Holiday houses in Mount Dandenong

Leave the city of Melbourne behind, and within an hour you can find yourself surrounded by fairytale ferny groves and towering mountain ash forest, thriving on the steep volcanic hills of the Dandenong Ranges. The highest peak here is Mount Dandenong (633 metres, 2,077 feet), its charming namesake village replete with artists’ studios, craft stores, and family-owned cafes. It’s the gateway to more than 200 hiking and cycling tracks across national parkland that is home to wallabies, wombats, lyrebirds, and owls. Arguably Melbourne’s most trafficked trail is the 1,000 Steps (aka the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk) — it’s steep and challenging, but staggeringly beautiful, your route swathed in rainforest with clearings offering glimpses of the city.

The village of Mount Dandenong is also the ideal base from which to explore some of the state’s finest cool-climate gardens, including the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden, the RJ Hamer Arboretum’s 150 species of native and exotic trees, and the delicate ginkgo and maple trees in the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens. From here, the Yarra Valley wine region is within easy reach, known for having some of Australia’s most awarded cool-climate wines.

Given its proximity to Melbourne, Mount Dandenong is busy year round, particularly on weekends, when city folk come for a dose of soul-saving nature. The altitude guarantees temperatures significantly lower than the state’s capital, offering cool respite over the summer months, when Melbourne can sizzle. The lead-in to summer is also a popular time for fruit pickers, with surrounding cherry orchards blooming in September and October, and the fruit ripe from November through January.

Hikers will appreciate the cool climes of winter, while floral fans will want to visit in spring and autumn to fully appreciate the deciduous trees, conifers, and bulbs that distinguish the region’s gardens; autumn is also grape harvest in the Yarra Valley, which sees a flurry of activity and the opportunity to glimpse winemaking in real time.

Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden

With views over the Yarra Valley, this floral preserve is widely recognised as Victoria’s premier cool-climate garden. In addition to housing Australia’s largest collection of rhododendrons (a staggering 15,000 of them), the park blooms with azaleas, camellias, daffodils, and many other species of flowers and trees, and is particularly pretty in spring and autumn.

William Ricketts Sanctuary

The Australian potter called Mount Dandenong home for almost 60 years, and over that time created 92 sculptures of people and animals that now peek from behind ferns and tangle with vines amid these dreamy gardens. Wander paths ventilated by cool mountain air, and find a spot for quiet contemplation.

Puffing Billy Railway

Australia’s best-preserved steam train chugs 24 kilometres (15 miles) between Belgrave and Gembrook, a short drive from Mount Dandenong, amid soaring mountain ash and over timber bridges, pausing at small-town railway stations. Special journeys can take you through the rainforest while you enjoy a gourmet lunch with matched wines.