Serendip Sanctuary

On the volcanic plains near Lara between Melbourne and Geelong, Serendip is a wetland and grassland sanctuary devoted to the birds and open-country wildlife of the western basalt plains. Once a research station that helped bring the bustard and the brolga back from the brink, it now offers easy walking tracks past lagoons, aviaries and open paddocks where emus, kangaroos and a wealth of waterbirds live. Hides overlook the wetlands, and the flat, family-friendly paths make it an easy outing. It is a gentle, uncrowded introduction to the wildlife of a landscape most travellers only glimpse from the highway.