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HEALESVILLE is a small, pleasant town nestled in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. Collect information about the region at the visitor information centre in the old courthouse building at the southern end of town, just off the Maroondah Highway (daily 10am-5pm). Healesville's main attraction is the renowned Healesville Sanctuary (daily 9am-5pm; free guides 10am-3pm if booked in advance; tel 03/5957 2800, 24hr information line tel 1902/240 592 at 50¢ per minute, www.zoo.org.au ; $16.40).

This is a genuine sanctuary, established over fifty years ago to provide care for injured and orphaned animals, some of which are then returned to the wild; those that stay join the sanctuary's programmes for education and the breeding of endangered species. It's a fascinating place in a beautiful setting, with a stream running through park-like grounds, dense with gum trees and cool ferns, and 3km of paths to follow past picnic and barbecue areas. Many of the animals are in enclosures, but there are paddocks of emus, wallabies and kangaroos you can stroll through. Don't miss the excellent "Animals of the Night" enclosure (10am-4.30pm); other star attractions include the aviaries (9am-4.30pm), a scary Reptile House (Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm, Sat, Sun & public holidays 9am-5pm) and a Platypus Display Centre (9.30am-4.30pm). The informative "meet the keeper" presentations throughout the day are worth joining: the raptors (birds of prey) at noon and 3pm (weather permitting) are unmissable.

Continuing north on the Maroondah Highway over the Black Spur and Dom Dom Saddle towards Alexandra, the scenery becomes progressively more attractive. Worth a brief stop is the Maroondah Reservoir Lookout , just off the highway 3km north of Healesville, with picturesque views across the forest-fringed dam. There are very popular picnic grounds and gardens in the park on the southwest side of the reservoir. Soon after the reservoir, the highway meanders along bush-clad mountain slopes and enters luxuriant wet eucalypt forest with incredibly tall mountain ash, moss-covered myrtle beech, manna gum, tree ferns, gurgling creeks and waterfalls. The Fernshaw Reserve and Picnic Ground is a good place to stop and view the scenery. After the Dom Dom Saddle, 509m above sea level and 16km past Healesville, the highway descends towards Narbethong, where it enters drier country. Three kilometres past Narbethong a turn-off leads to scenic MARYSVILLE , 9km off the highway. A worthwhile detour, the village is nestled in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, with Lake Mountain (1400m), a very popular area for cross-country skiing and tobogganing, 20km further west. In summer Marysville makes an excellent base for bushwalking , being surrounded by wet mountain ash forests with many creeks and waterfalls. The best-known, Steavensons Falls , can be reached from the village by a walking trail or by road and is floodlit at night until 11pm. Just out of Marysville, the unsealed Lady Talbot Forest Drive turns off the Lake Mountain road and then winds 46km through the forest, past picnic areas and walking tracks (suitable for conventional vehicles, though after heavy rainfall it's best to check in Marysville for road conditions). Return to Marysville via the Buxton Road, or turn right and head straight north to Buxton where you rejoin the highway. Further up, the Maroondah Highway passes the drier Cathedral Range State Park , where to the west of the road the mighty sandstone cliffs of Cathedral Mountain (845m) seem to rise almost vertically behind the paddocks, overlooking the Acheron Valley.