World-class food and scenery: Is this country Victoria's best-kept secret

Mildura is a city of riches for lovers of fine fare and nature.

It's a perfect afternoon. The sun is shining, the Mallee sky is cloudless, and the mighty Murray is flowing. Chris Durban, the owner of Mildura Houseboats, has just given up the wheel, and I am attempting to keep the ship sailing midstream. It only takes a couple of minutes to get the hang of it and, as we continue upstream, it's easy to see why so many people choose a luxury vessel and spend a weekend on the water in this idyllic part of Victoria.

Chris points out the jetty for the Gol Gol Hotel. "That's a popular mooring during the summer," he says. "Everyone wants to stop there." It's midwinter now and the river is quiet, our only companions during the short voyage are a few cormorants and other waterbirds. During summer, there are water-skiers, fishermen in tinnies and kids swimming near the banks. Luckily, there's plenty of room for everyone.

As we're returning to Mildura, I notice the camping ground on the NSW side of the river is being rebuilt after the high-water event in December 2022. The town itself stayed above the flood, but low-lying homes, orchards and vineyards were all adversely affected. The water receded slowly causing havoc during the busiest time of year for tourism operators.

Life now seems to have gone back to normal for the town of Mildura, built in the late 1800s. At the time, Alfred Deakin, then a minister of the Victorian government, was trying to find somewhere to grow food for a flourishing Melbourne population. In California, he met George and William Chaffey. George was an irrigator, and he and his brother came to Victoria and chose a huge sheep paddock for their experiment. And so the settlement of Mildura was established in 1887 and, over the next 20 years, an irrigation system was established.

Now, Mildura is Victoria's food bowl, supplying the entire country with table grapes and citrus fruits.

"The joke is that you could plant a popsicle stick here and it would grow," says Alison Stone of Discover Mildura, who's taking us on an insightful tour of the region and some of its best-known wineries. Her father was one of the many soldiers given a block to work after the war.

At Cappa Stone Wines, winemaker Donna Stephens is pouring at the cellar door. "We make all our wines the old-fashioned way with minimal handling," says Donna. The grapes she uses are locally grown, including one Donna is particularly excited about.

"One day, a grower came up to me and said, 'Taste this,'" she says. The black pulp he offered her was from Alicante Bouschet vines. "Hardly anyone grows it and he gives us his crop each year." The result is a luscious, dry red, perfect for a roast dinner.

The food in Mildura is exceptional. Start at the Sunraysia Farmers' Market on Saturday morning, where vendors sell fresh fruit and veg, wine, olive oil, bread and baked goods. Stefano de Pieri's eponymous restaurant is the city's best-known eatery, but you need to book a long way in advance to dine there.

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Making a big name for himself, though, is another chef, Matt de Angelo. The Province is Italian fine dining at its best. After scallop tortellini and the signature dish, braised goat with pearl barley, there's only just room for a dessert of almond chocolate cake with dark chocolate sorbet.

The restaurant is located on what the locals call Feast Street. Nearby, bustling Thai-Riffic serves a mix of contemporary and traditional dishes as good as any spot in Melbourne, while Seoul Chicken and Beer is a fun diner where the Korean fried chicken is served by robots. It's the perfect stop for lunch before you take a ride on the historical PV Rothbury past the Mildura Weir or explore Mildura Arts Centre, where the gallery is partially housed in William Chaffey's Queen Anne-style home, Rio Vista.

One of the most extraordinary areas to explore nearby is Mungo National Park, which is technically in NSW, but only a two-hour drive away from Mildura. It's famous for being the resting place of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man, whose 40,000-year-old remains were found in 1969 and 1974 respectively.

Then there's the famous lunette, a 30-kilometre-long sand dune that holds the secrets of the Paakantyi and Ngiyampaa who lived here for thousands of years and are now the caretakers of the park.

When we arrive, it becomes clear coming on a tour with Phill Stone (yes, Alison's husband) was an excellent choice. There's a boardwalk along the base of the lunette, but only people with an approved guide can go beyond that.

We traipse up the sand and through the craggy outcrops, before arriving where the earth is stained red and caramel. The colours, Phill tells us, were caused by the animal fats that dripped through fires during the cooking process. He then takes us to where he knows there are some fossilised fishbones and freshwater mussel shells, the leftovers from middens.

"The landscape changes every time it rains," says Phill, as he shows us a line of black earth in a boomerang shape. "This was the campfire," he says, "although we're not sure whether the people lived in between the two fires or behind them."

We wander around, being careful not to step on anything important and looking for other artefacts. In a twist of dead roots, there are the bones of a hairy-nosed wombat, which became extinct in the area after European settlement.

Getting there: Bonza, Australia's only independent low-cost airline, flies direct to Mildura twice a week from both Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast. flybonza.com

Staying there: Mildura Houseboats has vessels, some of them pet-friendly, with between two and 12 berths for all budgets. mildurahouseboats.com.au

If you want to stay on land, Indulge Apartments has apartments and homes throughout Mildura's CBD, including in some of the city's historical buildings like the old Equity Chambers - check out its Urban Collection. indulgeapartments.com.au

Explore more: visitthemurray.com.au

The writer was a guest of Murray Regional Tourism.

Pictures: Visit Victoria; Visit Mildura