The Australia Spa Road Trip That Won Over a Wellness Skeptic

Afar contributing writer Emma John road-trips the Great Victorian Bathing Trail, uncovering the best spa towns in Victoria, Australia—from thermal springs on the coast to century-old bathhouses inland.

A traditional spa vacation was never Emma John's thing—she needs to be on the move to relax. So when she set out to explore Victoria Australia spas along the newly opened Great Victorian Bathing Trail, she brought her road trip instincts with her: 250 miles of driving, looping from Melbourne down to the Mornington Peninsula, across Port Phillip Bay by ferry, and back up through the best spa towns in Victoria, Australia—Hepburn Springs and Daylesford.

On this episode of Unpacked, host Katherine LaGrave talks with Emma about what she learned when a self-described spa skeptic spent a week soaking, swimming, and drinking mineral water across the state with Australia's highest concentration of natural springs.

THIS WEEK'S GUEST

Emma John is a contributing writer to Afar based in London. For her story on the Great Victorian Bathing Trail, she looped through Victoria's most notable bathing destinations—geothermal spas, sea pools, mineral springs, and lakes—timing her trip around a six-week cricket series between Australia and England. What began as a well-earned reward after weeks of demanding sports coverage turned into a deeper reckoning with what wellness travel actually means.

IN THIS EPISODE

Why Victoria, Australia, has the country's highest concentration of natural mineral springs, and how the Great Victorian Bathing Trail links geothermal spas, sea pools, and lakes across the state

Alba Thermal Springs & Spa on the Mornington Peninsula, where automatic doors and unfamiliar bathing etiquette left Emma completely disoriented—and how she started letting go of the need to get it "right"

Hepburn Springs and Daylesford, the twin towns at the heart of Victoria's spa country, home to 80 percent of Australia's mineral water and the 1895 Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa—Australia's oldest

Drinking straight from the source: the sulfurous Soda, Locarno, and Sulphur Springs pumps scattered through Hepburn's town park, and why locals still fill their bottles there every week

A 45-minute private mineral bath that changed Emma's mind about "forced relaxation"—and the moment she realized her real obstacle wasn't the spa, but her own instinct to rush

The layered history beneath the trail: a walk with guide Rob Hyatt of the Koorie Heritage Trust, who explains how the Yarra River's true name is Birrarung, and how Lake Daylesford's creation displaced the Dja Dja Wurrung people from land and water they'd relied on for generations

Why Emma's top recommendation for skeptics isn't a spa at all: the Searoad Ferry between the Mornington and Bellarine Peninsulas, where a pod of wild dolphins showed up uninvited

Dinner at Kadota, a Japanese restaurant in Daylesford run by chef Aaron Schembri and his wife Risa Kadota, plus an unplanned stop in the town of Trentham that Emma's still thinking about

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00:00 Introduction: A Road Trip Built Around Water

00:04:00 Hepburn Springs: Australia's Oldest Bathhouse

00:08:00 The freedom of road trips and letting go

00:10:30 The history of these Australian waters

00:17:00 The Searoad Ferry and an Unexpected Pod of Dolphins

00:19:00 Drinking the Springs in Hepburn's Town Park

00:22:00 Kadota, Daylesford, and an Unplanned Stop in Trentham

00:23:30 How Emma's Idea of Wellness Changed

LINKS & RESOURCES

Emma John's Afar story: An Australian Road Trip Built Around Swimming, Soaking, and Sauna

Alba Thermal Springs & Spa

Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa

Lon Retreat & Spa

Koorie Heritage Trust

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