• Leave Melbourne and head past Yarra Glen to De Bortoli. Here you taste cheeses with your wines. Try the garlic goat cheese, yum! Don’t forget to experience the Sparkling Shiraz (yes red champagne!)
• Then to Yering Station Winery. Not only does this have a beautiful setting but they have a few good reds to try.
• Time for lunch? Train Trak is a fantastic place for gourmet pizzas, gnocchi and many other italian dishes. While you wait for your food, head into the barn for wine tasting and don’t forget to ask where the moose came from?!
• Depending on how many more you can manage, there are quite a few on your way to Healesville but whatever you do, don’t forget Riverstone and Rochford on your way back to Melbourne. Riverstone is perched on a hill over looking the valley with a beautiful stone home and has a couple of great reds and an awesome Tokay.
• Lastly, Rochford where you can taste some local fudge after sipping a number of their wines. Rochford also hosts outdoor concerts in the spring and summer.

There are so many other wineries, but after numerous visit, they would have to be my top five

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Although, on the note of skiing, Lake Mountain (accessible from Marysville) might be the most expensive day of country skiing you could have (considering it is usually free in Canada), but it is really fun and was totally worth it since there were many trails and your pass entitles you to a full day, and a wide range of high quality (mostly) equipment.

1. Phillip Island:

watch the little penguins come in from a day of fishing on the surf and rush up the beach to their burrows. In close proximity to the Penguins is a Koala sanctuary. And it was there I saw a Kookaburra and a snake and realised who was going to eat who… You can see seals out on their rock at the Nobbies nearby. It’s a wildlife bonanza!!!

2. Yarra Valley:

Healesville Sanctuary (see baby koalas being fed and ‘roos; and it’s the only place they have successfully bred platypus); Yarra Valley Wine Touring is another great day out.

3. Great Ocean Road:

12 Apostles and the many shapes and shipwrecks of Victoria’s famous limestone Coast…it’s amazing. If you can stay the night and make it a two-day trip you can enjoy it more slowly, but you can drive pretty far along past Geelong and still come back to Melbourne that night. Bell’s Beach, Victorian surfers’ favourite spot, is accessed from Torquay.

4. Otways:

Although this area is famous for its ‘Otway Tree-Top walk’, I had an amazing weekend there without even getting that far! There is a cheap little cabin campground which allows you to in their backyard and count wild koalas very intimately–I saw 20 in one afternoon! From there you can also do a hearty walk to the old lighthouse (Victoria’s first). Ok this might be tough in a day, but you could do it.

5. The Peninsula:

There are hot springs, wineries and chartered fishing on the peninsula. You could even bike to here along the Bay (past Frankston).

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