Food

Under an hour's drive from Melbourne is a valley of lush rolling hills where some of Australia's most impressive wines are produced. The Yarra Valley is home to 55 wineries that produce award-winning pinot noir and sparkling wines, available at over 40 cellar door outlets, vineyard restaurants and local eateries.

Each year in March the Yarra Valley Grape Grazing Festival celebrates the beginning of harvest, and music is mixed with fine wine at jazz, opera and classical concerts held in the vies throughout the year. For a different perspective of the beauty of the region, drift above the vineyards in an early morning hot air balloon.

The Yarra Valley is dotted with tiny villages, historic houses, gardens, antique centres, craft shops and first-rate restaurants. Bushwalking in the area is also popular, and you can see Australian wldlife including koalas, wombats, wedge-tailed eagles, dingos, reptiles and birds on a stroll through peppermint-scented gum forest at the Healesville Sanctuary.

The cool hills of the Dandenong Ranges, also a short trip from Melbourne, is popular with day-trippers. Treat yourself to a Devonshire tea of scones, cream and jam in a local tea house, or board the Puffing Billy Steam Railway as it winds through the spectacular forests and fern gullies of the Dandenong Ranges National Park.

Follow the Mt Dandenong Tourist Road and you can stop off to browse through a myriad of antique shops and craft stores. Also around here are historic houses, famous gardens featuring cool-climate varieties like rhododendrons, azaleas, tulips and daffodils, as well as plenty of nature walks featuring mountain ash forests and tree-fern gullies