If the best things in life are free, then the second-best things must cost just under ten bucks. To that end, budget travel hound Sarah Tierney has come up with some great ideas for saving money on travel in these lean times.
1. Ride the city circle on Melbourne’s trams
See the famous sights of the city from the inside of the iconic car. The city circle tram stops at sights such as Parliament House and the Princess Theatre. Best thing? It’s free.
2. Drink a beer with Chloe
Visit Young and Jacksons Hotel, one of Melbourne’s oldest and sit in the bar with the legendary Chloe, a nude portrait by Frenchman Jules Joseph Lefebvre that caused scandal when it was shown at the national gallery during the 1800s.
3. Explore the hidden laneways of Melbourne
Find hidden art, little cafes and shops, entries to secret clubs and bars in the little lanes around the city. The most popular is the ACDC Lane, named after the Aussie rockers or visit the Croft Institute, in Croft lane, which is an out of the way quirky bar. One level holds a lab, another is a hospital themed waiting room and the top level is a 1930s gymnasium, which features a grass bar.
4. Choose a weird pizza from Mojo’s Weird Pizza
Okay, maybe this one is $11, but it’s totally worth it if you can scrounge up the extra dollar for Mojo’s Weird Pizza. With names like Dog’s Breakfast (not real dog food), Royale With Cheeze (yes, it is a burger on a pizza) and Go Banana (banana and bacon) how can you go wrong? They even have dessert pizzas.
Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.
AI Prompt
5. Go whale spotting
Logan’s Beach at Warrnambool is a great place to see whales from July.
The whales visit Victoria in July and the best place to see them is on Logan’s Beach at Warrnambool, about a 3.5hr drive from Melbourne, or 7hr drive on the Great Ocean Road. Stand on Logan’s Beach and see the whales and the calves as they frolic in the ocean.
6. Try visiting a different museum
Head to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image celebrates moving pictures rather than still ones. They have free entry to the normal museum, plus some exhibitions (Len Lye is free) and the cinemas there show all types of films from $8.
7. See Melbourne from above
To see Melbourne from the sky usually involves paying for an expensive trip up to the top of a building to crowd around with heaps of people, hoping to catch a glimpse of something. We’ll let you in on a little secret. Catch the elevator up to the 35th floor of the Hotel Sofitel on Collins St and go to the bathrooms, where you can quietly take in the view of Melbourne’s south side.
8. Art & Culture walk in Geelong
Head down to Geelong and pick up an arts and culture walking trail map. The map has plenty of walks you can do that go past historic and interesting sites in Geelong –the Old Post Office, Corio Villa, The Carousel (one of 200 wooden carousels in the world), and sculpture trails to name just a few.
Weekly travel news, experiences insider tips, offers, and more.
9. Learn all about Melbourne’s history at the Old Treasury
Learn all about Melbourne’s history at the Old Treasury.
From the beginnings of the John Batman settlement, through the goldfields of Victoria and all the way up to the invention of the bionic ear. Entry to the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne is just $8.50 for an adult.
10. Rock along to the Digital Media Street Festival
For the week of July 3-10, Gertrude Street in Fitzroy will become a free gallery at night. The festival will have projections of moving and still images as well as installations designed to surprise the audience. The Digital Media Street Festival runs free from 6pm – 12pm.
If you have a great Victorian experience under $10, share it by adding a comment below.
Want to see more stories from Australian Traveller in your Google search results?
Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.
Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.
But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.
The rise of Macedon Ranges wine
Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.
Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.
Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.
Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat, now one of the largest estates.
Meet the new generation of local winemakers
The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate, whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor, who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will, who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.
Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.
Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”
The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.
Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods. “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.
Come for the wine, stay for the food
Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.
For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.
The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.
The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.
Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
A traveller’s checklist
Staying there
Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument, which also has a sculpture park.
Drinking there
A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds.
Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Playing there
Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens, hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.
Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
