Australie, VIC, Melbourne, ballonvaart
A great way to travel through the state of Victoria in south-east Australia is by rental car. A number of highlights include the Great Ocean Road, the spa region of Daylesford and Mornington Peninsula, with its spectacular beaches and no less than 170 wineries. Wilson Promontory National Park, which is located on the southern most tip of mainland Australia, is well worth a visit, as is Melbourne.
The green trams are an efficient and fun way to travel through Melbourne. Located on Port Philip Bay, Melbourne is a financial, cultural and artistic centre that constantly competes with Sydney to be the better of the two cities. There is always something new to see or do here, which is the way it's always been. Melbourne was the epicentre of the gold rush at around 1800 and the city shared fully in Australia's wealth during later times. Fortunately, the elegant buildings, parks and lanes have been preserved well and are complemented perfectly by adjoining modern buildings.
You will find many Victorian mansions and offices from the mid-19th century on the Golden Mile. The National Gallery of Art is also nearby, which houses the Ian Potter Centre - home to one of Australia's most extensive collections of Aboriginal art.
The trendy areas of St Kilda and South Yarra are both great places to visit during a visit to Melbourne. These historical districts are packed with great shops, lively street cafes and super restaurants. The Docklands, which for many years was a run-down shipping yard, has been transformed into a mini world-city with historical wharfs, unique art, architectonic designs, shops and restaurants. The recently developed South Bank - the south bank of the Yarra River - is a vibrant arts and entertainment district where you can shop and stroll along the river. In Chapel Street you can sit and watch the world go by while enjoying a delicious cup of coffee.
Behind Melbourne's elegant facade lie a zigzag of narrow streets and alleys called the Laneways. These are lined with light installations, tromp l'oeils and artistic graffiti that make it easy to see why the laneways might be referred to as an alternative art route. There are also hidden 'laneway bars', and once you've found these you won't believe you eyes. Some are so extravagantly designed that you'd almost think you had walked into a gallery - until you order one of the unique cocktails.
You can take a number of great trips from Melbourne: to Philip Island for example, where whole families of penguins come on to dry land for the night. A short drive eastwards takes you to Walhalla, one Victoria's hidden treasures. It's almost as though time has stood still in this authentic mining town.
Matthew Flinders, explorer and deviser of the name 'Australia', wrote the following when he sailed around Cape Otway at the end of the 18th century: 'I have seldom seen a more fearful section of coastline'. Eighty shipwrecks followed, which cost hundreds of passengers, prisoners and immigrants their lives. The 130-kilometre stretch of coastline between Moonlight Head and Port Fairy was thus extremely deserved of the name 'The Shipwreck Coast'. You can still see evidence of these tragic accidents: twenty-five shipwrecks have been recorded between Lavers Hill and Port Fairy. The anchor of the 'Loch Ard' is on display at the Visitor's Centre in Port Campbell and the anchors of two ships that crashed at Moonlight Head lie at the bottom of the cliffs.
The Otway Fly Treetop Walk is a fantastic experience: you can literally walk over the treetops on the steel bridge and look down to see how the tightly packed rainforest extends upwards some 25 metres underneath you.
The Triplet Waterfalls can be heard before they come into view: three waterfalls create a thunderous sound. The breathtaking views at Otway Lighthouse are over the ‘Twelve Apostles' limestone formation. They protrude inaccessibly out of the Indian Ocean, while the water erodes them mercilessly, millimetre by millimetre. The recently opened Great Ocean Walk is a 91-kilometre walking trail that takes you along the coast and offers exceptional views of the Twelve Apostles, Otway and Port Campbell National Park, in addition to sheltered beaches, virgin rivers, forests and heathland.
The small mining town of Daylesford was set up at Sovereign Hill in 1850. You can saunter here through the old-fashioned shops and watch on while men perform age-old trades, or visit the Gold Museum where pure gold valued at more than 33,000 Euros is melted and poured into bullion bars. The quaint town of Daylesford is also worth a visit, with its various natural springs and streams that you can tap or pump, to discover how each of these all have their own particular flavour.
Major Mitchel, who was the first person to climb this mountain range in 1836, named the rugged sandstone formations after the Scottish Grampians. Here you can go walking, rock climbing and abseiling and admire the thousand different types of endemic plants that grow here in the wild. It is also home to a countless number of different animals. Some of the peaks reach 1000 metres and the views, waterfalls and lakes are indescribably beautiful. Sailing and rowing are very popular on Lake Bellfield and this is also a great place to go fishing. Halls Gap is a nice village on the edge of the lake in which a visitor's centre and game park have been set up. To counterbalance vast abundance of nature, you will also find Aboriginal rock art in this area. You might also like to visit one of the twenty or more wineries located in the Grampians, or in the Pyrenees to the east.
The Mornington Peninsula is on the south coast of Victoria, around an hour's drive from Melbourne. It has spectacular beaches and no less than 170 wineries. You can also pay a visit here to one of Australia's largest fruit farmers: strawberries are his business, his passion and his life. Or you might like to visit a lavender farm and find out all there is to know about the countless types of and uses for lavender. Author's Seat offers you a great view of the peninsula and Port Philip Bay, and if you follow the stunning coastal road from Dromana you will be taken past Mount Martha and eventually arrive in Mornington. Time for a late lunch in the harbour? It promises to be a lovely afternoon!
The charming seaside resort of Lakes Entrance is over 300 kilometres east of Melbourne, on the edge of Ninety Mile Beach and where the Gippsland Lakes meet the Southern Ocean. Jemmy's Point Lookout offers fantastic views of the town and the surrounding lakes and you can either a take trip across the lakes, or take to the ropes yourself. In the summer you can rent a catamaran. You could also go fishing for your evening meal; but why would you want to? Lakes Entrance is known as 'Seafood Capital' due to the many fishing trawlers operating in the area. Lake Tylers Township is a great place to visit, and you can feast your eyes on all the fantastic sights during a drive through Lake Tylers Forest Park.
Wilson Promontory is the most popular national park in Victoria and has been nicknamed 'the Prom' by the local people. It's located at the most southern tip of mainland Australia and contains the largest section of coastal wildlife in Victoria. Granite cliffs, mountains, forests and fern-covered valleys border the coastline along this 70-kilometre stretch, and there are a number of islands just off the coast where penguins and seabirds nest, and Australian sea lions breed.
