Buchan Caves

In the hills of East Gippsland, the Buchan Caves have drawn visitors underground for more than a century. Guided tours light the Fairy Cave and Royal Cave, where limestone dissolved and re-formed into curtains, columns and rimstone pools of extraordinary delicacy. Above ground the reserve is a green fold of lawns and river flat, with a spring-fed pool, grazing kangaroos at dusk and a shaded campground under the peppermints. The road in threads through some of Victoria's prettiest back country. Cool and constant year-round, the caves are a fine refuge from summer heat and a highlight of the drive between the mountains and the coast.