Six Victorian road trips perfect for autumn

Distance: 750km via Wodonga, Echuca, Swan Hill and Robinvale

This diverse tour takes holidaymakers from alpine country to the semi-arid Mallee country along the Murray River.

Start at Corryong, the burial place of Jack Riley (the horseman who inspired Banjo Paterson’s poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’) and follow either the more direct Murray Valley Highway or the Murray River Road. Tallangatta, on the shores of Lake Hume, is a charming 1950s-era town rebuilt by the Victorian Government when an expansion of the lake flooded the old town.

Use Albury-Wodonga as a base for exploring the region including Lake Hume (popular for water sports), the Rutherglen wine region and the historic towns of Beechworth, Yackandandah and Chiltern. 

Yarrawonga offers access to sparkling Lake Mulwala, while Cobram has Thompsons Beach – a wide, sandy Murray River beach. The region has a Farm Gate Trail with everything from strawberries and almonds to chocolate and whisky. 

Keep heading west and you’ll reach Echuca, one of the jewels of the Murray with its river redgum reserves, historic Port of Echuca, paddle-steamers and loads of olde-worlde appeal. From there, turn northwest towards Kerang and some of the most underrated attractions along the Murray – the Kerang Lakes and Gannawarra wetlands, the Gunbower National Park, and Gunbower Island.

The Murray Valley Highway skirts a chain of natural lakes including Lake Charm and Lake Boga (the latter with a fascinating World War II history as a base for Catalina flying boats). 

The landscape begins to change from flat farming country to low sandhills around Swan Hill, named by explorer Major Thomas Mitchell for its abundant birdlife. The famous Pioneer Settlement gives visitors a glimpse of the area’s history as a river port, along with nearby Tyntynder Homestead.

Continue west on the Robinvale-Hattah Road, which meets the Calder Highway at Hattah. Jump off here to explore the impressive Hattah-Kulkyne National Park.

Then it’s a short drive north to Mildura, one of the most pleasant regional cities in Australia. Use it as a base to enjoy the region’s food and wine, see the ochre crags along the river at Red Cliffs, explore the Murray-Sunset National Park and hop the border to Wentworth to visit the Mungo National Park and ancient Perry Sandhills on the NSW side.

Distance: 770km via Wangaratta, Bright, Omeo and Mount Beauty

This route offers a wealth of sightseeing and hiking opportunities across the roof of Victoria.

Mansfield is an easy two-hour drive from Melbourne but there’s plenty to see if you use it as a base to explore Lake Eildon and the lakeside towns of Bonnie Doon, Jamieson, Eildon and Howqua, along with nearby Yea and Alexandra.

Make sure you visit the Stringybark Creek memorial for three policemen murdered by the Kelly Gang there in 1878, and drive through Merrijig to Mount Buller for stunning views of the Alpine National Park and the chance to hike to Jim Craig’s Hut, an mountain hut constructed for the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River.

From Mansfield, head north to the King and Ovens valley wine and gourmet region, stopping off at another Kelly Gang haunt, Power’s Lookout. Head along the Great Alpine Road, which will take you to the beautiful mountain towns of Myrtleford and Bright – and set aside time to drive up Mount Buffalo and the Mount Buffalo National Park for amazing views, the Victorian Government-owned chalet, Lake Catani and the sights and sounds of the Buffalo Plateau.

From Bright, the Great Alpine Road climbs sharply up to Harrietville and the Mount Hotham Alpine Resort, where you can explore the grassy expanses at the top of the Great Dividing Range high plains and hike along the ridge to nearby Mount Feathertop.

From Hotham Heights (Australia’s second highest town), the road traverses Dinner Plain to the historic gold and cattle farming settlement of Omeo where you can explore the Alpine Walking Track, visit high country huts, see the historic buildings and Oriental Claims area, fish for rainbow trout in the Mitta Mitta River and follow the Omeo Plains Settlement Drive.

Head north on the Omeo highway and turn off on the Bogong High Plains Road past Mount Bogong, Victoria’s highest peak, from Omeo to the Falls Creek Alpine Resort and Mount Beauty through the Alpine National Park. (The Bogong High Plains Road is subject to seasonal closures – check conditions before you leave.)

From Mount Beauty, it’s a relaxed drive through rolling dairy pastures to Wodonga.

Distance: 285km along the Princes Highway via Colac

Geelong is Victoria’s second largest city, sprawling around the shores of Corio Bay. It’s a stone’s throw from the Geelong wine region, the Bellarine Peninsula gourmet food purveyors, the Surf Coast, the Great Ocean Road and the Great Otway National Park. Don’t forget to see the Lake Connewarre Wildlife Reserve for some of the most diverse displays of birds and wildlife in Australia.

From Geelong, head west through Winchelsea and Birregurra (a burgeoning gourmet food destination) to Colac. Colac gets its name from the natural lake on which it’s perched, part of a series of lakes around Australia’s largest permanent salty lake, Lake Corangamite. 

The lake was formed by volcanic lava flows that created another fascinating feature in the district, known as the Stony Rises, west of Colac. The Princes Hwy winds through these craggy basalt flows and hides the Floating Island Flora and Fauna Reserve, a series of islands made of peat on Lake Pirron Yallock.

Beyond the Stony Rises is Camperdown, a farming community with a grand main street, a clock tower and Mount Leura, a dormant volcano with a lookout that reveals the huge number of similar volcanic peaks across the district.

From here, it’s an easy drive to the Shipwreck Coast, including the awe-inspiring Twelve Apostles and other formations in the Port Campbell National Park, the Great Otway National Park and the city of Warrnambool. There, you can see penguins each morning and night, visit the Logan’s Beach whale-spotting lookout where pods of whales can be viewed from June to October.

Just west of Warrnambool, at Koroit, is one of Victoria’s natural treasures – the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. Emus, kangaroos and other birds and animals live in the ancient volcanic caldera, which has twin crater lakes and a storied indigenous history.

Less than half an hour away, just past picturesque Port Fairy, is Budj Bim National Park, where the local Gunditjmara people constructed stone shelters and a sophisticated stone aquaculture system to trap, catch, eat and trade eels. This unique indigenous landscape is World Heritage listed.

Head back to the Princes Highway for a look at the wind generation plant on the mountainous coastal dunes at Codrington on your way to the historic deep-water port city of Portland.

A short distance from town is Cape Bridgewater, home to Victoria’s highest cliffs courtesy of the region’s volcanic history. There, you’ll find walking trails, lookouts, beaches, a petrified forest and seals frolicking in the wild seas.

Use Portland as a base to head north to the southern edge of the Grampians, or west along the Discovery Bay coast, the Cobboboonee National Park and the gorges and forests of the Glenelg River. 

Distance: 690km via Maryborough, Ararat, Halls Gap, Horsham, Nhill and Ouyen

This route zigzags through some of Victoria’s most interesting landscapes, starting with the region that changed Victoria’s fortunes forever – the goldfields.

Ballarat is so much more than Sovereign Hill. Start with a walking tour of the Ballarat CBD, stroll the Ballarat Botanic Gardens, visit the scene of the Eureka Stockade and drive along the Avenue of Honour, an avenue of deciduous trees dedicated to Australia’s war dead.

Take in the sights of the historic gold towns of Creswick and Clunes on your way to Maryborough, another beautifully preserved gold rush town.

From Maryborough, follow the Pyrenees Hwy to Avoca, the gateway to the Pyrenees wine region and the Mount Buangor and Langi Ghiran state parks to Ararat, which boasts a museum offering tours of J Ward – the old prison for Victoria’s criminally insane – and the former Aradale psychiatric hospital.

Just up the road is Stawell, where gold is still mined commercially. Its picturesque Central Park is home to the Stawell Gift, Australia’s oldest professional foot race, held each Easter. From there, head to Halls Gap to explore the Grampians National Park, a haven for hiking, nature-watching, imposing mountain escarpments and lookouts with commanding views across the Wimmera plain.

Head west through Horsham, Dimboola and Nhill to explore a totally different landscape less than an hour away – the Little Desert National Park, an arid patch of the Wimmera that’s home to wildflowers and the endangered Mallee fowl.

Then, trek northeast through wheat country to the tiny towns of Jeparit, where you’ll find the birthplace of Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, and Rainbow – a town named for the crescent-shaped sand dunes that support a colourful carpet of wildflowers in the area each spring. 

A short drive from Underbool takes you to the incredible Pink Lakes inside the Murray Sunset National Park, a chain of salt lakes turned pink by a form of algae in the ultra-salty water.

From there, it’s a short distance to Ouyen, a town that for many years was home to Victoria’s Great Vanilla Slice Bakeoff, and grab yourself one of the custardy treats at the local bakery to build your strength for the one-hour trip north to Mildura.

Distance: 500km via Yarram, Sale, Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance and Orbost

Victoria’s east coast and Gippsland forests are a feature of this tour. Wonthaggi is 90 minutes from Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass highways. The latter will take you right by Phillip Island and the island’s penguins, seals and other natural attractions. Wonthaggi is home to the old State Coal Mine, Victoria’s only source of black coal, which kept the Victorian Railways running for almost a century and where you can now explore the diggings and stay.

From there, head southeast to Wilsons Promontory National Park, which has a myriad of hikes, sightseeing opportunities and coastal and rainforests experiences.  If you are planning to camp at Wilsons Prom you’ll need to book ahead via Parks Victoria’s website.

Or drive along the Grand Ridge Road through the Strzelecki Ranges and the Tarra Bulga National Park along the way to Yarram. Try Port Albert for some of the best fish and chips you’ll ever eat, caught fresh from Corner Inlet.

This is the southern end of the Ninety Mile Beach, a vast arc of sand that stretches from nearby Barry Beach all the way to Lakes Entrance and offers many secluded coastal reserves, beachside camping spots, never-ending surf and brilliant beach fishing. 

Use the main towns of Sale, Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance (or smaller centres like Paynesville and Metung) to explore the Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park. Head north into the ranges to see the parks and mountain wilderness beyond Heyfield, Licola and Dargo.

Head east along the Princes Highway to Orbost to see the Snowy River National Park (featuring the Little River Gorge, Victoria’s highest gorge, and the 600m-high Little River Falls, Victoria’s highest waterfall) and the mouth of the Snowy at nearby Marlo.

From there, drive through gorgeous Gippsland rainforest to Mallacoota and visit Croajingolong National Park’s most well-known spots including Cape Conran, Bemm River, and the Point Hicks Lighthouse before you arrive in Mallacoota. The Mallacoota Inlet and surrounding hills are paradise for boating, fishing, canoeing and kayaking, swimming, mountain bike riding and bushwalking.

Distance: 200km via the Macedon Ranges

Start at Ballarat and head northeast along the Midland Highway to Daylesford, the gateway to the Macedon Ranges and the heart of Victoria’s mineral springs country.

Head east through Trentham to see the Trentham Falls and Turpins Falls, mystical Hanging Rock near Woodend, and the Macedon Regional Park, where Mount Macedon affords amazing views and excellent bushwalking and cycling opportunities. Don’t forget to visit the Wombat State Forest’s Whipstick Loop for a wonderful bushwalking experience.

Piper Street in Kyneton is an olde-worlde retail centre that is now home to restaurants and antique shops. Take the Calder Fwy north towards Castlemaine to see its old jail, the remnants of the Garfield Waterwheel at nearby Chewton, the Pennyweight Flat Children’s Cemetery and all the secrets of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park.

Maldon, 16km west, is a well preserved 19th-century gold town with many historic buildings. Pop up to the lookout tower atop Mount Tarrengower and visit the Victorian Goldfields Railway for a glimpse of old-time steam power.

Harcourt is a popular mountain biking hub thanks to the La Larr Ba Gauwa mountain bike park, which runs through the slopes of Mount Alexander (another Major Mitchell historic site) and home to the Mount Alexander Regional Park.

From there, it’s only a short run to Bendigo’s Central Deborah Gold Mine, talking trams, historic joss house used as a place of worship by Chinese miners, beautiful Rosalind Park in the heart of town, the Shamrock Hotel, its historic old post office and town hall and the Dai Gum San historic Chinese precinct, which houses the world’s oldest imperial Chinese dragon (Loong). 

Bendigo is known as the ‘city in the forest’ because it’s almost completely surrounded by the Greater Bendigo National Park, a haven for remnant box-ironbark country and a range of native animals. Bendigo’s range of gourmet dining options saw it named a United Nations City of Gastronomy in recent years.

Use Bendigo to explore the wider region including the popular Heathcote and Bendigo wine regions, the historic gold towns of Inglewood and Wedderburn, the Melville Caves in the Kooyoora State Park, walk to the top of the granite peak at Mount Terrick Terrick, near Mitiamo, and head the Port of Echuca and the Barmah National Park.