Australia

Holidays by Destination Australasia Australia Victoria 

Tourism Victoria

Australia Centre, Melbourne Place, The Strand, London WC2B 4LG
tel: 020 7240 7176

A state occupying only 3% of the Australia's land mass but including for example a third of the national parks.

Melbourne

Winning the accolade of ‘the world's most livable city', the planned 19th century centre still shows the confidence of its prosperous history (the gold rush made it one of the wealthiest Victorian towns anywhere in the world) with boulevards, parks and fine public buildings (more historic buildings than Sydney for example). As the most multi-cultural of the state capitals, it also has plenty of good eating places, plus shops, and is considered the country's sporting capital.

History and Culture
Trams are part of the fun - catch one to the seaside at St Kilda for example, known for its bohemians. There is a free purple city circle tram taking visitors to central sites and providing a running commentary on places to see and what to do.
Chinatown is much as it was in the 19th century.
Luna Park includes a heritage listed roller coaster.
Old Melbourne Gaol is where bushranger Ned Kelly was hanged in 1880.
The National Gallery of Victoria has a better than average collection of art.

Out and About
Queen Victoria Market is a large, covered produce market - one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, with guided tours available.
The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens include more than 350 native and exotic animal species in 22 hectares. Linked operations are Healesville Sanctuary and Warribbee Open Range Zoo.
St Kilda is known as a place for roller blading, among other seaside activities.

Coast and Scenery

Queenscliff on the west of Port Phillip Bay was where the paddle steamers of the 1880s brought the fashionable to stay at turreted hotels, nowadays restored.
Further west Torquay is surf city with classic waves, Loren a pretty seaside resort.
Great Ocean Road possibly the most spectacular coastal road in the world, runs southwest from Geelong for 300km to the old fishing village of Port Fairy with its well preserved colonial architecture. The route crosses the ranges and rainforest of Cape Otway and Otway National Park, with wooded board walks, and bush tracks, and on the coast passes the photogenic Twelve Apostles, a dozen rock stacks above the surf. At Gellibrand River the Port Campbell National Park features soft limestone cliffs with grottoes and gorges, arches and sea sculptures by the sea. Warrnambool sees the rare Southern Right Wales which come to calve in the shallow waters.
Cape Bridgewater is home to Victoria's largest mainland colony of fur seals and May to September.
East of Melbourne Phillip Island and the resort town of Cowes are popular for the fairy penguins at Summerland Beach, seen at dusk. Wilson's Promontory is a granite peninsula and the most popular national park in the state with more than 80km of walking tracks to long, sandy beaches, forested mountain slopes and heath and marshes.
Inland Victoria includes some rich agricultural land with old homesteads, reminiscent of England.

History

You can visit the old gold mines at Ballarat with wide streets and verandahs, and the recreation of a gold mining town at Sovereign Hill.
Bendigo which was still mining in the ‘50s offers a mine tour well below the surface as well as the town's Chinese Joss House and Chinese Dragon Museum, left by the many Chinese gold diggers.
In northeast Victoria Beechworth is the best preserved gold town with 32 buildings classified by the National Trust.
In western Victoria the Grampians dominate the plains with elements found in Aborigine Dreamtime legends, and more than 40 Aboriginal art sites found in caves and rock shelters here. Some of the more accessible are in the Victoria Range with red ochre hand stencils.