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Visit Melbourne and Tasmania
Australia’s two states, which face each other across the Bass Straits, offer such a diverse spread of Down Under pleasures that they make a perfect two centre holiday.
Victoria offers a rich blend of urban delights coupled with many of those other ingredients makes us want to travel to Australia in the first place. Beyond stylish, cosmopolitan Melbourne, yet within an hour or so’s drive, lies a broad range of fascinating destinations, from wild landscapes to wildlife, old gold rush towns to golden beaches, award-winning wineries and gourmet food producers.
Remote yet highly accessible, Tasmania is Australia’s natural state. At the far corner of the planet and blessed with its cleanest oceans and the freshest air, the island is a Garden of Eden. With more than 40% of the island protected in reserves and national parks, you can step out of your car into primeval forests, drive to some of the most beautiful beaches on the globe and experience a rich colonial convict history. Eating and drinking in Tasmania are also a gourmet’s joy of fresh seafood, cool climate wines and some of Australia’s most inventive chefs.
VICTORIA
Melbourne…
Melbourne is a city with something for everyone. From chic fashion stores to buzzing cafés and trendy bars, botanic gardens to sports stadiums, elegant Victorian-era streetscapes to Manhattan-style skyscrapers, film and food festivals, major sporting events to galleries and opulent theatres, Melbourne has an activity and attraction that will interest everyone.
Bridge & Wickers can arrange 4 nights in Melbourne at the luxury Crown Towers hotel from £296, the perfect base with fantastic location right on the river.
…and Beyond
Once you have exhausted the many attractions of the city head further afield and enjoy the varied experience Victoria has to offer.
Less than an hour north-east of Melbourne are the sleepy farms, boutique hotels, national parks and excellent wineries of the Yarra Valley where a number of award-winning restaurants offer cuisine to compliment its premium chardonnays, pinot noirs and cabernet sauvignons.
Lovers of wildlife will have Phillip Island at the top of their agenda; just 90 minutes from the city, the island is world famous for its nightly parade of Little Penguins waddling in from the ocean to their burrows. Phillip Island can easily be combined with the Mornington Peninsula, an amazingly rich corner of Victoria which has sophisticated restaurants, beautiful beaches, rolling hills, rugged surf, dramatic seascapes, wineries, golf and delightful towns - and all less than an hour’s drive from Melbourne.
Victoria’s best known scenic triumph is the Great Ocean Road, one of the most spectacular drives in the world. It will lead you through national parks, including the Otway Ranges rainforest, and along the coast taking in the iconic Twelve Apostles, the London Bridge and Loch Ard Gorge as well as popular seaside and surfing resorts. Instead of returning along the coast, it is easy to turn the drive into a circular tour that includes the Grampians, a rugged volcanic range of mountains that are home to over 970 species of native plants, 35 types of mammals and 200 species of birds as well as important sites of indigenous culture. You’ll also find lots of walking trails and other outdoor activities.
Those who shun the more active pursuits and prefer a spot of pampering should consider the pretty town of Dayslesford, a hour northwest of Melbourne in the heart of Victoria’s spa country whose natural springs have been in vogue since the 19th century.
The packages
Escape to the Coast
Long acknowledged to be one of the world’s most spectacular driving routes, a section of Australia’s Great Ocean Road - is now a practical option for hikers. Scenic highlights along the 91 km long Great Ocean Walk include the iconic Twelve Apostles and the Otway and Port Campbell National Parks, as well as sheltered beaches, pristine rivers, forests, heathland and coastal woodland.
Bridge & Wickers can arrange a three day escorted walk, for £553, including 2 nights’ accommodation, most meals and transfers to and from Melbourne.
Walk through the vines
The best approach to Victoria’s Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula, which form, with Melbourne, part of a compact, gastronomic triangle of foodie pleasures, is to rent a car and explore at leisure.
Spend your first two nights at Woodman Estate country house, with dinner included. On your second day you’ll have plenty of time to see the best of Australia’s newest and fastest growing boutique wine district, with more than 50 cool climate wineries opening their cellar doors, as well as producers of olives, cheeses, fruits and vegetables. It is also an area of sandy beaches and rolling green hills, plus a history rooting back to the first settlers. The Yarra is just a half hour drive from Melbourne but you’ll spend the night on the spot, at the heritage-listed Chateau Yering on Yering Station bordering the Yarra River.
Bridge & Wickers offers a 4 day self drive from £315 per person, including 3 nights’ accommodation, with breakfast and car hire
TASMANIA
Hobart…
Set on a natural harbour at the mouth of the wide River Derwent, Hobart is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Sandwiched between mountains and the sea, Hobart has forests, rivers and beaches on its doorstep: a natural playground only minutes from downtown. The city’s architecture still reflects this colourful colonial history founded on convicts, wealthy merchants and seamen. Today Hobart is a lively, friendly outdoor city with a happening arts scene, gourmet and organic food, great festivals, a gorgeous Botanical Garden, and the annual blue water race classic, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
Bridge & Wickers offers 3 nights at the Henry Jones Art Hotel, the perfect base with fantastic location right on the waterfront, from £186 per person, room only.
…and Beyond
Tasmania is a temperate wilderness with a fascinating human heritage. The island has been inhabited for some 30,000 years. When it was separated from the mainland by rising waters in Bass Strait some 12,000 years ago, its indigenous Aborigines continued to live on the island, hunting wildlife, collecting seafood, trading and making art. The first European sighting of Tasmania came in 1642 when the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sailed past the island’s west coast and named it Van Dieman’s Land after the then governor of Batavia.
In 1772, the French landed in Tasmania and the British began to settle here from 1803. Seventy thousand convicts were shipped to Tasmania between 1804 and 1852, and in 1856, the island first became known as Tasmania. Convict history and the old whaling and maritime days now form a strong part of Tasmania’s European heritage. Today, this heart shaped island thrives on innovative agriculture, intelligent industry and its burgeoning tourist trade. There’s still a nautical feel to the place, with shipbuilding being an important industry.Tasmania is also Australia’s Antarctic link - it’s often possible to see icebreakers moored in Hobart’s docks, alongside yachts and fishing boats. The ambience of Tasmania today is of a welcoming, laid-back haven that’s eminently civilised, easily accessible, and yet feels blissfully far away from the manic pace of rest of the world.
The packages
Explore the countryside
Start your journey in Hobart at the Henry Jones Art Hotel, a new waterfront address on the spot where Tasmania was first settled 200 years ago. Then drive to Tasmania’s western shores, spending 2 nights in the small fishing village of Strahan at one of a pair of luxurious Wheelhouse Apartments on the edge of the ancient rainforest. On your third day you’ll cruise along the Gordon Franklin Rivers National Park, with a shore stop on Sarah Island, once the convict settlement called ‘Hells Gate’.
Follow the island circuit to Cradle Mountain / Lake St Clair National Park, a World Heritage Site of peaks, plains, mirror lakes and trees. You’ll stay 2 nights at Cradle Mountain Lodge, surrounded by ‘a living museum of wildlife, birds, plants and ancient forests’. From Launceston you would drive to Freycinet National Park - a scenic heaven, clear blue waters and a blanket of bush set against a range of pink granite peaks, staying at Freycinet Lodge overlooking Great Oyster Bay. For your last night head south towards the Tasman Peninsula and Port Arthur, Australia’s most famous penal settlement and overnight at nearby Eaglehawk Neck and the delightful Osprey Lodge Beachfront guest house.
Price from £675 per person including 9 nights’ accommodation, 10 days car hire and river cruise.
Breathe in the fresh air
Just ten miles off Tasmania’s east coast, Maria Island is a national park famous for its abundant bird life. It’s also home to Tasmania’s latest guided walk, a four day, gentle to moderate escorted journey - with two guides and never more than eight guests – through stunning coastal and mountain landscapes. The walk - around 20 miles in total - features secluded beaches, marine life, forest communities, a wildlife refuge, the world’s second most rare goose, endangered birds and, at the northern tip of the island, a convict settlement that pre-dates Port Arthur. And you’ll have virtually the whole island to yourself. It also features fine Tasmanian food and wines, accommodation in private beachfront camps and a banquet followed by an overnight stay in the restored, heritage-listed Bernacchi House at the Darlington settlement. Walking times range from two to six hours a day, except for day three when there is an option to climb the spectacular peak of Bishop & Clerk.
Price from £683 per person including all transport, accommodation and meals.
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Jerry Bridge
and David Wickers are always available to respond to your comments.
