Just outside Melbourne’s metropolitan area in Monbulk are several farms for picking fruits like cherries, strawberries and flowers. These farms are great in good weather and designed for family and friend gatherings. They also serve as a nice getaway that isn’t too far from the city. You’ll need a car to get here.
There is an entry fee to the farm of AUD$9.50 for adults and $7.50 for pensioners. This fee covers the use of the park, playground and barbecue areas. The farm has animals roaming around such as chickens, emus and ducks. It is neatly divided between the park (with barbecue stoves/hot plates), a large fishing lake and smaller fishing areas.
The barbecue stoves and hot plates are relatively clean. You will need to bring your own things to prepare any fish you catch or you can purchase them from the store (which sells things like sauces and plastic plates at higher than usual retail prices).
Prepare yourself. I recommend bringing the following at a minimum:
- cutlery for the fish and your guests, so cutlery for cooking and also knife and forks
- plates and cups
- all your sauces and seasoning (plus any other food you want to eat)
- plastic bags for your waste and to carry things
- oil for the stove and aluminum foil
- tongs
- table mat
- water
- fly swatter or something to keep the flies away
- various sponges
- trolley (to carry everything from the car to the work bench)
- etc
You can catch dish such as salmon and trout from the designated fish ponds (which make it easier for you) or the larger lake. You can use the fishing rods and the bait available near the ponds. It’s worth noting that it is $31.99 per kilo for salmon. Unless you a skilled fisher, you may run into some trouble catching the fish. Luckily there are people on deck to help on less busier days.
On catching your fish, you can get it cleaned for free or you can pay extra to get the fish filleted for $4 per fish or cut up into sashimi for $6 per fish.
I recommend coming to the farm early to snag a bench and barbecue stove/hot plate. I realized that the afternoon still had people coming in droves and some people missed out on a bench. We managed to get in early and had no issues when we arrived around 10:00 am.
On the day, I saw many talented people with cook stoves and the barbecue stove/hot plate cooking up a feast for their respective guests and family. It was a nice day to just casually do some fishing and eating some nicely caught fish outside in nice weather.
Australian Rainbow Trout Farm is located at 26 Mulhalls Road, Macclesfield VIC 3782:
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