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2025 Readers’ Choice Awards: Editors’ Choice

Australian TravellerBy Australian Traveller
Winner: The Kimberley, WA

Why we love the Kimberley…

If there’s one region that tops the scoreboard or wish list of every Australian Traveller team member, it’s the Kimberley. It was while co-founder Quentin Long was flying over Broome/Rubibi, after all, that the idea for the magazine first took flight. For print editor Imogen Eveson, a trip to Kununurra for the Ord Valley Muster first sealed the deal, while senior writer Elizabeth Whitehead has just returned from a soul-stirring stay at El Questro. From driving its dusty roads, discovering living culture, diving into secret waterholes cradled by red rock and endless blue sky or soaring over incredible geological formations such as the Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park, the Kimberley feels quintessentially Australian – and yet, somehow, still remains a hidden gem. 

Perched above the Chamberlain River and framed by burnt-orange cliffs, The Homestead at El Questro invites you to an experience like no other. Unwind with sundowners beneath a sky full of stars and wake to the serene sounds of the Kimberley.

Hot tips for visiting the Kimberley…

Explore the Kimberley coast on a luxury small-ship expedition with the likes of Silversea, Ponant or True North for access to remote locations within this wild frontier. 

Runners-up:

  • The thrill of Race Week at Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, Qld – Katie Carlin, head of content
  • The Cocos Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean are like a living postcard – Emily Murphy, email and social editor
  • Arnhem Land is wild Australia, filled with natural beauty and ancient culture – Kassia Byrnes, native content editor
  • A weekend getaway at Osborn House, the perfect blend of luxury, heritage and small-town charm in NSW’s Southern Highlands – Taylah Darnell, writer/producer
  • The Arkaba Walk in South Australia’s outback as a way of reconnecting with nature – Megan Arkinstall, sub editor
  • Cycling the Pedal to Produce trail in Victoria’s High Country – Carla Grossetti, sub editor

For all the winners and runners-up, visit our 2025 Readers’ Choice hub.

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Victoria’s surprising new outdoor adventure hotspot

    Craig TansleyBy Craig Tansley
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    A town charmingly paused in time has become a hot mountain biking destination. 

    There’s a forest reserve full of eucalyptus and pines surrounding town – when you combine all the greenery with a main street of grand old buildings still standing from the Victorian Gold Rush, Creswick looks more period movie set than a 21st-century town.  

    old gold bank Victoria
    Grand buildings from the Victorian gold rush. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    This entire region of Victoria – the Central Goldfields – is as pretty-as-a-picture, but there’s something extra-special about Creswick. I used to live 30 minutes north; I’d drive in some evenings to cruise its main street at dusk, and pretend I was travelling back in time. 

    It was sleepy back then, but that’s changed. Where I used to walk through its forest, now I’m hurtling down the state’s best new mountain bike trails. There’s a 60-kilometre network of mountain bike trails – dubbed Djuwang Baring – which make Creswick the state’s hottest new mountain biking destination.  

    Meet Victoria’s new mountain biking capital 

    Creswick bike trail
    This historic town has become a mountain biking hotspot.

    Victoria has a habit of turning quiet country towns into mountain biking hotspots. I was there in the mid-2000s when the tiny Otways village of Forrest embarked on an ambitious plan to save itself (after the death of its timber cutting industry) courtesy of some of the world’s best mountain bike trails. A screaming success it proved to be, and soon mountain bike trails began popping up all over Victoria. 

    I’m no expert, so I like that a lot of Creswick’s trails are as scenic as they are challenging. I prefer intermediate trails, such as Down Martuk, with its flowing berms and a view round every corner. Everyone from outright beginners to experts can be happy here. There’s trails that take me down technical rock sections with plenty of bumps. But there’s enough on offer to appeal to day-trippers, as much as hard-core mountain-bikers. 

    I love that the trails empty onto that grand old main street. There’s bars still standing from the Gold Rush of the 1850s I can refuel at. Like the award-winning Farmers Arms, not to be confused with the pub sharing its name in Daylesford. It’s stood since 1857. And The American Creswick built two years later, or Odessa Wine Bar, part of Leaver’s Hotel in an 1856-built former gold exchange bank.  

    The Woodlands
    The Woodlands is set on a large bushland property. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    Creswick is also full of great cafes and restaurants, many of them set in the same old buildings that have stood for 170 years. So whether you’re here for the rush of the trails or the calm of town life, Creswick provides. 

    A traveller’s checklist 

    Staying there 

    1970s log cabin
    Inside the Woodlands, a chic 1970s log cabin. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    RACV Goldfields Resort is a contemporary stay with a restaurant, swimming pool and golf course. The Woodlands in nearby Lal Lal comprises a chic log cabin set on a 16-hectare property abundant in native wildlife. 

    Eating there 

    Le Peche Gourmand
    Le Peche Gourmand makes for the perfect pitstop for carb and sugar-loading.

    The menu at Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel includes some Thai-inspired fare. Fuel up for your ride on baguettes and pastries from French patisserie Le Peche Gourmand . The Farmers Arms has been a much-loved local institution since 1857. 

    Playing there 

    Miss NorthcottsGarden
    Miss Northcotts Garden is a charming garden store with tea room. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    Creswick State Forest has a variety of hiking trails, including a section of the 210-kilometre-long Goldfields Track. Miss Northcotts Garden is a quaint garden store with tea room.