Two Roads to Eildon: One of Victoria’s Great Day Trips

Two routes in. An ancient forest. One enormous dam wall, a waterfall and lunch at Pixies. Eildon makes a remarkably good road trip from Melbourne — whichever way you approach it.

Around two hours from Melbourne, Eildon is close enough for a day trip but good enough to warrant staying the night. Better still, there are two very different ways to get there.

The gentler route heads north via the Hume Highway through Seymour, before turning east through Yea and Alexandra. It’s classic central Victorian country: handsome old towns, rolling hills, olive groves and cattle country, with the landscape becoming increasingly dramatic as Eildon approaches.

The alternative is the Black Spur — and it’s our pick.

From Healesville, the road climbs into a magnificent corridor of towering mountain ash, the forest closing overhead as the road twists across the range. Beyond Buxton, the Cathedral Range suddenly dominates the eastern skyline, its great grey rock face rising sharply above the vivid green floor of the Goulburn Valley.

Stop at Acheron Cutting Lookout for the broader view across the river and valley before continuing into Eildon.

Once there, the enormous Lake Eildon dam wall is only minutes from town. It’s worth seeing simply for its scale, with the lake disappearing between folds of densely forested hills beyond.

Another 15 minutes south, Snobs Creek Falls tumbles through a steep mountain gully in a series of rocky cascades. It’s easily accessed, wonderfully photogenic and, surprisingly, still feels undervisited.

Then there’s lunch.

Pixies at the Billabong makes an ideal final stop, with owners Pixie Michal and Janine serving Greek-Mediterranean food in the kind of relaxed country setting that encourages you to abandon thoughts of driving straight back to Melbourne.

And perhaps you shouldn’t.

Stay overnight, take the other road home the following morning and the simple Eildon day trip becomes one of Victoria’s great little touring circuits — forest, mountains, waterfalls, historic towns and some seriously impressive engineering, all within easy reach of Melbourne.

The Eildon day trip from Melbourne

Option one: north on the Hume Highway to Seymour, then inland through quaint Victorian-era towns — Yea, Alexandra.
Option two: over the Black Spur via Healsville, Buxton and Alexandra.

Pixies at the Billabong
19 Main Street (main town shopping centre),
Eildon, Victoria
facebook.com/pixiesatthebillabong/