Olinda Falls in the Dandenongs

An hour east of Melbourne in the Dandenong Ranges. The walk to Olinda Falls is short — about 2km round trip through mountain ash forest — and the falls are modest: a gentle cascade over moss-covered rock into a fern-lined pool. It's not dramatic. It's restorative. The air is cool and damp and smells like eucalyptus and wet earth.

The Dandenongs in general are Melbourne's weekend escape — mountain villages with gardens, tea rooms, and the Puffing Billy steam railway that runs through the forest. Olinda the town has galleries and nurseries. Sassafras has the Miss Marple's Tea Room in a building that looks like it wandered out of an English village.

Autumn for the European trees the early settlers planted turning gold. Winter for mist in the tree ferns. The paths can be slippery — real shoes. A quick trip from Melbourne that feels longer than the odometer suggests.