Holiday houses in Pakenham

A sprawling satellite suburb of Melbourne nestled in the foothills of Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, Pakenham was established by colonists as a stopping place for horse-drawn coaches travelling between Melbourne and Gippsland to the west. The ancestral home of the Kulin Aboriginal people, today’s Pakenham has few attractions of its own beyond a small museum on the Princes Highway run by the Berwick-Pakenham Historical Society, yet the area continues to serve as a convenient jumping-off point for exploring the wineries, providores, historic towns, and green spaces of the West Gippsland region.

It’s also an easy drive from Pakenham to the wineries and spectacular coastal scenery of the Mornington Peninsula to the southwest, from where you can take a ferry to French Island. A short hop to the northeast of Pakenham, opportunities to get back to nature abound in Bunyip State Park and Kurth Kiln Regional Park beyond.

It’s business as usual year-round in Pakenham, which like greater Melbourne tends to have short, hot summers and cool, lingering winters.

Typically held in April, Pakenham’s family-friendly Yakkerboo Festival (named for an Aboriginal word meaning “greener pastures”) is the highlight of the community calendar, with a street parade, live music, food stalls, and fireworks. Held on the third Sunday of each month at Pakenham Football Ground, the Pakenham Community Farmers Market is a good place to stock up on fresh local produce if you’re self-catering. Held on the third Saturday of every month, the Warragul Farmers Market, a 30-minute drive east, is another great place to do a market shop. With food stands, great coffee, and live music, you can really make a morning of it. Many more markets and festivals are held throughout the year in West Gippsland.

Go for a nature walk

Just 25 minutes’ drive northeast of Pakenham, Bunyip State Park is one of the few places in Victoria where the state fauna emblem, Leadbeater’s possum; the state avian emblem, the helmeted honeyeater; and the state floral emblem, common heath, can all be found. The Mortimer Picnic Ground makes a good base for walks including the 1.2-kilometre Mortimer Nature Walk loop trail. Keep your eyes peeled for lyrebirds, too.

Explore Warragul

The civic centre of the West Gippsland region, the leafy streets of Warragul are full of cafes and providores showcasing the fruits of this abundant region, which produces gourmet cheeses, apples, and fine meats. Among the town’s heritage buildings include the Old Shire Hall building (1892), which now houses the Warragul Historical Museum showcasing local history.

Visit wineries

Pakenham lies within easy reach of several wineries in the Gippsland wine region, where winemaking dates back to the 19th century, including a scenic single-estate winery in Cannibal Creek to the east with a cellar door and restaurant. To the north, the Gippsland wine region meets the Yarra Valley wine region.