Backpack Victoria

Melbourne's city centre easy to navigate, so you can easily find the cafés, boutiques, museums and parks. Bars and clubs are tucked down tiny laneways – all part of the appeal.

The best thing about the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges is how close these world-class wineries and lush fern gullies are to Melbourne. Lots of work opportunities here, too.

Join the hordes at Rosebud, Rye, Sorrento and Portsea for the pounding surf, idyllic beaches, fashionable seaside villages and incredible national parks.

Pamper yourself to good health at Daylesford, Australia's richest concentration of natural mineral springs. Also the place for your own Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Nature lovers should make a beeline to Phillip Island, home to beaches, national parks, Fairy Penguins, fur seals and koalas.

Rainforest meets spectacular ocean views on the Great Ocean Road, where you can swim, surf, see the Twelve Apostles – and even spot some whales.

Go back in time to the goldrush. Check out Ballarat and Bendigo with their grand nineteenth-century goldrush streetscapes. Also, find out about Australia's only uprising.

If it's adventure you're after, head west to the Grampians, where the rockclimbing and abseiling is among the best in the world. Plenty of bushwalking to be done.

Discover everything to do with Victoria's bushranger past then strap yourself into skis or board at the major alpine resorts of Mount Buller, Mount Hotham, Mount Buffalo and Falls Creek.

Go camping at Gippsland's Wilsons Promontory, a magnificent national park with some of Victoria's finest bushwalks, wetlands and surfing beaches.

Head to the Murray for fruit picking aplenty and extend your Working Holiday visa. Victoria's back country is famous for stark deserts, a mighty Australian river and Aboriginal history.