MELBOURNE TO NAGAMBIE

Welcome to our tour to celebrate Easter at the Rushworth Easter Heritage Festival. With chauffeured pickup from home, we are transferred to meet our O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours coach and crew. After a morning tea stop, we travel north to Nagambie where we board the Goulburn River Explorer for a cruise on Lake Nagambie and along the Goulburn River to Kirwans Bridge. Whilst on-board we enjoy a light lunch, relax and enjoy the scenery along the way. After our cruise we head to our accommodation where we settle in for the next four nights.

OVERNIGHT:  Nagambie Waterfront Motel, NAGAMBIE

RUSHWORTH EASTER HERITAGE FESTIVAL

Spend the day in beautiful Rushworth enjoying their annual Easter Heritage Festival. There is something spectacular about Rushworth’s main street. It is wide and elegant with historic buildings on either side and a huge central plantation. It is one of the most impressive main streets in rural Victoria.  Rushworth retains its original charm and is surrounded by interesting smaller goldrush towns. Rushworth is known as the “Gold and Ironbark town”. Held on their heritage-listed High Street, there will be market stalls galore, a wood auction run by Shearing for Kids with Cancer, an Easter egg hunt and lots more.  Live music is provided throughout the day and there are plenty of food vans and local cafes to keep you fed and watered. The highlight of the day is the huge street parade at 1.00pm which includes vintage steam machinery, vintage cars and trucks and the fabulous Moora draught horses and the Easter bunny. When everyone is ready, we will return to Nagambie to relax before dinner.

Lunch at own expense and arrangement

OVERNIGHT: Nagambie Waterfront Motel, NAGAMBIE

THE WORKING DRAUGHT HORSE MUSTER

Continuing the Easter festivities we travel back past Rushworth and head to Moora to experience the Working Draught Horse Muster which is dedicated to keeping old traditions alive with their big annual Easter Sunday event! These beautiful big horses were the backbone of this country as they ploughed, harrowed and harvested the crops that helped feed our young nation. The event will feature displays of draught horses, including long-reining and log snigging, as well as demonstrations of blacksmithing, rope making and harness making. There will also be live music and food. This afternoon we head back to the tranquil Goulburn River, where we find surrounded by hectares of vineyards is one of Australia’s most beautiful and historic family-owned wineries, Tahbilk Winery. Here we’ll get to enjoy this beautiful setting with a wine tasting before returning to our hotel.

Lunch at own expense and arrangement

OVERNIGHT: Nagambie Waterfront Motel, NAGAMBIE

SILO ART AND FAMOUS BUSH RANGERS

After the last two days enjoying the Easter festivities we head to Devenish, a town with a powerful artistic presence. We'll be moved by Cam Scale's artwork of a First World War nurse and a modern-day combat medic, which pays tribute to the selfless service and sacrifices of healthcare workers. We'll appreciate the emotive storytelling and the artistic skill that has gone into creating this meaningful mural. Continuing our journey, we'll head to Goorambat where we'll be captivated by the Goorambat silo art. These impressive silos feature murals of the endangered Barking Owl, showcasing the local biodiversity and the need for conservation efforts. We then make our way to Benalla, known for its vibrant street art scene. We'll take a drive through the town, marvelling at the murals painted by artists from around the world on bare walls, some of them over three stories high. We'll be amazed by the creativity and talent on display. While here we also visit the Benalla Costume and Kelly Museum where we can view period costumes and two permanent exhibitions including 'The Ned Kelly Story', a collection of Kelly memorabilia housed in a portable cell in which Ned was imprisoned on his train journey to his trial in Melbourne. Keeping to the Kelly theme we travel to Euroa, nestled at the foot of the Strathbogie Ranges where the friendly folk at the Euroa Hotel will be waiting to host us for a lunch. The hotel dates back to 1884 and Euroa has a colourful history with links to the infamous Ned Kelly.  Later this afternoon we return to Nagambie.

OVERNIGHT: Nagambie Waterfront Motel, NAGAMBIE

NAGAMBIE TO MELBOURNE

This morning we farewell Nagambie and begin to make our way home. Travelling to Healesville, we visit Alowyn Gardens which started life as a blackberry infested paddock. Designed with shade and comfort in mind, it’s been developed into six distinct areas and for those who love a beautiful garden we will enjoy morning tea amongst the Autumn Blaze Maple trees followed by time to explore the lovely gardens. Further on we visit Rayner’s Orchard for a Fruit Tasting Tractor Tour before time to browse the Farm Shop and perhaps stock up on some of their delights! We are enjoying our time here so much we decide to stay on for lunch. This afternoon, we arrive home to Melbourne. What a great time away it’s been! As always, our chauffeurs will be waiting to take us straight to our very door – a delightful way to finish our time away and all part of the great O’Shannessy’s Quality Tours service!