Australian sojourn

Victoria's Yarra Valley offers visitors a bucolic getaway in the nation's agricultural heartland, and the urban delights of Melbourne are just an hour away, Yang Feiyue discovers.

Many Chinese affectionately call Australia a big farmyard, with the state of Victoria at the front and center. Accounting for just 3 percent of the country's total land area, it contributes roughly 30 percent of Australia's food exports.

A one-day tour of Yarra Valley offers a good view of the superb local natural environment and its food, as well as a sense of how locals live off the land.