The Mornington Peninsula has the best parts of a Victorian day trip, all bundled up into the one convenient archipelago. Within 90 minutes drive of Melbourne, you’ll find yourself spoilt for choice with a scattering of seaside towns, coastal walks and cool climate wineries.
Ella is set in the hill country of Sri Lanka, where the higher altitude means the air is noticeably cooler and offers immediate respite from the typical humidity. The lush green surrounds are made for hiking, so this is the ultimate place to put your sneakers on and explore as far as you can.
Macedonia is a land-locked country, but suffers nothing for lack of a beach. Ohrid, which is settled alongside one of the deepest and oldest lakes in Europe, has all the magnetism of a coastal city.
A typical day trip from Melbourne might take you to the Dandenong Ranges, the Yarra Valley or even Daylesford. Castlemaine probably isn’t one of the first destinations that come to mind, but I have a feeling that might change in the near future. Something is brewing over there.
There was a time when Melbourne was the richest city in the world. With the discovery of gold in the 1850s, Collins Street became a hub of development and the end result is many of the beautiful and historic buildings that line the street today. My friends have poked fun at my tendency to post ‘yet another photo of Collins St’, but it’s hard not to admire.
Every now and then you arrive somewhere that is so completely different from your version of normal that any kind of similarity is hard to draw. Shibu Onsen is one of those places, where it feels like you’ve not only been transported to a different culture, but a different era.
For some, Los Angeles is the gateway to the USA, a necessary stop before moving east to New York… but for others, it is the destination. I fell into the former category, only budgeting for a few days there upon landing in the States for the very first time. Expecting a tacky, traffic-clogged Tinseltown – I was prepared to hate Los Angeles. But I was too quick to judge and an unexpected like blossomed.
