Page 445 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia

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EASTERN VICTORIA

Eastern Victoria is a region of immense natural beauty with
snow-topped mountains, eucalyptus forests, fertile inland
valleys, wild national parks and long sandy beaches. Some
of the state’s finest wine-growing areas are here, set around
historic towns of golden sandstone. Fast rivers popular with
rafters flow through the region and ski resorts resembling
Swiss villages are found in the Victoria Alps.

Eastern Victoria has a range of attractions and peaks at village resorts such as Mount
for the visitor. The fertile plains of the Buller and Falls Creek (see pp452–3). In
northeast, crossed by the Goulburn, summer, walk among the wildflowers in
Ovens, King and Murray rivers, offer a feast Alpine National Park, hike to the summit
for the tastebuds: Rutherglen red wines; of Mount Feathertop, or try a rafting
Milawa mustards; local cheeses; and expedition down rivers such as the
luscious peaches, pears and apricots from mighty Snowy.
Shepparton. Historic 19th-century towns To the east of Melbourne are the mag-
such as Beechworth and Chiltern are nificent beaches of the Gippsland region.
beautifully preserved from their gold- Favourite attractions here include Phillip
mining days. Glenrowan is the site where Island with its fairy penguins, and Wilsons
Australia’s most famous bushranger, Ned Promontory National Park with its wildlife,
Kelly, was captured. An old-fashioned granite outcrops and pristine waters.
paddlesteamer rides regularly on the Near the regional centres of Sale and
broad Murray River near Wodonga. Bairnsdale lie the Gippsland Lakes,
But towards the Victorian Alps and the Australia’s largest inland waterway and
towns of Bright and Mansfield another an angler’s paradise. Beyond, stretching
landscape emerges. This one is wild and to the New South Wales border, is
very beautiful. In winter, there is exciting Croajingolong National Park and 200 km
downhill skiing among the snow gums (125 miles) of deserted coastline.

Canoeing down the Kiewa River near Beechworth in Eastern Victoria
Snow daisies on Mount Hotham, in the Alpine National Park