Lancemore adds outdoor saunas to two of its best Victorian escapes
Lancemore Hotels has partnered with Melbourne wellness brand Orans to launch The Slow Season – a winter offering built around outdoor sauna access at two of its Victorian stays: Lancemore Milawa in the High Country and Lancemore Lindenderry Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula.
The saunas, designed and built by Orans, are set within the landscapes of each property – carbonised walnut exteriors, cedar-lined interiors, the kind of thing that looks like it belongs among the vines rather than bolted on as an afterthought. Sauna access is complimentary for guests who book directly.
Both of these regional Victoria destinations are high on the winter escape shortlist without the sauna — Milawa for High Country cool and cellar doors, Red Hill for cliff-top views and a food scene that punches well above its postcode. The sauna just gives you a reason to stay a little longer and lean into winter.
Better in black: special black truffle menus take over Crown restaurants for the annual Truffle Season
As chef Guillaume Brahimi delivers his dish to our intimate chef’s table, he modestly describes the dish before us as “my surf and turf”. He is underselling things by quite a bit as we are about to eat the chef’s prawn raviolo (pictured above) with Chinese cabbage, the turf part a veal jus butter emulsion with duck foie gras; the matching wine a Leeuwin Estate “Art Seres” chardonnay from 2022.
This is A Truffle Symphony, a five-course degustation at Evergreen in Crown Towers and a suitably ostentatious kick-off to Truffle Season at Crown. In the kitchen Guillaume is joined by Executive Chef of Victor Churchill, Monty Koludrovic and special guest, and 3 Michelin star French chef, Bruno Ménard. Between them they have 11 kilos of Truffle Hill Manjimup truffles to play with, a serious amount of some of the world’s finest and most famous funghi.
Following the Truffle Symphony launch at Evergreen, the season now spreads like truffle spores across Crown’s restaurants. The indulgent black truffle will be celebrated with special menus so you can taste Guillaume’s “surf and turf” prawn raviolo at Bistro Guillaume; you can try beef tataki truffle ponzu at Nobu; and you can sink your teeth into a wagyu truffle burger with gruyere and caramelised onion at Marmont.
More special menus are to be found at TWR, Koko and Conservatory and the season will run until late August.
In with the new: Mt Buller to give newbie skiers more time on snow
It’s family time on Mt Buller with a wide range of activities, including free entertainment, these school holidays in addition to skiing and snowboarding. The Kids’ Week program includes games, Hungry Hippos on snow, marshmallow toasting, music, AirZone trampolining, movies, gnome roam hunts and sled dog meet and greets.
“We’re extending skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing through to 7pm every night from Saturday to ensure guests have plenty of time to enjoy the snow and make the most of the terrain we have open,” Buller Ski Lifts General Manager Noel Landry said. Mt Buller has also frozen the prices of lift tickets for kids up to 18 years from $73 and adults from $121 this week. In addition, many resort operators including cafes and retail stores in the village are extending their hours to match the extended evening ski area operations.
Alpine Resorts Victoria are offering a discount on Mt Buller and Mt Stirling resort entry charges with 25 per cent off online sales until 2 July. Local residents in 3722 and 3723 postcodes are invited to make the most of the extended evening operations at Mt Buller with free resort entry daily between 4.30pm and midnight.
“Thanks to our all-weather snowmaking program I am pleased Mt Buller can welcome beginners, young families and support the start of seasonal snowsports programs from this weekend,” Noel said. “We have created a dedicated snow area in the Magic Forest for our smallest skiers from just 3 years old to get sliding safely in lessons and a terrain hike park on Northside I know skiers and snowboarders will be excited to get into.”
It has been a slow start to the 2026 season, but nothing that Australian skiers have not seen before. Mt Buller’s snow data dating back to the 1970s shows low or no snow in June is normal.
“I remain optimistic we’ll see the snow switch flip in July which is traditionally when it happens, and in the meantime the Mt Buller community will do everything we can to deliver great experiences here on the mountain, on and off the snow for visitors looking to enjoy time in the mountains these holidays,” Noel said.
Sail of the century: Aman at Sea unveils inaugural Caribbean itineraries
Following the unveiling of its maiden Mediterranean season, Aman at Sea gas released information on the first chapter of Amangati’s inaugural Caribbean voyages, a collection of five- to eight-night journeys tracing the storied harbours and pristine archipelagos of the Antilles from 21 November 2027 through 2 January 2028.
Amangati charts a new course across the Atlantic to arrive in Saint John’s, Antigua and Barbuda: the port from which the Caribbean season unfolds.
The Autumn season is composed of three regional movements – the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands and the Dutch Caribbean – with select sailings extending through the festive season.
The Leeward Islands voyages open the season with three successive itineraries through the northern arc of the Antilles, in hte harbour of Gustavia in Saint Barthélemy, the gentle rhythms of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the white-sand beaches and turquoise coastlines that define this corner of the region.
The Windward Islands voyages, departing from Saint John’s and Bridgetown in Barbados respectively, carry guests south through Îles des Saintes in Guadeloupe, Portsmouth in Dominica, Anse d’Arlet in Martinique and Soufrière in Saint Lucia, beneath the rain forested Pitons.
The Dutch Caribbean voyages present itineraries from Bridgetown and Oranjestad tracing the southern Caribbean’s ABC islands – Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Bonaire’s castaway beaches and pristine coral gardens, the pastel-hued waterfront of Willemstad and the uninhabited Tobago Cays in the Grenadines, bring the season’s southernmost reach into view.
Amangati’s opening Caribbean chapter concludes with an intimate New Year’s celebration at a private resort in Nevis, for a two-night anchorage bridging the end of 2027 and the beginning of 2028.
A Katsalidis-designed retreat just opened in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges
Mount Monument – the Romsey winery and sculpture park that already draws visitors up into the Macedon Ranges – has opened its first two private retreats, designed by architect Nonda Katsalidis.
The retreats sit at elevation on the Mount Monument estate, angled almost entirely toward the landscape: floor-to-ceiling glazing across the ranges, a rainwater-fed outdoor hot tub, and the kind of quiet you only get far from Melbourne. Interiors are intentionally spare — the architecture steps back so the volcanic geology and quality of light can pull focus.
Guests have the run of the broader estate: private walking trails through Australian bushland, and the sculpture park — more than 30 contemporary works set among olive groves and basalt outcrops — available at any hour. The winery restaurant, which took out Winery of the Year and Best Chardonnay at the 2025 Macedon Ranges Wine Exhibition, serves long lunches Friday through Sunday and Friday dinners; a continental breakfast basket of local produce arrives at the retreat each morning.
A Retreat Curator is on hand to arrange private chef dinners or bespoke experiences. Stays run Thursday to Monday, with a two-night minimum. One and two-bedroom retreats are available.
