Holiday houses in Creswick

This nugget of a town in the Central Highlands was built on gold — atop it, around it, and with proceeds from the sale of it. Creswick’s streets sprang up during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s to accommodate the fortune seekers and swindlers who flocked here to pan and dig for their riches. Gold fever struck Creswick early, and underground mining saw some become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Many of the town’s original buildings remain standing — including the post office (1862), the town hall (1871), and the former Bank of NSW (1861) — surrounded by thick groves of pine and eucalypt.

It’s a similar rags-to-riches story in nearby Clunes — one of Australia’s original and most well-preserved gold towns — and the city of Ballarat, today the site of Sovereign Hill, a living museum complex that recreates Ballarat life when it was a boomtown, replete with period buildings, imagined city streets, and costumed characters portraying locals who would have arrived here as part of the greatest alluvial gold rush the world has ever known.

There’s no bad time to stay in an accommodation in this part of Victoria, with each season bringing its own charms, although locals like to warn visitors that the area is famous for experiencing four seasons in one day. Winter months bring a crispness to the air, providing relief if you’re planning outdoor adventure activities, like cycling the Goldfields Track — time your visit right and you may even see snow. Autumn transforms the countryside into a leaf-peeper’s dream, with deciduous trees changing colour from golden to rust to red. Spring is awash with flowers in bloom. And summer, peak season, offers cool respite from the city, with highland temperatures well shy of those experienced in Melbourne.

Buried Rivers of Gold Heritage Trail

Beneath the rolling hills of Creswick and surrounds are underground streams still full of gold. This self-guided car-based tour passes by the sites — some with above-ground mine ruins — that won wealth for many, with signposts offering fascinating insights into the area’s heyday. Pick up a guide to the trail from the Creswick Museum or Visitor Information Centre.

The Goldfields Track

Spanning 210 kilometres (130 miles) from Mt Buninyong just south of Ballarat to Bendigo, this rigorous hiking and cycling trail traverses land so rich in gold, it once made Melbourne the wealthiest city in the world. You can tackle the route in its entirety, passing through historic Creswick, Daylesford, and Castlemaine, or pick a section and enjoy exploring native bush, farmland, and countryside dotted with granite boulders.

Mineral Springs

Within 30 minutes of leaving Creswick you could be soaking in a pool filled with healing thermal water. The Daylesford and Hepburn Springs region of the state is home to Australia’s largest concentration of natural mineral springs, and you can “take the waters” at spas and bathhouses. Settled by Swiss and Italian migrants during the Gold Rush, the towns here offer a taste of Europe in regional Victoria.