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Victoria’s surprising new outdoor adventure hotspot

Craig TansleyBy Craig Tansley
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. 

Craig Tansley
Craig Tansley has been a travel writer for over 20 years, winning numerous awards along the way. A long-time sucker for adventure, he loves to write about the experiences to be had on islands, on the sea, in forests or deserts; or anywhere in nature across Australia, and the world.
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This little-known heritage rail journey takes you past charming towns, artworks on silos and lakes

    Joanne KarczBy Joanne Karcz
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    Board the heritage Grainlander and step back in time for a rail journey discovering silo art, Lake Tyrrell and Victoria’s Mallee region.

    One of the best ways to experience Australia is on board a train, and the heritage Grainlader showcases both the beauty of the sprawling Victorian plains and the towering artworks along the Mallee Silo Art Trail.

    Below, I take you on a journey to discover what it’s like to spend two nights aboard this iconic locomotive.

    What is the Grainlander?

    Exterior of Overland Sleeper carriage on The Grainlander
    The vintage sleeper train takes patrons on a journey through regional Victoria. (Image: Joanne Karcz)

    The Grainlander is a heritage overnight sleeper train in Victoria operated by Slow Rail Journeys, the public tour arm of Seven-O-Seven Operations. It travels through the state’s regional areas, highlights include the Mallee Silo Art Trail (guided off-train tours of the large-scale murals are part of the journey).

    Vice President of the volunteer-run not-for-profit organisation, Matt Lucas, says their mission is to “share and restore rail heritage and to promote and increase touring in regional Victoria.”

    The journey

    The Grainlander departs Melbourne from Southern Cross Station
    The Grainlander departs Melbourne. (Image: Joanne Karcz)

    Travelling from Melbourne to Sea Lake, we rumble through Melbourne’s western suburbs and Bacchus Marsh to Ballarat. We pass through towns I’ve never heard of: Wycheproof, Nullawil and Buckrabanyule.

    The quick stops are not conducive to alighting from the train, but there’s time for that on the return journey when I alight at Wycheproof for a brisk walk down the main road to see the tracks tracing parallel lines through the town centre. In Maryborough, I stretch my legs and explore the imposing red brick station.

    From Ballarat, we trace a path via Geelong to Melbourne along a line that carried miners and freight to the goldfields in the 1800s, thus providing train enthusiasts with a unique experience.

    The guest who is on a mission to ride every railway track in Victoria, is thrilled.

    Life on board

    There’s plenty of giggling as guests in the 1962 Southern Aurora Car inspect our cosy single cabins. I open latches, turn a little handle to wind up the venetian blinds and delight at the art deco bed lamp. The drop-down toilet is sealed. That’s fine by me. I’d rather use the facility at the end of the carriage.

    Melbourne’s city lights flash past my window. Although it’s after 10pm, I’m not ready to curl into my tightly made-up bed – which folds up during the day.

    Wobbling along the narrow passage to the Club Lounge, I steady myself with my hands. The woman ahead of me says she “feels like a pinball ricocheting off the walls.”

    A group of women have settled in, their wine glasses resting on the marbled green coffee table, its boomerang shape echoing that of the curved brown faux leather couches. They invite me to join them. Already my nerves as a solo traveller have evaporated.

    Waking early, I sit in bed sipping tea and watch the passing parade of silhouetted trees as the sky lightens.

    Gradually the scene comes to life. Early sunlight brightens a field of yellow canola. Sheep gather under a tree, squawking black crows take off and kangaroos bound across green fields. In Wycheproof, a family standing outside their white picket fence wave, their arms forming big arcs.

    Some guests remain in their cabins, reading or perhaps reminiscing about travelling in these very carriages as children. The 1923 heritage wooden sleeper is like stepping back in time with leadlight features, carved detail in the wooden panelling and even a “SMOKING” sign. As in the premium twin cabins, the seats fold into bunk beds at night.

    Being a social animal, I prefer to chat with other guests in the club or seating lounge.

    We eat well. Hearty breakfasts and Sunday lunch are served in the dining car. In keeping with the organisation’s mission to support local businesses, a bakery in Wycheproof prepares Saturday’s picnic lunch and dinner is in the Royal Hotel Sea Lake, run by a co-operative of local farmers and investors.

    Exploring the Mallee and the Silo Art Trail

    Patchewollock Silo Art by Fintan Magee
    Patchewollock Silo Art by Fintan Magee. (Image: Joanne Karcz)

    Stepping off the train at Nulliwal, we view our first silo art. Jimmy, a black and tan kelpie, looks down from the silo wall. As a special treat, we meet Jimmy himself. Retired from farmwork, he revels in our attention.

    The train pulls into Sea Lake where a colourful mural depicts a young girl on a swing watching the sky change colour as the sun sets. It’s Saturday. Few shops are open, but I still manage to buy a box of Lake Tyrrell Salt. A fellow traveller discovers a Mother Goose teapot for her collector daughter.

    Hotel in Patchewollock
    Patchewollock is one of many charming towns to explore on the journey. (Image: Joanne Karcz)

    We travel by bus to see silo art in the small communities of Lascelles, Roseberry and Patchewollock. The towering works depict local people and represent the resilience, strength and tenacity of those living in the Mallee.

    As the sun sets, the sky at Lake Tyrrell, Victoria’s largest salt lake, itself becomes an artwork. Pastel blues and pinks change to orange and grey as a golden beam spreads across the lake.

    Sunset at Lake Tyrrell
    Stop for sunset at Lake Tyrrell. (Image: Joanne Karcz)

    Details

    From $1,045 per person, fares include all meals and tours. The two-night Slow Rail Journey operates most months except in the hot summer months.

    Guests include rail enthusiasts, couples, solo travellers and mother/daughter duos. The Grainlander is not accessible for wheelchair users. People with mobility issues may have difficulty stepping on board and walking through the train.