Victoria in Australia

The second smallest of Australia’s states means Victoria is the most densely populated, so getting around its many attractions means no more than a days drive.

Victoria was the scene of the great Australian gold rushes of the 1850s and the discovery of gold laid the foundation for its capital Melbourne to become the main financial powerhouse of Australia.

Melbourne sits on the shores of Port Phillip Bay and is home to around 4 million people, making it Australia’s second largest city behind Sydney.

With the Yarra River dissecting the city, Melbourne is blessed with numerous parks and gardens all within easy walking distance of the Central Business District.
The city hosts many sporting and cultural events throughout the year, but none is more important to the Australian psyche than the horse race that stops a nation – the Melbourne Cup.

Raced on the first Tuesday of the month every November, the Melbourne Cup has developed into a truly international event with horses from many parts of the world being flown into Australia to battle with local gallopers for the holy grail of the Australian turf.  

Flemington is the scene of the Melbourne Cup and the weeklong racing carnival is as much about fashions, food and fun as it is about horse racing.

Other major sporting events hosted in Melbourne are the Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the AFL Grand Final (football).

Melbourne is a rich vein of cultures and areas such as C Carlton’s Lygon Street offer a host of exquisite dining experiences.

Victoria experiences a temperate climate with four distinct seasons, but the vagary of its weather means that visitors joke about experiencing all four seasons in the same day. Huge temperature swings in a matter of hours characterize the state’s weather.

The northwest areas of Victoria are the hottest and driest and temperatures of around 40C are common over summer, while the average summer temperature around the coastal regions is around 25C. Parts of Victoria’s alpine regions are snow covered in winter.

Victoria’s total land mass is slightly smaller than the United Kingdom, so most destinations are within a days driving of Melbourne.

The state has many distinct geographical areas, including:
Central and Western districts which are home to historic towns born during the Gold Rush. Grampians, a series of peaks at the end of the Great Dividing Range of Eastern Australia.

Great Ocean Road, 400km of highway spanning the magnificent south-west coast.
North-east High Country featuring ski resorts and alpine walking tracks which are just as enjoyable in summer as winter.

Gippsland in the south-east contains rolling pastoral country along with forests and the Gippsland Lakes system – the largest inland waterway in Australia.
While Melbourne is the industrial and financial capital of Victoria there are a range of work options available outside the capital.

Large numbers of international visitors head to the north-west where the sunny climate coupled with irrigation from the Murray River makes the Sunraysia district one of Australia’s largest source of fruit.

Each year thousands of backpackers find work picking fruit in the orchards around the city of Mildura.