From brilliant colours to out-of-this-world wildlife experiences, autumn hits differently in these Australian towns.
One can no more say what autumn ‘is’ in Australia than you can rattle off the thousands of ecosystems we have here on this mind-boggling big continent.
Here, autumn is not so often the scent of spiced pumpkin in the air and piles of dead leaves to kick through, as it is a definite shift in the natural world towards the colder months.
Whether you want your autumnal experience to be gallivanting through a deciduous forest or escaping the incoming chill for just that little bit longer, we’ve got the town for you.
1. Orange, NSW
While it’s always a good time to visit the vines in this Central West town, come autumn Orange attracts visitors from all around the state for its Orange F.O.O.D (Food of Orange District) Week . If you can’t make it for the end of March when the festival is on, don’t fret. Head out apple picking, book in for some tastings at a local vineyard and prepare for your tastebuds to be dazzled at one of its gourmet natural restaurants.
Orange in Autumn is not to be missed. (Image: Destination NSW)
2. Bright, Vic
Take a weekend break up in the High Country town of Bright. In autumn, the Victorian Alps are at their best as local poplars, elms, oaks and maple trees burst into spectacular fall colours.
Enjoy a weekend break in the High Country town of Bright.
3. Exmouth, WA
Swap one majestic natural experience for another when you fly to the town of Exmouth on the Coral Coast to see the annual migration of whale sharks. These gentle giants are the biggest fish in the world.
Each year, they make their way to the Ningaloo Reef on the Western Australian coast, near Exmouth. Once you spot them on a tour, you can even slip into the waters for a closer look.
See the annual migration of whale sharks in Exmouth. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)
As well as stopping at the region’s famous cellar doors, spend an afternoon bushwalking in the nearby Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park or Para Wirra Conservation Park, or cycling through town with your friends.
Pick some grapes in the Barossa this autumn. (Image: Barossa Grape & Wine Association)
5. Strahan, Tas
Located at the entry to the wilderness of western Tasmania, Strahan is surrounded by a whopping 19 national parks and reserves.
Embark on an adventure with Gordon River Cruise, explore the nearby rainforests, get a taste of the harsh convict life at Sarah Island on Macquarie Harbour , and gorge yourself on the freshest of fresh seafood at this marine town.
Explore the wilderness from this marine town. (Image: Stu Gibson)
6. Armidale, NSW
Take the Waterfall Way inland out to this New England High Country town for the Armidale Autumn Festival. A celebration of the changing of seasons, it takes place at the beginning of April, when the burnt oranges begin to take root in the foliage.
Start with a walk in the heritage-listed Queens Park, with its tree-lined avenues, and then head up to Picnic’s Point, with its epic views over the colours of the Great Dividing Range. Want more? We’ve lined up the best things to do in Toowoomba, here.
Toowoomba, ‘the garden city’, blooms in autumn. (Image: Tourism and Events Queensland)
8. Margaret River, WA
Come March, the summer crowds that visit this magical wine and produce region are dying down, making the summer the perfect time to plan your trip here.
Walk among the towering trees of the Boranup Karri Forest. (Image: Tourism Western Australia)
9. Richmond, Tas
Take a day trip from Hobart to the colonial-era town of Richmond. With buildings that date back to the 1820s, a trip to this pretty Tassie town can seem like a step back in time.
Check out the view of the Coal River from the Richmond Bridge, which was built by convict labour, and take a trip to Australia’s oldest intact gaol.
Try a tipple from the nearby Coal River Valley growing region, stop by the miniature model village, and search for goodies at the village market.
This pretty Tassie town can seem like a step back in time. (Image: Poon Wai Nang)
10. Yarra Valley, Vic
While it may be most famous for its pinot noir and chardonnay, the Yarra Valley is also a stunner when it comes to its pretty autumnal gardens.
Closer to the heart of the Yarra, take a tour of the wineries; that, at this time of the year, will be collecting up the grape harvest.
The Yarra Valley is also a stunner when it comes to its pretty autumnal gardens.
Kate Bettes is a freelance travel writer. Whether having a picnic in Vietnamese jungle with new friends, or partying in the back of a limousine in Hollywood, Kate’s experiences have left her with the sneaking suspicion that the best travel memories happen when you least expect. It’s this feeling - and how to get it - that she loves to write about.
The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.
There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd . In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.
Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.
‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.
Exchanging city chaos for country calm
The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)
I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.
I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.
The trails and treasures of the Grampians
Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)
Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.
Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles . I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.
Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)
There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail , Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.
Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.
“There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.
Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)
We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.
Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)
The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.
What else is on offer in The Grampians?
Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)
You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.
And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region ? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).
Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)
Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.
The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.
Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)
There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.
The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.
Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.
And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.
Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)
You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.
A traveller’s checklist
Staying there
Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity .
