I revelled in foods I’d never even heard of
the experience of swimming with wild dolphins had left me elated. My only task now was to peel off the wetsuit, which was so tight I was worried I’d be pinged into t he a ir a ll t he w ay b ack h ome. As I c lung t o t he b oat m ast, i t t ook the w hole c rew t o p rise m e f ree o f its r ubbery e mbrace.
Once dry it was time to wet my whistle. The Mornington Peninsula is a magical, emeraldgreen enclave only an hour out of Melbourne. The lush promontory is d otted w ith b outique v ineyards.
The rough-and-ready charm of the Aussie vineyard-owners, with a humour as dry as their vintage vino, m akes i t h ard t o t ear y ourself away. B ut o nce I ’d fi nally q uenched my thirst for witticisms and wine, it was time to explore some more of t he g reat s tate o f V ictoria.
Australia is an ancient wilderness with the most unique and exotic wildlife. Penguin-watching on Phillip Island is Australia’s biggest tourist attraction after the Great Barrier Reef. Up to 600,000 visitors a year watch this extraordinary e vening r itual w hen 3 4,000 penguins waddle from the briny back to their beds. With such a huge audience, it’s no wonder the little b irds m ake t he e ffort t o d ress up i n t heir d inner j ackets.
I next meandered north by car along the ruggedly beautiful coast on a h istorical r oad c arved i nto t he escarpments by First World War veterans.
The sun was sinking into the Southern Ocean when I first glimpsed the 12 Apostles – a legendary set of pillars formed by erosion of the surrounding cliffs. In fact, that erosion now means there are only eight left but they are so evenly placed amid the churning sea that they appear sculpted. I gaped in awe as our little chopper buzzed, mosquito-like, around the towering c olumns, t he m ighty w aves trundling i nto s hore b elow.
An hour inland lies Birregurra, a s leepy c ountry t own t hat b oasts not j ust a l uxurious h otel b ut a lso one o f t he w orld’s m ost i nnovative restaurants, called Brae. Many of the d ishes i ncluded i ngredients I ’d never tasted before – quandongs, cackleberries, desert yams, mulga apples. These indigenous ingredients, eaten for thousands of years by the Aborigines are being rediscovered by adventurous chefs. The t erm ‘ bush t ucker’ m ay e voke ideas of nibbling on a roo poo pellet in a witchetty grub sauce but the r eality i s a c reative, fi ne-dining concoction o f d elicate d elights.
At the heart of the state of Victoria is marvellous Melbourne – the southern hemisphere’s culture, comedy, cuisine, cafe and coffee capital. The city’s sophistication stems from the fact that it was once the richest city in the world.
The Victoria Gold Rush in the 1850s b rought p eople f rom a ll o ver
the globe. The population grew from a few thousand to half a million overnight. The Hotel Windsor started its High Teas in 1883, while the Hopetoun Tea Rooms’ floor-to-ceiling mirrors were packed in honey to survive the journey from Europe, with horses deployed to lick them clean after they were unpacked at the port.
Today Melbourne is home to more than 180 nationalities and 200 languages. If it were a celebrity it would be Bjork – the quirky, indie girl with the great personality who grows on you.
For foodies, it’s epicurean aromatherapy. Every city corner offers a new taste sensation. Ganache make honey chocolate from their own beehives on the roof. At Fitzroy’s Lune cafe, an astrophysicist applies her science degree to making the ‘world’s best croissants’.
But of all of Melbourne’s gastronomic highlights, Attica is the most mind-blowing. There’s a threemonth waiting list to dine here, so book early and don’t eat for about a year beforehand. Also make sure to order the degustation menu – this 12-course experience is incredible.
With every new dish, my normally robust brain cells would stagger about bumping into imaginary furniture, mumbling ‘OMG. How can anything taste this good?’
The cuisine is wittily inventive. For example, the scallops came adorned with a shell depicting a grinning portrait of Lance, the fisherman who’d caught them that morning.
‘It’s a shell-fie,’ I told the waitress as she dished up my kangaroo carpaccio. Yum!
At the end of the evening, guests are given a tour of the kitchen and garden to meet the award-winning chef Ben Shewry. Ben then gave us all a magical elixir from the herb garden through which we were strolling.
The gold rush may have ended but Victoria is still full of nuggets – namely the legendary, friendly locals. I heartily suggest that you hit the road and see what gems and rough diamonds you unearth.
Just make sure you swim with the wild dolphins first, because, after sampling all of those gastronomic delights, if you are thrown off the back of the dive boat at the end of your trip, the Japanese will harpoon you as a ‘research’ whale.