QUICKGUIDE TO VICTORIA

Victoria is a brilliant state to tour in a Travel Wheels campervan or station wagon as its Australia's smallest mainland state. It has a fantastic Mountain Range, National Parks, Rainforests, Deserts and a wonderfully rugged coastline that has been formed by the powerful seas. If you are here in the winter, you can tell your friends you went skiing in Australia!

It is approximately the size of Great Britain, and this means it's a much more manageable size to drive over a three to six week holiday, so this makes it an ideal location for exploring in a Travel Wheels campervan or station wagon.

CAPITAL

The capital of Victoria is Melbourne which has approximately three million people who live in and around the surrounding areas. It is a magnificent multicultural city and this has brought a wealth of fantastic gourmet food from all over the world for the traveller to sample!

One of the magical things about Melbourne is that there are so many things to do in and around the Greater Melbourne area, and it's a great place to use as your base for trips to some of the fantastic natural attractions the state of Victoria offers you. Have a look at the Travel Wheels quick guide below for more details.

CLIMATE

Melbourne has a similar climate to its famous cousin, Sydney, but in fact has less rain than Sydney! However Melbourne is renowned for sometimes having four seasons in one day, but the summer months can be really hot and heat waves are common! One of the great thing about Melbourne in the summer months is that if it's too hot in the city, you can easily head to the coast or up into the wonderful mountains for a cool and refreshing break from the heat.

Below is a list of just some of the fantastic things to see and places to visit on your adventure holiday of a lifetime in Victoria.

• The great Ocean Drive - one of the greatest road trips in the world
• Swim with the dolphins in Victoria - a truly magical experience!
• Melbourne - over 120 different cultures live in and around Melbourne and eating out is a real world wide adventure!
• Visit Bells Beach - the location for the film "Point Break" with Keanu Reeves & Patrick Swayze - this is also a world's famous surf beach with massive waves!
• Surf world museum - www.surfworld.org.au - visit the museum for the history of surfing and lots of great photos of massive waves.
• Torquay - this is home to many of the Australian surf wear companies and they have lots of factory outlets and cheap bargains to fill up your suitcase!
• Canoeing in and around Lake Elizabeth - near Apollo Bay on the great Ocean Road, stop for a day or two and relax before continuing on to the twelve apostles.
• Sample world class wines in the Yarra Valley - it's also a great drive from Melbourne as well!
• Visit the amazing Grampians National Park - one of the best places to see wildlife and beautiful scenery without the crowds. this is a great place for bush walks
• Go skiing in the snowy mountains in winter or fantastic mountain biking in the summer using the ski lifts to take you back up the mountains!
• Explore the Dandenong Ranges National Park
• Phillip Island - see the little fairy penguins emerge from the sea - this is an experience that will last you a lifetime
• Visit the MCG - Melbourne Cricket Ground and watch world class sports with over 90,000 other people!
• Explore the Mornington Peninsula - beautiful scenery
• Wilsons Promontory - an amazing place to explore, excellent bush walking and a brilliant place to see wombats!
• Croajingalong National Park - health lands, wonderful fauna and flora, estuaries, rainforests, and eucalypt forests are some of the treats here
• Travel around Melbourne in an old fashioned tram - a great way to see the city - you can also dine and have a gourmet meal on an old colonial tram
• Mount Feathertop loop walk - fantastic views - a must for bush walkers
• Chill out at St. Kilda - Melbourne's only beachside district
• Visit Ramsey Street - the home of Neighbours tv soap opera
• Pan for gold in Victoria's Goldfields - visit Sovereign Hill and be a part of a golden age of panning for gold in authentic 1950 costumes!