 About the region: North Eastern Victoria is one of Australia's most prosperous cooler climate agricultural regions in Australia. The city of Shepparton is located in the rich Goulburn Valley, an area known as The Food Bowl of Australia. Not surprisingly, the region is rich in wine making and gourmet produce maunfacture, awarding winning locally produced cheeses and smallgoods are a feature of towns in the Rutherglen, Wangaratta and Milawa area.
The southern end of the region includes Lake Eildon which is one of the largest artificial lakes in the state, much of which is surrounded by national park. Beyond Lake Eildon to the north and east is Victoria's High Country, home to a number of major alpine and ski resorts including Mount Buller, Falls Creek, Mount Buffalo and Mount Hotham with its airport which offers direct flights from Melbourne and Sydney during the snow season. Australia's most famous bushranger, Ned Kelly, grew up here, and spent most of his life dodging the Victorian police, hiding out in the region's mountain ranges. Kelly was finally captured at the North East Victorian settlement of Glenrowan, now recognised as the heart of what is still known today as Kelly Country.
Murray Valley: As the core river of Australia's largest river system, the Murray River has a long and important history to the people who live on or around it. It stretches 2,700 km from the mountains of the Great Dividing Range in north-eastern Victoria to near Adelaide in South Australia. In the 19th century, the Murray became Australia's Mississippi, the busiest highway in the land with hundreds of boats carrying supplies to and carting wool from the region's stations and homesteads. The legacy of the riverboat era remains in the heritage towns and river ports along its banks.
Kiewa Valley
Kiewa Valley: The picturesque valley of the Kiewa River - a major tributary of the Murray River - serves as the northern gateway to Victoria's High Country. From a broad expanse of lush green famland around the City of Wodonga, the valley gradually narrows as it climbs higher into the Australian Alps before reaching the river's source in the Bogong High Plains. To follow the Keiwa river from the Murray into the high country is a delightful drive, passing through the villages of Myrtleford, Bright, Mount Beauty, Harrietville and Tawonga to the snowfields of Mt Buffalo, Falls Creek and Mt Hotham.
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NE Victoria Food & Wine Trail: Victoria's north east is the state's premier region for wine-lovers and foodies. Nestled between the high country's snowfields and the Murray River, this dramatic landscape of mountains, valleys, clean air and clean rivers, is the perfect backdrop for an inspirational food and wine experience. From the wineries of Rutherglen, Milawa, Glenrowan and the King Valley to the canned fruit outlets of Shepparton and all the specialist produce in between, the region is a gourmet lovers' delight.
Corryong: the northern gateway to the High Country of Victoria, the Snowy Mountains and Kosciuszko National Park. The town was once home to the many High Country cattlemen of the 19th century who were known as overlanders. The most famous of these was "The Man From Snowy River", Jack Riley. Corryong is a also centre for whitewater rafting, canoeing and horse trekking in the High Country.
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High Country: the alpine region located in the north eastern area of Victoria is approximately 3 to 4 hours to drive from Melbourne. This area is often snow covered and there are ski resorts present (operational from June to October), though they are quite small by world standards and the terrain is gentle. Summer in the high country is a totally new experience for many. The snow melts, revealing a vast horizon of breath-catching beauty including rugged alpine ranges and deep, mist-hung valleys, fields of colourful spring flowers, glorious summer sunsets and relics from the days when the area was in the grip of a goldrush.
Kelly Country: North eastern Victoria is Ned Kelly country. It was here that Australia's most famous bushranger and his gang called home. The majority of the exploits that make up his remarkable but short life - from rescuing a drowning boy as a youth, to robbing a bank and his ultimate capture by the police - were played out in the towns and hillsides of this region. Today, the Kelly legend is brought to life by visiting the places where it all happened.
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| Visiting The Region: The Facts |
How to Get There: by road north east from Melbourne, via Hume Highway.
Best Time To Go: As Victoria has a temperate climate, there is no one season or month that the visitor needs to avoid, except perhaps summer (December - February), if you find hot weather unbearable. Even then, only the north and the north-west tend to suffer from extended periods of intense heat, so those areas would be the only ones to contemplate avoiding in summer if you don't like the heat. In and around Melbourne, which gets more cloud and disturbed weather despite a lower rainfall, sunshine hours per day in winter (June - August) are three to four as against seven to eight in summer. Cold spells are brief and never severe on the coast, and temperatures can drop much lower inland in winter.
Drives
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Regional Centres
Wine Regions
National Parks
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