BOREANG CAMPGROUND, GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK, VIC

It’s Melbourne’s big weekend playground: 1672 square kilometres of stringybark forests, red gum woodland and heather-covered plateaus run through with vast ribbons of sandstone, with all the bizarre, camera-worthy rocky outcrops and mountain peaks that brings. One of these is known as the Fortress, an imposing buttress rising abruptly out of the surrounding bush. If you’re an experienced walker not afraid to get really remote, and want to do some real camping, you can take three days to hike here; a journey that affords sweeping views of the ranges. Take a path off the Harrop Track and on the first night pitch your tent, or just a swag, under a sweeping overhang on the way up to the massif, and light a fire like ancient peoples did for aeons. It’s walks like this, as well as the famous Wonderland Traverse or the Gulgurn Manja Aboriginal art site that make the Grampians (Gariwerd in the local Indigenous tongue) a must-camp spot to spend a weekend tackling the many trails that riddle the national park. Boreang Campground is a good place to base yourself with easy access to some of the best walks; stay in October when the plateaus are ablaze with colour during the annual display of wildflowers. And if the thought of a swag in a cave is a little much, then stretch the glamping ideal to its limit and stay in the gorgeous contemporary architectdesigned cabins at DULC, with wood burners, polished concrete floor and floor-to-ceiling glass.