VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
WEEKEND
DRIVE...Alexandra
WHY GO: Take a scenic drive over the hills to pretty valleys
and forests, before arriving at a tidy town once called Red Gate
and later graced by a Princess.
DISTANCE FROM MELBOURNE: One-way trip to Alexandra is 130 kilometres.
TIME: Round trip could be done in a leisurely five hours, but
allow extra time for sightseeing and lunch. The alternate route
home adds about 45 minutes.
ROUTE: Head out through Healesville on the Maroondah Highway,
over the Black Spur and onwards to Alexandra. For the alternate
return journey, take the Goulburn Valley Highway to Molesworth
and Yea; on the far side of town, take the Whittlesea-Yea Road
to Flowerdale, and back to the city via Kinglake West.
ON THE WAY: Once you’ve crossed the forested, winding route
over the Black Spur you can stop for morning tea at the black
and white Tudor Lodge at the St Fillans end of Narbethong; king
parrots may entertain you outside the windows if they’re
feeding while you are. The road follows the pretty Acheron River
valley through Taggerty; once past Acheron’s somnolent
hamlet it’s worth pausing at the conspicuous roadside lookout,
where the Goulburn River and Mount Pleasant underscore the panorama.
Three kilometres down the road lies Alexandra,
“Alex” to the locals.
WHAT TO DO: At the main intersection in Alex, turn right and
park the car. From here the town seems to have more pubs than
you can poke a stick at, but why? The usual reason – gold.
There’s little to show for the brief golden period in Alex,
but the town managed to struggle on afterwards thanks to agriculture
and the milling of abundant timber from nearby forests.
A track once ran through two grazing runs here, and the one red gate
allowed hopeful diggers to continue their journey to prospect
the Ultima Thule Creek, or to head further out to Wood’s
Point. Enterprise was at hand - a grog shanty was soon set up.
Local mines were viable for a time and the shanty town grew, but
keeping the miners hydrated was big business. By one early count
there were twenty-four hotels plus numerous illegal sly-grog shops.
The Shire Hall and Library are amongst a handful of 19th Century
buildings surviving today, many of them only metres from Ultima
Thule Creek – site of the red gate. In a small, beautifully
maintained park nearby is the statue of Princess Alexandra (after
whom the town is named), later Queen of King Edward VII. Commissioned
in 1878 and sculpted by Englishman Charles Somers, it was originally
located in the National Gallery until offered to the Shire of
Alexandra in 1939. Other parks, long avenues of deciduous trees,
and the swathe of green that divides the Grant Street shopping
area, impart Alex with a sense of refinement in the country. But
still, on weekends it remains a quiet country town. Every autumn the town is ablaze with the brilliant colours of deciduous trees.
Alexandra Pottery in Downey Street has handmade glazed terracotta
pottery on show and sale. The Timber Tramway and Museum is located
in the old railway station; steam trains run the second Sunday
of the month and public holidays (phone 5772 1492).
EATING AND DRINKING: for lunch you could try one of the pubs
– the Commercial, Alexandra, Shamrock are all in Grant Street.
If you want great pasta, quiches and homemade cakes - and good
coffee - you can’t go past the Fig Leaf Café at the
far end of Grant Street shops. Picnicking in one of the parks
is another alternative, but bring your own because Alex’s
bakery isn’t open all weekend.
©PETER ROBINSON 2007 all rights reserved.
STAY THE WEEKEND AT:
ATHLONE COUNTRY COTTAGES, three beautiful self-contained cottages on a farm just outside town, Ph (03)5772 2992. see review
see my images at www.australianplaces.net
For the past
25 years Peter Robinson has travelled far and wide but Australia,
being home, is his first love. As an experienced travel writer
and professional photographer, his wealth of knowledge is revealed
in travel and accommodation reviews that have freelance integrity
and honesty. The main focus of this site is to present brief reviews
of a select group of places to stay for the weekend. Each place
has been visited at least once and evaluated for high standards
before inclusion - and after reviewing over 600 places Peter has
done the hard work so you can enjoy Great
Weekends Away.
