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There’s a simple pleasure in exploring one’s back yard. It’s the perfect opportunity to play tourist and see the local area in a totally different light. This month as part of our Travel More, Explore More pledge we are off road tripping and exploring Victoria. This is both James and my home state and an area that offers a lot.

First stop is a mini escape to Phillip Island and then it’s off to get our glamping on in the North East part of the state.

Playing with Penguins at Phillip Island

And by playing I mean sitting at an appropriate distance, watching like creeps, and letting the Little Penguins waddle into their homes at dusk. It’s one of those super touristy things that I’ve been doing since I was a little girl. Things have changed a lot here and now you need to purchase tickets to get into the viewing area. Prices start from $25.10 for an adult.

Phillip Island is around a two hour drive from Melbourne. It’s a beautiful island combining a sea side lifestyle, farming families and tourist dollars. Accommodation wise there’s loads on offer. From luxury hotels to camping.

One thing to note about Phillip Island- this area really embraces Australian culture. There’s beautiful beaches, stunning rolling fields and a lot of ridiculous rules. There’s enforceable laws on times that dogs can be on the beaches, drinking in public spaces, parking permits. I’m sure you get the idea. Be well behaved or be prepared to pay the fines for your silly crimes.

So I have to admit that we’re over this way to celebrate a good friends 30th birthday. There will be less tourist time and more me eating a whole lotta cake.

Glamping Amongst the Grapes.

Thanks to the lovely people over at GlampingHub we’ll be heading off to the immensely popular winery region of Rutherglen. Most famous for it’s Winery Walk About in June. Rutherglen is one of Victoria’s most celebrated wine regions. Winemaking has been at the heart of the region since the 1850s. Generations later, the families who founded Rutherglen are still making wine today. Rutherglen offers a rich diversity of style – red and white table wines, sparkling wines and its internationally acclaimed fortified wines.

We’ll be living the life of luxury camping amongst a working vineyard. I’m really looking forward to trying out glamping, drinking wine and not being a responsible adult for gear. I love camping and we head out as often as possible. I’m happy with the setting up camp activities but in all honesty find it frustratingly annoying having to pack everything up in super small packages to fit into our car. I’m really looking forward to not having to pack up a 5mtr bell tent and gear. Just sleep, drink, eat, repeat in whatever order takes our fancy.

It really wasn’t that hard to convince us when there was the mention of wine, cheese and some adventure activities. And then there’s this bed.

Isn’t Glamping just hipster wanabe camping?

Well yes and no. Glamping certainly has taken the fancy of the tight pant wearing hipster. It’s also offering travellers a unique way to experience a different style of accommodation without having all the fancy expensive camping gear. Whilst I’d love to own a 5mtr bell tent the reality is that I don’t and I can’t see that changing in the near future. Though I’m not ruling it out ever.

Glamping is encouraging people to head out of the urban sprawl and explore regional areas across Australia. All the while injecting much needed funds and creating jobs in regional areas.

Is there anything that we should see and do whilst off road tripping? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll try to do it. Maybe.

45 Comments

  1. Victoria Australia is definitely worth a visit to visit. I would love to go for a camping!

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  2. I would love to try glamping! I love camping, but I think that glamping would be such a luxurious and relaxing alternative. And what a bummer that the island has so many silly rules. They limit when dogs can be on a beach?! Maybe I’m just a big dog person, but even when we don’t bring our dogs to the beach I always enjoy watching other peoples dogs, they are never a bother to me.

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  3. Aussies sound even stricter than us Brits! I’ll be sure to watch out for all your rules when I visit. As for glamping; I’m pretty sure it’s the only way that anyone will get me to spend the night in a tent now. I’ve done the whole pitching tent thing at festivals when I was younger. The bell tent looks perfect, hope you enjoy!

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    • I’m a huge camper. Not a festival camper. The Glamping is wonderful

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  4. The camping place looks so great! I am sure you will like it. To be honest, I could stay there for longer 🙂

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  5. Oooo, things to see and do I can’t help with as I don’t know the area but Rutherglen, delicious stuff. If I were you I’d forget the trip part and enjoy as much of the adult grape juice as possible! Have fun!

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  6. Glamping sounds so exciting. Never tried it but would love to. A rendezvous with the Penguins is an experience on a different level altogether. Hope some day we get to visit this lovely place.

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  7. Really great post, Jeanette! I loved my time in Victoria, though it was far too quick for my liking. When I return I’ll definitely be checking out that glamping experience … I too am easily persuaded by the mention of wine, cheese and some adventure.

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  8. Love this – really interesting. I must admit if I was camping it would have to be glamping for me!

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  9. The Hubs used to go to Phillip Island every year for the bike GP. He always complained about the unpredictable weather lol but I’m not sure he stopped to check out the Penguins. Glancing in the grapes sounds like more my style 😀

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  10. I have never ever gone glamping before. I feel like its’ a great experience to have being in close proximity to nature. My concern however is the toilet. It seems to me it’s not easy to find that in these sites or is it?

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    • Toilets are very easy when camping or glamping. It’s nothing to be concerned about.

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  11. This Yourt looks so amazing and your pictures also! I never did glamping really, but I would love to, especially as I really like the idea of Camping but I know it wouldn’t be for me. Glamping seems just about right and yeah, i might be a bit hipster 😀

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    • It’s a bell tent. So not as big in the walls as a yurt is. We’ve really enjoyed staying in yurts before!

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  12. Glamping is still a new concept in India .. never got an opportunity to do it. Hopefully sometime in near future. Australia is so beautiful and I always wanted to go to Phillip island and South Australia 🙂

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  13. This seemed like a great experience for you! I have never done glamping before as my friends and I usually camp in the back country. But maybe I will try this with my mom and my sister, they are not campers but the thought that it is kind of `glamorous`will surely appeal to them. haha! Looking forward to more glamping articles. =) enjoy your next trip!

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  14. I have also been trying to be more of a tourist in my own backyard (Adelaide!). It’s amazing what I have noticed that in the past I have just walked by!

    I’ve not been to Phillip Island, but love seeing the penguins at St Kilda whenever I am in Melbourne. I recommend that to anyone who asks me what to do in Melbourne.

    I love the idea of glamping in the vineyards – sounds like my sort of camping trip!

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  15. I’ve never heard of glamping, though I’ve slept in dome structures with certain amenities available, like a bathroom, outdoor kitchen and such. Still, I would be down to try some glamping and it looks like fun. I’d love to see some penguins waddling around, and Phillips sounds like a great place to see them!

    Just out of curiosity…why is there a photo of a hamster? I tried to make a connection to the article and the photo and couldn’t come up with one…???

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    • Ah, I finally saw what you did! Duh! -_-‘

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      • 😉 It’s an impersonation of me over eating ALL THE CAKE!

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  16. I’d love to try out glamping and this spot looks perfect! If only I wasn’t on the complete opposite side of the world… Exploring my own backyard is also one of my resolutions this year so it’s great that you’re getting out and seeing more of Australia!

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  17. Have to say – didn’t even know what Glamping really is. 😀 It sounds interesting and definitely a thing to try soon. Thanks for sharing, I’ve learned something new from your post, appreciate that!

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  18. We often ignore the treasures we have in our own backyard and must say we never get bored of exploring them!
    Glamping is really a good idea and we would always choose this if we had to make a choice between city tours and glamping! The tent here looks so cozy, all we would think of doing there is sleep, drink and repeat..:)

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  19. Glamping is a great idea, that bed looks cool but I’d be worried about knocking over the tent pole whilst sleeping (expecially after a lot of wine). Being at a vineyard you must have had access to amazing wines! I didn’t know the penguins came up to Australia, what kind of penguins were they?

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    • Australia is home to several varieties of penguins. We are a huge island! The ones down here are little penguins.

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  20. I would love to go Glamping and guess Australia has to be one of the best places to do that minus the spiders (if there are any). I spend a few weeks in Melbourne a while back and loved the city so much but missed out on Philip Island so that’s something to do the next time.

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    • Ahh yeah so the thing about Australia is that we have a lot of spiders. It’s a fact of life that no one really notices anymore!

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  21. I lived in Brisbane for 5 months in 2014 but never had time to fully explore regions other than Queensland. Next time I come back to Australia I really need to check out Victoria. Playing with penguins sounds so cool! I like your camp too. The inside looks so neat and comfortable!

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  22. I am looking forward to glamping somewhere soon, after reading so much about it everywhere. Vineyards seems a great backdrop for it too. Such a relaxing. comfy tent, love that low bed.

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  23. I really wanted to go to Philip Island when I was in Melbourne, but unfortunately I had to fly out early for work!! Next time I will be there. I do love glamping, I really hate camping so it’s nice to have a bit of luxury 🙂

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  24. I love glamping, beats real camping any day! I am always down to do both, looks like you had a great time!

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  25. That glamping experience sounds so amazing! That is definitely my cup of tea. I’ve heard a lot about the great wineries in Victoria, I’ll keep Rutherglen in mind should I decide to visit the state for some wine tasting!

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  26. I agree often we overlook the treasures in our own backyard. Never did glamping before. You inspire me to take off time to do something like this.

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  27. Have been to Australia a while back and now tempted to go again. Your post is so helpful. Thanks for sharing

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  28. Nice post, Penguins in Australia – you learn something new everyday. I’d love to go to Australia (I’m provisonally going in 2018, but won’t know for sure until the middle of this year). I have a Thailand Trave blog and your post (being an Australian and writing about Australia) has inspired me to write a post about Scotland (I’m Scottish). I had added an ‘Other Destinations’ tab to my menu on my blog so that I could write about my other travel adventures, and I didn’t even think about doing one about Scotland, which is an amazing country. Thanks for sharing.

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  29. As a travel blogger, I never ever considered to go glamping. Not that it isn’t fun, because I totally love camping, but I just didn’t take the jump to actually do it.

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    • Why does being a travel blogger result in you never considered to go glamping?

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  30. Camping is so not my thing. Glamping SOO is, though. I want to follow your footsteps and glamp and play with (creepy watch) penguins!

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    • Oh I so think we could get you out camping and enjoying it!

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  31. I’ve yet to explore both glamping and australia!. I love camping as it is, and I got the packaging down! But your pictures definitely make me want to try it out.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  32. Never knew Victoria has such awesome places to explore. Will there be any second part of it?

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  33. Glamping is experiencing camping in different way! I did once with few of my friends that keen on camping but don’t like the hassle of camping, so we went to one glamping resort in Bandung, Indonesia. They totally love it. Hope to try another glamping experience at another place or another country. Will bookmark this for my reference. 🙂

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  34. Victoria Australia sounds very interesting to visit. Love that you’re locals playing tourists. We love doing that too. It opens your eyes to the wonderful things that may get taken for granted in our workaday worlds. Glamping is so cool.

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  35. As a travel blogger who focuses on drinks, I think the idea of glamping at a vineyard is awesome! I love that you included some info about the Rutherglen area, as I’m still learning about Australian wines. I’m going to try to do this in the NYC region – maybe I’ll find a vineyard up here where I can go glamping, too! 🙂

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  36. I love the idea of traveling your own backyard. I am from NYC and never do any of the tourist stuff here. Great idea to deeply explore where you live. Also love the idea of watching the penguins on Philips Island. I saw them in the Galapagos and they were so cute.

    Reply

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Jeanette

Jeanette

Founder, Principal Blogger & Coffee Drinker

Coffee Lover | Travel Blogger | Horse Rider | Adventure Racer | Donut Dame. Generally nice lady-enjoys wine, indie movies & random dance parties in my tent.

Just a little FYI- this article was written with the support of GlampingHub. Any and all views and opinions expressed are entirely my own based on personal experiences when travelling and are honest and factual without any bias.

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