Holiday houses in Fish Creek

In the rolling hills of Victoria’s South Gippsland region, the tiny town of Fish Creek punches well above its weight as an arts and culture hub. A browser’s delight, the historic village is packed with boutique stores, galleries, artists’ studios, and cafes with scenic rural views. Popular with cyclists, Fish Creek sits on the Great Southern Rail Trail, a 72-kilometre route between Leongatha and Port Welshpool that reconnected the towns along the former rail line after it was closed in 1994.

Fish Creek also lies at the gateway to Wilsons Promontory, the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, which is protected by a national park laced with walking trails. With the beaches of Waratah Bay and Sandy Point less than 15 minutes’ drive south of Fish Creek, and a bounty of farm gates and breweries to discover in the surrounding hills, Fish Creek makes a great base for exploring this picturesque corner of Victoria.

Fish Creek is a year-round destination, though if you’re visiting on two wheels, the milder months of spring and autumn tend to be more comfortable for long cycles on the rail trail. This is also a great time to explore nearby Wilsons Promontory National Park, where wildflowers bloom in spring, though the warmer summer months are ideal for swimming at the park’s pristine beaches. The winter months, on the other hand, proffer superb whale watching.

Celebrating its quirky arts scene, Fish Creek hosts the Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival each May, with handmade tea cosy displays and prizes awarded in several categories. Fish Creek also hosts cultural events as part of the biennial Prom Coast Festival held in March that celebrates community artists, creators, performers, and producers.

Eat your way around South Gippsland

Packed with farm-gate stalls, produce markets, country restaurants, ambient cellar doors, and other culinary delights, South Gippsland is the kind of place where you’ll want to be wearing your stretchy pants. All foodie locations are conveniently mapped on the Eat. Drink. Gippsland guide, which you can download from the Visit Gippsland website.

Foster

Just 13 kilometres northeast of Fish Creek, the former gold mining town of Foster also has a vibrant arts scene, with a handful of galleries in the town centre. Visit the Foster Museum to learn about the area’s gold, forestry, dairying, and social history before relaxing in a local cafe, or heading to the Foster North Lookout on the South Gippsland Highway to admire the sweeping views.

Mount Nicoll Lookout

Around seven kilometres from Fish Creek toward Foster is the Mount Nicoll Lookout, where you can soak up dreamy panoramas across the sapphire-hued Corner Inlet to the verdant mountains of Wilsons Promontory. There’s a car park at the lookout, but you can also walk here from Fish Creek via the Hoddle Mountain Trail, a challenging 17-kilometre loop circuit that takes around six hours to complete.