Warm delights in cool mountains

Finding relief from Melbourne’s hot summers inevitably leaves visitors and locals alike heading in one of two directions – to the often-crowded beaches or the nearby cool mountains.

The Dandenong Mountains are delightfully shady, with huge mountain grey gums protecting green ferntree-lined gullies.

>> Destination Dandenongs, Weekends For Two

Just over an hour’s drive from the city, mountain villages such as Olinda and Sassafras are dotted with cafes, country pubs, gourmet eateries and chalet-like family restaurants, serving fresh produce and local wines.

Olinda is traditionally the place to sit back and enjoy Devonshire tea in any season. There’s also an amazing range of galleries, antique and craft shops and outdoor markets.

The artistically inclined can spend hours exploring galleries filled with creations by local, national and international artists, including the works of talented sculptors, painters and woodworkers. There are lively, colorful outdoor markets at Olinda on the second Sunday of every month.

Nearby, the unique National Rhododendron Gardens are famous for their huge, showy flowers blooming on plants as high as 15 metres or more. As one of the highest villages on Mount Dandenong (633 metres), Olinda revels in the cultivation of superb, colorful rhododendrons and azaleas. Spring is the time to visit for an awe-inspiring view of Mother Nature’s finest floral displays.

>> Destination Yarra Valley, Weekends For Two

The nursery Cloudehill is filled with tall beeches, maples and rhododendrons. Also nearby, Williams Ricketts Sanctuary is almost magical, with its haunting faces of indigenous men, women and children beautifully shaped with clay into rocks and tree trunks. Sculptor, the late William Ricketts, saw himself as a spiritual protector of Aboriginal people. Created in the 1930s under towering eucalypts and spreading treeferns, the imaginative sculptures blend perfectly with the natural environment.

The area is also popular for its graded bushwalks in Sherbrooke Park, for instance, where visitors hope to cross paths with native animals such as the echidna or wallaroo, and perhaps encounter the elusive lyrebird – hard to identify because of its tendency to mimic other native birds.

South of Olinda, bustling Belgrave is the home of veteran steam train Puffing Billy, which takes several trips a day to the quaint townships of Emerald and Gembrook.

Further north-east, Marysville sits amid gorgeous tree-laden mountains. A small, sub-alpine resort town 96 km from Melbourne, it is usually visited for its scenic attractions, forest bushwalking and old-fashioned timber guesthouses. Established in the early 1860s, Marysville was once a camping place for diggers en route to the Woods Point goldfield. The area opened up when the railway arrived in 1889.

Marysville eventually became Melbourne’s ‘honeymoon capital’ with natural bushwalks and attractions such as Steavenson Falls, Victoria’s tallest waterfalls, dropping 82 metres in three stages. Visitors have a chance to handfeed possums at night, when the falls are floodlit until midnight.

Close to the Dandenong Mountains, the Yarra Valley is best known for its many high-quality wineries. Victoria’s oldest wine-growing region, the valley has more than 3600 hectares under vine.

Family boutique wineries and larger establishments enable visitors to sample the region’s award-winning cool climate reds and whites in picturesque surroundings. Some wineries offer delicious cheese and snack platters, so tasters can nibble, sip a glass of wine and enjoy magnificent views.

Hot air balloon flights over the valley at sunrise reveal the extent of the budding grapevines as they come to life in spring and summer.

One of the area’s key attractions, Healesville Sanctuary, enables visitors to see Australia’s unique animals in natural habitats. There are also bird enclosures, reptile exhibits and a special watertank exhibit to view the platypus.

Spring and summer are ideal times to head for the ‘hills’ - it’s then just a short trip beyond to the Yarra Valley.