Five highlights in your travel week | March 3

Melbourne’s Mantra Southbank is offering accommodation during the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, which will be held from March 23-26 at Albert Park, with rates from $449 per night (minimum two-night stay) in one of the hotel’s apartments.

The property is less than 10 minutes from the venue and hence is a great base for one of Australian sport’s great weekends.

The deal is valid for sale and travel until March 26.

Molong’s Old School House … ideal for people looking to entertain during their stay.

The Central West of NSW has gained some extremely classy B&B accommodation with the opening of the Old School House, in the heritage-listed 1879 building that was originally the town of Molong’s public school.

These days it features comfortable queen-sized beds fitted with fine linens, a modern kitchen fitted out to gourmet standards and a spacious open-plan dining and living area.

There’s also a loft area that would make an ideal retreat and features a pull-out sofa bed.

The property would comfortably accommodate two couples and a couple of children, and would also suit people looking to entertain during their stay.

The location, just a block from Molong’s main street, places the Old School House within easy walking distance of shops, galleries and cafés.

Molong is a charming, historic town just half an hour’s drive along the Mitchell Highway from Orange, which has rapidly gained a reputation as one of Australia’s foodie and fine-wine meccas.

Sealink … providing an essential link between the South Australian mainland and Kangaroo Island.

Save up to $196 on a Kangaroo Island holiday, with SeaLink offering free return ferry transfers for two people booking their car and caravan or camper trailer on a Kangaroo Island SeaLink ferry and travelling between May 15 and September 15.

Enjoy exploring cliff-top wineries, tasting spirits at Kangaroo Island Spirits, sampling freshly caught seafood, experiencing wildlife encounters with sea lions at Seal Bay, and with kangaroos, koalas and other native animals at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park.

Kangaroo Island has four caravan parks, ranging from foreshore caravan parks in Kingscote and Penneshaw to natural bushland settings in the heart of the island in Parndana and at the western end of the island next to the Flinders Chase National Park and popular attractions such as Admirals Arch and Remarkable Rocks. 

The caravan and camper trailer deal is on sale until September 12 and valid for travel between May 15 and September 15.

Sheffield … the northern Tasmanian town’s galleries are different to most.

The northern Tasmanian town of Sheffield’s art galleries are different to most, with the town of murals featuring large artworks dotted among the outside walls of its buildings.

Sheffield’s annual International Mural Fest will run from April 16 to 22 and feature nine artists competing in a public “paint off” from Easter Sunday to the following Saturday.

Each artist must complete a 2.1-metre-by-4.8-metre mural, using a selected poem as inspiration.

With more than $20,000 in prize money on offer, the quality of the entrants is high and Sheffield benefits from a major mural acquisition each year.

Vasse Felix … Margaret River’s founding wine estate.

This year marks half a century since the first planting of commercial vines in Western Australia’s Margaret River wine region — 50 years since Perth cardiologist Dr Tom Cullity planted the first vines on his land at Vasse Felix, the district’s founding wine estate.

In a now-famous paper published in the mid-1960s, Dr John Gladstone, an agronomist with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, wrote: “I believe Margaret River will with time become one of the world’s great wine regions.” And how right he was.

Specialist tour operator Ultimate Winery Experiences runs several tours of Margaret River, such as the four-night Ultimate Margaret River Explorer, which is priced at $5190 per person, including chauffer-driven return transfer from Perth ($5990 for a private plane), all gourmet meals, private visits to Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate and Voyager Estate, and accommodation in Cape Lodge.

John Rozentals is a freelance writer whose passions are travel, food and wine. He lives at Molong in the Central West of NSW, from where he hosts Oz Baby Boomers, a lifestyle-resource for mature Australians, and Molong Online.