Holiday houses in Yea

The pretty town of Yea sits on the Goulburn Valley Highway in central Victoria’s High Country. It’s an ideal base for exploring the villages of the nearby valleys as well as the wineries of the surrounding Murrindindi Shire. The emerging Heathcote wine region is around an hour’s drive to the northwest, while the town of Seymour, roughly 30 minutes away, marks the start of the Goulburn Valley wine region, and the first wineries of the Yarra Valley wine region are 40 minutes to the south. On Yea’s tree-lined main street you’ll find a couple of classic two-storey country pubs alongside restaurants and historic buildings dating back to the gold-mining period of the mid-19th century. Tucked away behind the main street are more country pubs, some handsome 19th-century churches, and a heritage-listed Gothic railway station. The Yea River meanders through the outskirts of Yea; within a short walk of the town centre you’ll find yourself in a wetlands reserve that’s home to platypuses, koalas, and native birds.

This part of central Victoria starts to heat up in December, which is also the driest time of the year. If you’re coming to ride the Great Victorian Rail Trail cycling track, you’ll enjoy ideal conditions from late spring and early summer. In January the serious heat arrives, and lingers well into early autumn. The vineyards harvest their grapes around the end of February to early March, with the local wineries celebrating the end of the season with the Murrindindi Wine Weekend in early May. Nights in Yea are cool even in summer; in winter temperatures drop to near freezing overnight but will warm up considerably during the day. Note that you can’t fish for trout or salmon in the Goulburn River from mid-June to September. You’ll need to head to the vast Lake Eildon or Eildon Pondage, around a 50-minute drive from Yea, during the winter months to fish.

Explore the town’s heritage

Yea was settled in the 1850s at the height of the Victorian gold rush. Some of the grander edifices of that era of instant wealth survive around town. On the main street there’s an 1890 post office, while in the back streets you’ll find a smattering of heritage buildings, including a lovely 19th-century park pavilion.

The Great Victorian Rail Trail

Yea is one of the major towns on the cycling and walking trail that runs 134 kilometres across the Goulburn River Valley. From Yea you can cycle northwest through farmland to the picturesque town of Tallarook, which marks one end of the trail. Or take a shorter trip northeast to Cathkin across old rail bridges and through the historic Cheviot Tunnel.

Murrindindi Scenic Reserve

A 30-minute drive from Yea, this nature reserve in Toolangi State Forest has plenty of bushwalking trails along the Murrindindi and Yea rivers to choose from. Take the time to check out the waterfalls in the reserve as well as the site-specific artworks of the Toolangi Sculpture Trail through the forest.