Countryside living in Ferny Creek

For five nights, I stayed in Ferny Creek in a beautiful farmhouse surrounded by trees, hills and animals. I spent my first days in Australia there and it was really nice having a homely base, where I could get over my jetlag and experience a bit of the countryside life that I adore so much.

Ferny Creek is a small village on a mountain close to Ferntree Gully, which is one of Melbourne’s suburbs. My friend Katrine, who I know from school back home in Denmark, is travelling around the world with her friend Annemie and they are in Australia for four months and as it happens, they were in Melbourne at the exact same time as me! I couldn’t believe my luck, when I found out.

They had already arranged to stay with Erik, a friend of Katrine’s mum, who lives in Ferny Creek, and they asked him if I could stay for four nights too. I was in luck and I’m really glad that Erik agreed to it!

In many ways, Ferny Creek reminded me of my other home country, England, where I’ve spent most of my summers since I was a child. My mum’s cousin lives in a beautiful farmhouse with a garden full of animals. I’ve always known that I wanted a house like that; in the countryside, in a safe environment and with a big garden with furry friends running about everywhere. The farmhouse in Ferny Creek reminded me of her house and my stay there assured me that this is the kind of house that I want to live in in the future.

At the farm there were cats, goats, cows, horses and all sorts of exotic birds. I loved going out to pet and feed the animals and I really miss being around them now. I feel like I could’ve stayed there forever. Erik is so lucky to live in such a fairytale of a home!

During our stay in Ferny Creek, we were almost always busy with something. If we weren’t playing with animals or having fun with Erik and his roommate Geoffrey, we were out sightseeing in Melbourne, going on a trip to Phillip Island, walking in temperate rainforests or trying to find the best view of Melbourne from the mountain.

One evening, Annemie, Katrine and I even went for an evening walk through a forest, as we thought we could get a view from there, but we never found it and ended up scaring each other half to death in the darkness of night. But we came out alright and the next day, Erik took us to the right spot, where we got a spectacular aerial view of Melbourne and the suburbs.

Since the premiere of the new James Bond film was happening while we were in Ferny Creek, we decided to go to the cinema in the nearby town of Belgrave to watch it. To my surprise, it was an outdoor cinema and we were given bean bags to sit on! I have never tried an outdoor cinema before, but it was really cozy to snuggle up in our sleeping bags while watching James Bond in action. This is definitely something that I need to try again!

On my last day in Ferny Creek, Annemie, Erik and I set off to the 1000 Steps Kokoda Walk, followed by a walk through a temperate rainforest to a small, yet beautiful waterfall. It was really fun climbing on the rocks, although it was quite slippery at times.

Later on, Erik took me for a drive in the countryside, while Annemie and Katrine got ready to leave the next morning. He took me to see the famous Puffing Billy train, which I really wanted to go on, but since the girls had already done it before I came – and because I’m on a really tight budget – I just settled with seeing it go by.

We then went on a trip around the Dandenongs Ranges National Park, where we got some great views of the beautiful countryside.

There are a lot of opportunities in and around Ferny Creek, and although the village is 33 km. from Melbourne, I would recommend staying there or in the area – or at least going there on a day trip – if you ever decide to visit Melbourne. Melbourne is a lovely city, but I’m a country girl and I really loved staying at Erik’s place with all the animals in Ferny Creek and I hope that someday, a house like that will be mine.