6 must-see natural attractions in Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula

From scuba diving an aquatic playground so biodiverse it rivals even the Great Barrier Reef, through to hitting the trails of a national park that boasts the state’s richest wildflower habitat, these six natural attractions offer more than enough reason to visit Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula.

1. Brisbane Ranges National Park

Abundant with native flora and fauna and located some 50 kilometres north-west of Geelong, Brisbane Ranges National Park is popular with hikers and birdwatchers alike. Hit one of its many walking trails and you’re sure to encounter a bird or two and likely even a koala; up to 180 species of birds frequent the park, which is also home to the greatest density of koalas in Victoria.

Moorabool Valley, Brisbane Ranges National Park, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula, VIC, Australia — Hit one of its many walking trails and you’re sure to encounter a bird or two. (Image: Megan Winden)

Come spring, this hinterland pocket is awash with wildflowers (you’ll find more here than anywhere else in the state). Explore the sharp rocky cliffs and gullies, populated with rare wattles, grevilleas, gum trees and bush peas, and soak up the serenity.

Brisbane Ranges National Park, Geelong & The Bellarine, VIC, Australia — Bring your loved ones to witness the abundant native flora and fauna in Geelong. (Image: Visit Geelong & The Bellarine)

2. Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park, Point Lonsdale

Situated at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, not far from the urban sprawl of Melbourne, Geelong and the two peninsulas that flank it, you’d be forgiven for assuming these waters wouldn’t promise much of interest. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Underwater life, Geelong & The Bellarine Peninsula, VIC, Australia — Snorkel or scuba dive and you’ll uncover waters teeming with life. (Image: Visit Geelong & The Bellarine)

Above water, explore the Ramsar Convention-listed wetland of Swan Bay, a habitat that supports nearly 200 bird species. Each summer, some 10,000 migratory waders, such as plovers and curlews, call these intertidal mudflats home. There are also sizable rock pools to investigate at Point Lonsdale during low tide, plus reef breaks to surf and crystalline waters to swim in.

The surprises keep coming underwater. Not only are there more than 30 shipwrecks to dive, but the variety of marine life that inhabits the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park is so vast it’s said to rival that of the Great Barrier Reef. Go scuba diving and you’ll uncover kaleidoscopic sponge gardens and soft corals, thick forests of kelp and huge seagrass beds, all teeming with life. Take a dive at the reefs of Pope’s Eye or Lonsdale Wall and you might spy nudibranchs, Gulf wobbegongs, or shoals of western blue devils, leather jackets, dusky morwongs, giant Australian cuttlefish and southern hulafish, to name but a few.

3. Barwon River

Originating in the Otway Ranges, and meandering east through Forrest and Birregurra before joining the Moorabool River in Geelong and entering the sea at Barwon Heads, this 160-kilometre-long river is located on Wadawurrung country. It was once a rich source of food for the Aboriginal community, who would catch eels and fish for trout and perch off its banks.

Barwon River, South Geelong, Victoria, Australia — Trace this waterway from start to finish and you’d find a plethora of native vegetation lining its banks, making it a dendrophile’s delight. (Image: Visit Geelong Bellarine)

Trace this waterway from start to finish and you’d find a plethora of native vegetation lining its banks, making it a dendrophile’s delight: there are river red gums, Australian blackwoods, silver wattles, woolly tea trees, drooping sheoaks, and even the nation’s floral emblem, the golden wattle. Wildlife also finds refuge in the river and on its banks, from the elusive nankeen night heron and platypus to swamp wallabies and native water rats.

Paddle boarding at the Barwon River, Geelong, VIC, Australia — Go paddle boarding on Barwon River. (Image: Visit Geelong & The Bellarine)

Geelong is home to a number of peaceful parks and reserves that capitalise on the river’s beauty and natural features, such as Buckley Falls, Fyansford Common and Zillah Crawcour Park. The riverside Balyang Sanctuary is arguably the pick of the bunch; once a swamp, this park now encompasses nine hectares of lake and native bushland, often visited by pelicans, pied cormorants and Eurasian coots.

Children riding bikes at Barwon River and Park, Victoria, Australia — Geelong is home to a number of peaceful parks and reserves that capitalise on the river’s beauty and natural features. (Image: Visit Victoria)

4. Geelong Botanic Gardens, Geelong

The city’s green lung, Geelong Botanic Gardens has been going strong since 1851. Not only is it home to your more typical botanic garden fare – from rose gardens to plentiful lawns fit for picnicking, and a conservatory that houses a collection of tropical plants – it’s also home to more than a dozen ‘heritage’ trees.

Geelong Botanic Gardens, VIC, Australia — Geelong Botanic Gardens is known as the city’s green lung. (Image: Visit Geelong & The Bellarine)

These specimens are so important they’re listed on the National Trusts of Australia’s Register of Significant Trees, and they include a positively huge Chilean wine palm and a maidenhair tree native to China.

5. You Yangs Regional Park

The granite peaks of this mountain range rise just 320 metres high, but they cut a striking silhouette against the pancake-flat Werribee Plain.

You Yangs Regional Park, Geelong & The Bellarine Peninsula, VIC, Australia — Whip out your binoculars, as there’s a wealth of birdlife to spy. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Whip out your binoculars, as there’s a wealth of birdlife to spy among the You Yangs Regional Park’s scrub and gum tree-flecked slopes. From the park’s summit you can also gorge on sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.

6. Serendip Sanctuary, Lara

A haven for all manner of creatures big and small, Serendip Sanctuary is ground zero for animal lovers. Run by Parks Victoria, the sanctuary is located among the open grassy woodlands, marshlands and wetlands of the volcanic Western Plains, and is home to more than 150 animal species, from kangaroos, wallabies and emus to bearded dragons and spotted-tail quolls. Don’t leave without retreating to one of the bird hides to spy on the plethora of birdlife: among the 150 different species that visit this wildlife park, you might see black kites, Cape Barren geese, bush stone-curlews or the endangered masked owl.

Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat , now one of the largest estates.

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. — The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate , whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor , who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will , who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate — Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods . “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

Come for the wine, stay for the food

pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford — Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges — Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield , embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House .

Eating there

Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument , which also has a sculpture park.

Drinking there

wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges — A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds .

the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage — Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Playing there

a scenic river in Castlemaine — Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens , hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

purple flowers hanging from a tree — Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)