Australia by ice cream – 9 super cool gelato bars

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Traditionally we’ve all screamed for ice cream in the Australian summer… but now the arto of gelato is a serious reason to make a daytrip to one of these experimental taste emporiums. Expect a queue at some of these 9 fan gelato bars, but also expect it to be worth the wait too.

1. Cow and the Moon, Sydney

Since taking out the Gelato World Tour title this year in Italy with its Mandorla affogato flavour, the lines at the family-run Cow and the Moon café in Enmore have run down the street and into the papers.

2. Crazy Acres, Darwin

Venture around 55 kilometres out of Darwin to find this family-owned shop on a property that grows mangoes and other delicious tropical fruits. Buffalo Vanilla ice-cream is a popular pick and you can savour the flavour while taking in a flick at Darwin’s famous Deckchair Cinema where the delicacies are sold. They’ve also just opened a kiosk at local swimming hole, Berry Springs.

3. Ben & Jerry’s Scoop, Wagon Perth

If you’re hovering around the Perth Cultural Centre this summer, cruise past the scoop wagon – a converted Airstream caravan that doubles as a shop, slinging out all your Ben & Jerry’s favourites.

4. Massimo’s Gelateria, Noosa, Qld

If Noosa had children, we dare say they’d be named summer and ice-cream: the main drag of Hastings is littered with shops selling the stuff. But there’s only one place locals flock to for a scoop or two and that’s Massimo’s. Take one waffle cone, add a scoop of coconut and a scoop of mango, top with a walk along Main Beach and there you have it: instant summer memory.

5. Dooleys Ice-Cream, Apollo Bay, Vic

If you’re traversing the Great Ocean Road on Australia Day, pop your mug in here to taste the special Aussie day flavours – such as vegemite, weet-bix with banana and honey, and iced vovo. Oh, come on – it’d be un-Australian not to try at least one…

6. Gelati Clinic, Bermagui, NSW

This little shop in the seaside town of Bermagui, NSW, is packed with sandy-footed families during summer. Made with mostly locally grown, organic fruit, they conjure up tasty treats such as blood orange and macadamia, and if you have a spare kilo of fresh fruit laying about you can swap it for a scoop of your favourite frosted flavour.

7. Pompei’s, Bondi, NSW

You’ll find endless decadent tubs of whipped, creamy gelato in this open-air store, set one street back from Bondi’s golden shoreline. When summer rolls around, backpackers and hipsters can be seen jostling for a taste of the traditional Italian-style gelati.

8. The Daintree Ice Cream Company, en route to Cape Tribulation, Qld

A must for a pit-stop on your way to, or from, Cape Tribulation is this humble institution. Sample tropical fruit flavours like black sapote – commonly referred to as ‘chocolate pudding fruit’ – and jackfruit, with flavours resembling banana and pineapple.

9. Gelato Messina (various Sydney & Melbourne)

Each and every week at Australia’s most outrageous gelato chain chefs are given between three and five hours to experiment with new flavour combinations – like their recent ‘red velvet’ concoction (cream cheese gelato with red velvet cake). We wouldn’t be surprised if it was during one such session that their latest idea, the Messina Dessert Bar was dreamt up – a one-off concept store that’s opened just in time for summer. See gelatomessina.com

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This geological wonder is hiding in the heart of Victoria

    Michael TurtleBy Michael Turtle
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    Mythical, historical and most of all, spectacularly beautiful, Buchan Caves demands you take your time – and a tour. 

    In the pools of water, so still they could be mirrors, the reflections of the stalactites make these limestone towers seem even taller. Almost 400 million years ago, an underground river carved through the rock to create the Buchan Caves . Now, artworks created by dripping water adorn these subterranean galleries: stalactites hanging from the ceiling, pillars connecting some to the ground, even curtain-like wave formations clinging to the stone.

    Caves House
    Visit the caves for the day or stay onsite in the campground or at the self-contained Caves House. (Image: Ben Savage)

    “This is called the Fairy Cave because it’s full of fairy dust,” a guide tells visitors as they enter a cavern glittering with “calcite that’s solidified into thousands of tiny little diamond shapes”.  Buchan Caves is Victoria’s largest cave system, but Fairy Cave is a highlight and, along with nearby Royal Cave, is accessible only by tour. Naturally cold, naturally dark, these caverns deep below the surface light up as the local experts tell their stories. 

    couple walking in cave
    You’ll need to book a guided tour to see the caves. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Among the hundreds of caves, some can be easily accessed from the surface. For instance, a casual stroll along the FJ Wilson Interpreted Walk, as kangaroos watch on from beneath acacia trees, leads into the 400-metre-long Federal Cave and its natural steps of white limestone. A slightly longer track, the Granite Pools Walk heads through soaring forest down into moss-covered gullies where the calls of lyrebirds trill through the leaves. 

    A quick history lesson on Buchan Caves 

    Buchan Caves
    Buchan Caves are a must-visit attraction in Gippsland. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Among the geology and the nature are millennia of history. This part of East Gippsland connects the high country to the coast and was long a place of refuge for the local Gunaikurnai people on seasonal migrations to the mountains. Archaeological studies show humans lived here up to 18,000 years ago, with artefacts such as small stone tools found around the site. But not too far into the caverns – oh no! The Gunaikurnai didn’t dare venture deep into the dark at Buchan Caves, telling stories they were inhabited by gnome-like nyols (small grey-skinned creatures that could steal memories). 

    Buchan Caves Hotel
    The Buchan Caves Hotel was rebuilt after burning down in 2014. (Image: Jess Shapiro)

    By the early 1900s, more people had started to hear about these incredible caves and so the Moon family set up home at the site and started to run tours below ground for intrepid visitors. More than a century later, their historic residence is available as accommodation, with the three-bedroom house sleeping up to eight people and now equipped with modern amenities the Moons could only have dreamt of. 

    But whether you stay overnight or just spend the day here, it’s worth taking your time to explore more than just the main caves, to get a deeper understanding of one of Victoria’s fascinating geological attractions.