• Dine at Chef's Hat awarded restaurants
• Visit boutique wineries
• Hike on Victoria's most iconic trails

Learn about Victoria's food and wine and enjoy gastronomic experiences on a small group guided hiking tour that follows some of the region's most iconic trails and features exceptional gastronomic experiences such as gourmet picnics, tastings at boutique wineries, and dinners at Chef's Hat awarded restaurants. The list of much coveted Chef's Hats awards for 2023 were announced earlier this month.

Chef's Hat awarded restaurants that feature on the tours include Bar Midland and Lake House on the Goldfields Track tour, Provenance restaurant on the Hiking around Beechworth tour, and Wickens at The Royal Mail in Dunkeld on the South West Coast and the Grampians tour.

TOUR DETAILS

Gastronomic dinners and a Golden History

Dinner at the innovative Bar Midland is a welcome new addition for 2023 to the Highlights of the Goldfields Track. The new restaurant, which has just been awarded its first Chef Hat, focuses on organic, bio-dynamic and foraged ingredients in addition to indigenous food. The tour also includes dinner at the superb two Chef's Hat awarded Lake House in Daylesford, one of Victoria's most celebrated restaurants.

The level 3 tour follows a section of the iconic Goldfields Track, allowing guests to explore native bushland, fern-lined creeks and stringybark forests and learn about the fascinating history of the gold rush era. Other highlights include superb picnic lunches, a spa experience at Hepburn Springs' historic mineral Bathhouse & Spa, and a stay in a luxurious 19th century period private house.

From AUS$3725pp inclusive of six nights' full board accommodation, guided hikes, all activities and free transfers to/from Melbourne with www.hedonistichiking.com.

Fine dining and wine tasting around Beechworth

Dinner at the award-wining Provenance restaurant is just one of the gastronomic highlights of the Hiking around Beechworth weekend tour. Recipients of two Chef's Hats for 9 consecutive years, the restaurant serves contemporary food, using locally sourced ingredients, in the magnificent setting of the former Bank of Australasia. Other gastronomic highlights include a wine-tasting of Nebbiolo wines at a boutique winery. The gentle (level 2) weekend tour follows the footsteps of the infamous Bushranger, Ned Kelly, and includes two fully guided hikes, picnic lunches and superb dinners.

From AUD$1085pp inclusive of fully guided hikes, meals and activities, with www.hedonistichiking.com.  Excludes accommodation.

Gourmet experiences in the Southern Grampians

The highly acclaimed two hats awarded Wickens at the Royal Mail in Dunkeld is the gastronomic highlight of the South West Coast and the Grampians tour. Home to one of the country's finest working kitchen gardens, 80% of the produce on the dining menu is grown on site and harvested by the kitchen team, with other produce grown and foraged for in surrounding orchards and olive groves. Other gourmet experiences on the tour include a bushtucker lunch prepared by rangers at Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, the first UNESCO World Heritage award in Australia to be listed for its Aboriginal cultural value.

The tour explores the remote far south west coastal region, before continuing on to the dramatic mountains of the Southern Grampians and includes hikes in coastal forests, through a deep gorge, and up a rocky ascent to the summit of Mount Sturgeon (Wurgarri).

From AUS$3795pp including six nights' full board accommodation, guided hikes, all activities and transfers to/from Ballarat, with www.hedonistichiking.com.

ABOUT HEDONISTIC HIKING

Established in 2007 by Jackie and Mick Parsons, Hedonistic Hiking organises guided hiking tours, accompanied by gourmet food and wine experiences, in Australia and Italy. All tours are researched, designed and led by Jackie and Mick and graded 1-5 according to difficulty.

Hiking: All Hedonistic Hiking tours are graded, ranging from gentle half-day hikes (6-9km) across easy rolling countryside on a level 1 tour, to an average distance of 12-15km per day on rugged terrain, with ascents of up to 1,000m, on a level 5 tour. 

Gourmet experiences: Picnic on fresh regional ingredients, and feast on restaurant dinners that showcase the best local cuisine and award-wining wines. Tours may also include a wine-tasting, a visit to a cheese producer or a cooking demonstration.

Stay in hand-picked, locally owned hotels and private houses.

Destinations: Australian tours are focussed on Victoria, taking in the Grampians, the Goldfields Track, the Victorian Alps, the Great Ocean Walk and the area around Beechworth.

In Europe, destinations include the Dolomites, Tuscany, Piedmont, the Italian Lakes and Alps, Friuli, Emilia Romagna, Umbria, the Basilicata, Sardinia and the Abruzzo, with several of the tours crossing borders into France, Slovenia and Austria.

Solo guests: Tour groups are made up of solo travellers, couples and keen walkers whose partner may not share the same passion for hiking.  A small single supplement (from AUS$325) applies but rooms allocated for single occupancy are equal to rooms occupied by two.

Contact us for further press information and high res images:
Australia: Jackie Parsons, info@hedonistichiking.com, +61 (0)428 198918
UK: Jenny Garber, jenny@jgcommunications.co.uk, +44 (0)208 444 1010