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Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital, has an independent streak that sets it apart from other Australian cities. Art Deco buildings, Victorian arcades filled with retro stores and laneways embellished with head-turning street art make it a city that’s a joy to explore. It’s generally regarded as the country’s cultural capital, with a number of notable museums and theatres. And it’s also a starting point for the Great Ocean Road Tour, a jaw-dropping journey that takes you past sights including the Twelve Apostles, a group of pillar-like rocks off the coast. A chance to see koalas in their natural habitat is another highlight of this tour.

From Melbourne you’ll head to the salty port-side charms of Hobart, once a British penal colony but now admired for its Victorian and Georgian architecture. Make sure you visit Salamanca Place, home to an excellent outdoor market boasting gourmet restaurants. To learn about the notorious hardship of convict life in the 18^th century, take the tour to nearby Port Arthur where the former prison is now an open-air museum. Take a short cruise passing the nearby Isle of the Dead to get a feel for what it was like to arrive at the colony.

On your last full day in Hobart you enjoy a Bay of Fires tour. Considered one of the world’s most beautiful beaches, it was given its name either because of the Aboriginal fires that lit up the coastline or due to the bright orange lichen that grows on the granite boulders lining the bay.