Cactus Country is part nursery, part garden, part walk, part epic picture taking experience; all…read morewith the focus of...wait for it...CACTI.
Can you imagine how fun it is to walk around 10 acres with sombreros taking pictures with countless cacti while also learning about them? Just get your smiles and poses ready with your own sense of dorky creativity and be ready to take your pictures with cacti. No joke, we took 150 pictures. Of us and cactus. And it honestly couldn't have been a better time.
The paths are marked by color: yellow, pink, the red, the blue, the green, the purple. There's quite a few and it looks like they are adding more! You'll notice that numbers mark specific cactus and the guidebook you're given tells you it's story.
Some background for ya: This place is over 30 years old and was bought over from the owners father, John Hall Senior. In the 80's they obtained a cacti collection from SA, as a man's dying wish to keep his private collection together. Given the right circumstances and some tender loving cactus care, you get Cactus Country; with massive cacti, succulents, pretty flowers, you see it all here, big and small and weird and odd and fuzzy and fun.
And when your guidebook has reached it's last page, sadness will suddenly hit you like an Adele song. You realize there's no more cactus to see, and no more fun pictures to take. So what do you do? You eat.
As for the cute Mexican cafe, I tried it all. Their nachos with vegetable salsa (nachos are average, I don't think they should be heated up with the cheese; but the salsa was good). They have cactus cake and cactus ice cream, when in Rome right? I'd just forget about the cake and go straight for the ice cream. Plus with that sunshine and warmth, you'll be glad you did. Sit inside, or outside, they have a lovely decked out courtyard which will make you feel like you've been transported to Mexico itself. Winning side: they do have beer, and frozen margaritas. All in all, what's not to like?
It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Melbourne, we decided there wasn't much else to see in the area and did it as a day trip. Leaving about 9:30 am, gives you plenty of time up there. They don't close til 5 pm.
It's hands down the most random fun eye-opening thing you can possibly do and you'll drive away knowing that you can never have an experience like this again.
