eschaton

We would be driving north from Melbourne to Canberra in mid Jan. Which is the better place to spend a few hours - Yarra Valley or Daylesford? Our interests - scenic beauty, good local food and shops selling local crafts and similar nonsense that females tend find interesting.

shandy

Hi eschaton,

When I have to head up the Hume Freeway I head east of Melbourne towards the Yarra Valley. When I get to the Melba Highway I head up there and often have a browse through the shops at Yarra Glen. (If you are interested in Healesville sanctuary, aussie animals only, you could go all the way through to that and then double back a bit to the Melba Hwy).

Another good spot for browsing is at Yea when the Melba Highway finishes. Some nice foodie shops there with local produce.

From then I head over to Mansfield and travel up through the King Valley on the C521. This will take you through some good scenery although in January I'm afraid it will all be very brown and dry, forget green and luscious. A stop off at Powers Lookout between Cheshunt South and Cheshunt will give you a great view over the Alps.

The King Valley is famous for its local produce, especially its cheese so plenty of places to stop along the way.

The C521 will take you through to the Hume Freeway where you can then chew up the miles to Canberra.

If doing the King Valley is going to take too much extra time, after Yea you could turn left onto the Goulbourn Highway and head across to Seymour when you can pick up the Hume at Seymour. However, if you can afford the time, the other route is much more pleasant. The Hume is just one long very boring stretch of highway so I avoid it as long as possible.

Bushranger

The Yarra Valley is certainly more on the way to Canberra than Daylesford for which you would be heading out west towards Ballarat before turning off to D and certainly a lot further out.

shandy has given you a good idea of the route, and just one alternative I'd suggest if you're going to Mansfield is to continue along through Healesville on The Marrondah Highway and you will take in a lovely forested section called The Black Spur - not long after passing Maroondah Reservoir (nice picnic grounds there too), the road descends slightly to level out for just a few hundred metres before the Spur and in on the right there is a beautiful little forest glen picnic area.

You also have many Yarra Valley wineries about as well, before you get to Healesville, and with the time, a great way out there would be to do a drive through the Dandenongs, take a walk in Sherbrooke Forest from Ferny Creek if you've not been, and then a morning devonshire tea at Sassafras, Olinda or Mount Dandenong before heading down the other side and across to the Maroondah Hwy., or around the back way through Monbulk, Seviile and Woori Yallock - night too sure whether cherries will be being picked but do keep an eye out for roadside stalls for the cheapest freshest fruit.

Within the more heavily forested areas there'll still be some greenery, ferntrees and the like, but as shandy says the countryside out of the forests, especially with the little rain will be looking brown and dry.

I have never driven it but shandy may know and can advise, but there's a back way also over to Myrtlefield (is that all sealed DYK shandy?), for if so, and you are making a trip of a couple of days, I would head that way and perhaps across to and stay at Beechworth if doing it over a couple of days. And if so, an alternative would be to take a drive up Mt. Buffalo and then back down (Beautiful Chalet there, sadly was damaged badly in fires a few years back, and not re-opened AFAIK) to stay either Beechworth or Bright.

I say Bright, for if you want to stay off the relatively boring Hume Freeway/Highway altogether, you could head over Tawonga Gap from Bright to Kiewa Valley Highway and then down that to turn off at Kiewa to go through Tangambalanga and on the Murray Valley Highway through Corryong and turning on to the Apline Way for Khancoban, Thredbo, Jindabyne and then Cooma before Canberra - a great drive that allows you to also do a detour up to Mt Kosciuszko via the ski tube train from Bullocks Flat on the Alpine Way past Thredbo.

By picking and choosing, you could do it comfortably in two days, three a breeze and one would be horrendous foing even the shortest route, and if you have a look at www.travelmate.com.au and put in some town names, you will get directions so you do not get lost (hopefully) if you do not map read too well.

eschaton

Those are very helpful replies, though I needed a detailed road map understand what you are getting at.
Heading north by way of Yarra valley does make sense.
In fact I've just booked a night in Beechworth, 'Lilac Cottage' - based on some pics on a website; a bit of a stab in the dark really.

Bushranger

You will not be disappointed with Beechworth for the whole town is near a living Museum, with some beautiful older buildings for pubs with dining rooms and restaurants.

If you're there at a reasonable time to have an hour or so before dark, there's a lovely walk about a lake just on the east of the main centre which is virtually just one block with a main cross-road, so you cannot really get lost.

prue

FYI on January 17 ' The Opera In the Alps' will be held in Beechworth - this is an annual event that causes huge interest - with people travelling from far and wide to enjoy the chance of hearing top artists perform in an outdoor setting.
Further information on this and anything pertaining to the area
www.beechworthonline.com.au

DownUnder

To Canberra via the Yarra Valley with an overnight at Beechworth is a great way to go. In many ways Beechworth, with its Ned Kelly links, is more interesting than Daylesford and the surrounding countryside is some of the best. This site might help you www.visitvictoria.com with a route planner to assist.

eschaton

Thanks for the great help and tips. Each of the above has given me useful ideas that make planning a trip so much fun. My new itinerary looks much more interesting than my original - which looked like merely getting from A to B. This is a great forum.

shandy

eschaton, I have no doubt you will enjoy Beechworth, it is a great little place. If you wish to go via the King Valley route that I mentioned earlier that fits in very nicely with Beechworth. If you weren't heading back to the Hume for Canberra, Beechworth and/or Bright would have been the next logical stop.

If you have the time, Bushranger's suggestion about continuing on through Bright, Corryong etc. is certainly what I would do. It would be so much nicer than racing up the Hume. However you are talking about making it a 2-3 day trip instead.

Bushranger, I think that the back road betweeen Mytrleford and the King Valley is not all bitumenized.
I think it would probably be better to got with Yea, Mansfield, then up the C521 (King Valley) to Milawa. From Milawa there will be signs on how to cut across to Beechworth.

At Beechworth you can pick up some really good non-tacky souvenirs at Beechworth Gold. I never actually stay at Beechworth so I don't really know the restaurants there, but at Myrtleford a really good place is Range, and in Bright there is Simone's. Both are excellent.

Bushranger

Yep Shandy, I would not be surprised if there is still some of the Myrtleford road not sealed, and coming out at Milawa is not at all a bad option as you can visit Brown Bros winery there eschaton, not a bad drop of different varieties they do.

Seeing as you've booked Beechworth, the Alpine way route via Mytrleford, Bright and Kiewa Valley will be about 150 km. longer than back to the Hume and then cutting back from Yass to Canberra, and being less than freeway type conditions, you could be looking at 2+ hours longer, but enjoying the country touring aspect.

You could do an alternate route from Beechworth to the Alpine Way that bypasses the above description, and will make the journey something closer to 50 km. longer heading from Kiewa to town of Kiewa where you turn off the Kiewa Valley Highway for the Murray Valley Highway, still a lovely drive and only about an hour longer all up.

eschaton

Previous threads have grimly warned readers that the inland route from Melbourne to Sydney is one merely to be tolerated. Thanks for reassuring me that this need not be so.
Using your advice I discovered from other web sources that Beechworth is not just an overnight stop for weary motorists, after all, but a destination in its own right.
And yes, I do think the much maligned capital is worth at least an overnight visit as well.
Thanks so much for all you help.

Bushranger

eschaton,
By "Previous threads have grimly warned readers that the inland route from Melbourne to Sydney is one merely to be tolerated."
They are no doubt referring o the Hume Hwy. which in days bygone was interesting enough in some respects but also quite deadly at times given the extent of traffic, it being the shortest road link between the capitals.

Over time it has just about all been reconstructed as a dual carriageway route and whilst now much safer, it is the monotony of the drive coupled with a degree of dryness that makes people think of it as it is.
I still use it if it is a case of doing the trip as quickly as possible, and have even used it to cut from Yass towards Canberra but bypassing to get to the NSW south coast at Batemans Bay.

But certainly the alternative inland route or going via the coast or a combination is for more the touring holiday drive.

Melbourne > east to Cann River and then up to Cooma and Canberra, another reasonable way.

If you're going on from Canberra to Sydney and again want to see some interesting country, I'd head from Canberra out through Queanbeyan to Braidwood and then down the escarpment to Nerrigen, a cuppa at Braidwood and Fish and Chips at the wharf there for lunch.
If you had two days, there's quite a bit in the BB area to keep one interested - sanstone for the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons was mined down there and shipped up to Sydney - quite an expense when they're only for show.

But BB is only ~275Km. from Sydney and what will make an interesting five hour or so drive would be to turn off at Nowra for the Kangaroo Valley and head up to Fitzroy Falls, and then across through Robertson (where Babe was filmed) and back down to the Princess Hwy. just south of Wollongong and then just north of W take the Lawrence Hargreaves Coastal Drive that will take you up through the Royal National Park and back onto the Princess Hwy.

Daylight Saving Time will give you plenty of daylight to allow for stop offs here and there along the way - heading past Nowra a bit to Berry and then doubling back or taking an alternate route into Kangaroo Valley from Berry would be well worthwhile.

eschaton

Thanks, bushranger for all the valuable information. After Canberra I'll have to make haste for Sydney by the Hume Hwy. However we do have plan for a future trip to Jervis Bay and Narooma(a fantasy of ours is to stay at a lighthouse in wild weather) I'll refer to this post again for ideas of interesting routes.