What are the best things to do in Gisborne, Victoria?

The best things to do in Gisborne, Victoria, include kangaroo tours at the Gisborne Golf Club and wine-tasting at the Gisborne Peak Winery.

Gisborne, like Romsey, Woodend and Kyneton, is one of several fairly appealing towns in the Macedon Ranges region of Victoria. Visitors will pass through Gisborne on the drive up the Calder Highway from Melbourne to Mildura or Melbourne to Bendigo. The town is also close to the Lerderderg State Park and Organ Pipes National Park.

Want to stay overnight? Good Gisborne accommodation picks include the pretty Mews Cottages and the vineyard-flanked Gisborne Peak Winery Cottages.

Things to do in Gisborne, Victoria: Gisborne Golf Club

In Gisborne itself, the highlight for most visitors will be the Gisborne Golf Club. That might make the town sound rather dull for anyone not interested in thwacking a ball up a fairway. But it’s not the golf that’s the main attraction at the Gisborne Golf Club. It’s the kangaroos.

A sizable mob of kangaroos marauds around the Gisborne Golf Club, in a similar manner to the ones at the Anglesea Golf Course on the Great Ocean Road. The Golf Club has got wise to the popularity of the kangaroos, and set up Kanga Tours. These tours cost $12.50 for adults when booked online, and they take you out onto the course to meet the roos.

Things to do in Gisborne, Victoria: Dingo Discovery Sanctuary

If wildlife is top of your list, other things to do in Gisborne include the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary. Technically just to the south of Gisborne in Toolern Vale, the Dingo Discovery Sanctuary is run by the Australian Dingo Foundation. The aim is to preserve the gene pool of Australia’s endemic dog, and tours are available by private appointment only. These dingo encounter tours cost $70 per person and run for around one-and-a-half hours.

Gisborne Botanic Gardens and Gisborne Peak Winery

The other two key things to do in Gisborne are the Gisborne Botanic Gardens and Gisborne Peak Winery. The Gisborne Botanic Gardens is pleasant but inessential. You can hang out there for a while and find it agreeable, but it’s hardly worth going out of your way for.

The Gisborne Peak Winery offers self-guided tours of the winery, outdoor decking and wine-tastings at the cellar door. As with most Macedon Ranges wineries, there’s a distinct leaning towards cool climate wines here. The Gisborne Peak Winery offers some interesting options, however, such as the estate-grown sparkling pinot.

The drive from Melbourne to Gisborne is 56km long, and takes around 42 minutes.

Top Gisborne accommodation choices

The best places to stay in Gisborne are:

For cottages amongst the vineyards: Gisborne Peak Winery Short Term Stays.
For a private lake, tennis court, golf driving net and sauna: Cleggett Estate.
For quirk factor and four poster beds: Galahad’s Animal Sanctuary B&B.

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