Joanna James
Enjoying a sunny time in Melbourne during the holidays gets even better if you can get some adrenaline-pumping activities in there. All the activities that are mentioned below are very close to the Melbourne CBD so if you are on holiday, here's where you go to have some adventurous fun in the town.
First on our list is Ricketts Point which is roughly about a 40-minute drive from Oaks Melbourne on William Suites. The Marine Sanctuary is also a great place to run around rock pools, keeping in mind not to slip and also take in the local wildlife including cuttlefish to colour changing black swans. There is also a dog beach if you miss your pooch and want to hang around a place where people bring their pets for a run on the beach. You can top it all off with a smooth white at The Parlour.
Point Cook Coastal Park is the best place to go when you want to go off on a hike that will test your limits. It is a quick drive on the Princess Freeway to Point Cook which is home to some wonderful beaches, the park and nearby wetlands where you will find plenty of birds, points of an area where you can have a picnic and various landmarks and bridges. It will be windswept and utterly delightful to make the hike.
North of Melbourne is the Merri Creek Trail which will take you across the whole length of Merri Creek covering 20km of wooded parks, barbecue spots, lakes and just utterly breath-taking views. There are tracks all over the place that you can take but our preferred ones are Ceres Community Environmental Park, Dights Falls and Coburg Lake Reserve.
Lysterfield Park is where you go to bump into echidnas, kangaroos and birds of all sizes and shapes. A two to three-hour hike in the park will bring you in close quarters with some of the most beautiful creatures in the area, lush forests, a lakeside beach, horse riding tracks and much more. If you don't want to walk for hours there's also canoeing, sailing classes, paddle boats and mountain biking available to try. It would make for a perfect weekend getaway among nature.
If you want to take a bit of a ride away from the confines of your serviced apartment in Melbourne, consider a day trip to the Dandenong Ranges. There are over 3200 hectares of many different species of flora and fauna, walking tracks amidst breath-taking waterfalls, the Puffing Billy vapour train that loops around 50km over the mountainside, secluded little picnic spots and plenty of lush rainforests to get lost in. It is the ultimate paradise for lovers of nature, and it is only an hour's drive from the Melbourne CBD so you can be back in time for dinner.
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