Yarra Valley - Vines - Grape Vines - National Park

Rural view Yarra Valley.

Yarra Valley – hillsides covered in Vines – Grape Vines!

My last weekend in Melbourne. Sunday proved a beautiful day, drove through the beautiful Yarra Valley wine district and National Park to Lake Eildon, a two-hour drive from Melbourne. Good road all the way with plenty of great scenery, hills stretching as far as the eye could see with grape vines, vines everywhere, vineyards and wine. Yarra Valley is a premier wine growing district. Welcoming towns greet you along the way, a stopover for coffee and cake, wineries for wine tasting, and breweries for some home-grown beer.

Yarra Valley grape vines, vines cover the hillsides

Passing the fields of grape vines, it was so tempting to stop at TarraWarra Estate or the Cellar door, they looked inviting. However, as my son reminded me this was a fishing trip not wine tasting! Oh! what?

We were up early and ready for a caffeine hit. Deciding to stop in Yarra Glen a warm friendly town, but very busy town, couldn’t find a park along the main street outside the cafes and bistro’s anywhere; all full of people enjoying refreshments and the sunshine.

Yarra Valley - Beechworth Bakery sign - luscious cakes and pastries

Yarra Valley – Beechworth Bakery – luscious cakes and pastries

Decided to drive on to Healesville. More luck here, spotted the Beechworth Bakery with its bright yellow sign, next door to the White Rabbit brewery. When we visited the town of Beechworth a few years ago we visited their Bakery which is quite famous in that district for its bread and yummy pastries, morning teas and lunches.

Beechworth Bakery- Healesville – Yarra Valley

Many people were enjoying the sun with wine or beer outside the White Rabbit. The Beechworth Bakery had a long queue, but we joined it anyway. Ordered our coffees and delicious pastries, topped with chocolate and filled with fresh cream. Service was quick despite the crowd.

Yarra Valley rugged Mountain Ranges

Healesville Sanctuary

If you come this way from Melbourne don’t forget the Healesville sanctuary is nearby. It is part of the Melbourne Zoo. See our unique Australian Native animals; koalas,kangaroos, platypus,wombats and emus. Sadly we passed many wombats dead on the roadside from road kill. The wombats are very hard to see of a night as they are low to the ground. There are road signs warning of wombats in the area, so do be careful for your own sake as well as the poor wombats.

A drive through the Yarra Valley National Park. Eucalyptus trees and ferns

Yarra Valley – National Park – Eucalyptus forest and ferns

Feeling very satisfied we left the bakery and headed along the road into the Yarra Valley National Park area. A terrible fire had been through the National park a few years ago, shown by the black, darkened tree trunks. Regrowth appears pretty good, with ferns rearing their beautiful heads above the undergrowth and between the towering eucalyptus trees. The ferns are so beautiful, with their soft feathery appearance. Tree ferns grow really well in this area and are part of the ecology of the rainforest.