tiny town of Nelson, the rugged course of the Glenelg River, the higher country in the Lower Glenelg National Park, and the picturesque valley of the Fitzroy River.
Cape Bridgewater, which juts into the Southern Ocean a few minutes’ drive from Portland, has an Australian fur seal breeding colony, blowholes, caves, a freshwater spring and the Petrified Forest.
It’s believed these hollow limestone columns were formed when a stand of moonah trees was subsumed by sand.
The limestone-rich sand set like concrete as dripping water dissolved the limestone and the trunks rotted inside, forming these stunning columns.
Portland itself has gorgeous Victorian-era architecture and a 7.4km coastal scenic tram tour.
READ MORE IN THIS SERIES:
23 AWESOME VICTORIAN COUNTRY PUBS TO VISIT
Boat tours will take you right to the seal colony, where a shark-proof cage allows you to swim with the playful fur seal locals.
The maritime discovery centre holds the Portland lifeboat that rescued many of the survivors of the wreck of the SS Admella off Port McDonnell in South Australia in 1859, and relics including whale bones from Portland’s whaling and sealing past.
Originally published as Places in regional Victoria to visit before summer’s end
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