5 Days – Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st September 2025
Accommodation: Halls Gap, Dingley Village, Bendigo
Visit Victoria during Spring and see how the beautiful spring flowering bulbs and colourful gardens delight your senses.
Imagine you are in the Netherlands at Tesselaar Tulip Festival at Sylvan, in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges. Wander among a million flowering bulbs plus Cherry Blossom Trees, listening to the music, enjoying some Dutch food and treats and seeing the biggest clog in the world. Enjoy other stunning gardens along the way. Visit Lake Wendouree and Ballarat Botanic Gardens as well as Werribee Mansion and the Victoria State Rose Garden. See Cloudhill Garden in the Dandenong Ranges. Walk through twenty five different garden “rooms” discovering enchanting scenes and different characteristics as you pass through a door or a hedge dividing each garden. Encounter art in the natural environment at McClelland Sculpture Park as you walk among more than 100 sculptures in the park, or simply take in the slower pace and serenity as you sip a “cuppa” in the cafe. The choice is yours. But whatever you do, enjoy the lovely gardens in Victoria in Springtime.
Highlights of the tour:
- «Enjoy morning tea in the park at Tailem Bend. After morning tea view the Üneek Animals” in the cream shed near the park. They are a creation by the Tailem Bend Lions Club of more than forty tin animals.
- «Light lunch at Morning Loaf Bakery at Bordertown.
- «Make sure you see the ” land rover on a pole” as you leave Keith.
- «Take a short drive to Lake Bellfield, near Halls Gap. It is an artificial lake that started as water storage for local residences and farmers in the early sixties and in now a popular recreation area.
- «Continue to Lake Wendouree and Ballarat Botanic Gardens, which were established in 1858 and are one of the oldest Botanical Gardens Victoria.
- «Travel to Werribee Park Mansion, one of the largest and most opulent properties in Victoria and see how the gentry lived in 1877. After the guided tour explore the formal gardens, intricately designed grotto and ornamental lake before wandering through the Victoria State Rose Garden.
- «Entry to the magnificent Tesselaar Tulip Festival, Experience a kaleidoscope of colour with more than a million bulbs, live entertainment and delicious food. Have time to wander this working farm in the Dandenong Ranges, listen to the Dutch organ, see the world’s largest clog and purchase some lunch at the food court.
- «Drive through the picturesque Dandenong Ranges to Cloudhill Garden and Nursery. Explore this amazing garden made up of twenty five individual styles of gardens.
- «Visit the town of Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges where you will have free time to wander and buy your own lunch. Make sure you visit Sassafras Sweet Co. and the many quaint gift shops in the main street.
- «Explore McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. With more than 100 sculptures in the park you are sure to find the modernist sculptures intriguing.
- «As we head back to Adelaide, St Arnaud will be our first stop, a former gold mining town situated on the main route between Ballarat & Mildura.
- «Stop at Kaniva to see the beautiful painted silo, completed in 2020 and depicting the local flora and birds of the nearby Little National Desert. Look for the “painted sheep” that roam the street.
- «Have a delicious lunch at Bordertown Hotel before crossing the nearby SA-Victorian border.
- «Our last two stops are Coonalpyn and Tailem Bend as we make our final journey back to Mawson Lakes where your transport will return you to your homes after five days of colourful feast for the senses.
Inclusions
- « Morning tea provided on Day 1
- « Fully cooked or continental breakfast on Days 2, 3, 4 and 5
- « Lunch provided on Days 1, 2 and 5
- « Two course dinner on Day 1, 2, 3 and 4
- « Entrance to attractions/ Museums listed
- « Fully escorted with a tour host
- « Deluxe coach travel