When planning a road trip, the journey can be just as important as the destination.

It's often the unexpected that stays with you, so here are some of the quirky and impressive landmarks to look out for around Victoria and its borders — just in time for the school holidays.

1. An inland submarine, Holbrook

Majestic and incongruous, just how a Cold War submarine found its way to a small town in southern New South Wales is the story of a series of unlikely events.

The settlement on Wiradjuri land was initially named Germanton in reference to the origins of an early hotel owner.

As with dozens of other Australian place names with German associations, it was considered prudent to find a new title during the First World War.

The committee settled on Holbrook after an English submariner whose military feats were lauded in the contemporary press.

Fast forward to the 1990s, and a push to increase tourism led to a bid on the decommissioned Oberon-class submarine, the HMAS Otway.

Despite the sizeable donation of 50,000 pounds ($97,348) from Commander Holbrook's widow, the town fundraising group could only afford the casing: the part visible above water.

A long way from its original role spying on Russian warships, the HMAS Otway casing now floats on a sea of concrete and lawn and is a popular stopover with families.

Holbrook — the unlikely "Submarine Town" — now hosts annual submariner gatherings.

They're much-loved occasions for Holbrook Submarine Museum curator and ex-navy man Morrie Jeppesen.

"We all sit round and tell tall tales and true to each other and just have a great time," he said.

Alice Walker

2. An inland lighthouse, Cape Clear

There is no clear and present danger of a shipwreck occurring anywhere near Cape Clear in Victoria's western district. It is nearly 100 kilometres from the coast as the albatross flies.

The fact it has a working lighthouse, then, is more than a little random.

The 13-metre-high beacon is a charming curiosity built by Cape Clear locals, who now appreciate it for putting their pleasant but otherwise unremarkable hamlet on the map.

Terry Kelly, Cape Clear community committee member, said the town's lighthouse gave tourists a reason to stop.

"It is a landmark people remember," Mr Kelly said.

Cape Clear itself is an oddity. It was named by homesick Irish settlers who had emigrated from County Cork to mine gold. That it is not remotely coastal, let alone a cape, did not deter them.

The most southerly point of Ireland is Cape Clear Island, which, appropriately enough, has a historic beacon to warn seafarers.

Neville Hocking and his son Bradley, farmers from the district, felt their Cape Clear deserved one, too.

The lighthouse was built in 2008 around a large pole discovered in a wrecking yard. The light is fully functional and is hooked up to the streetlights.

Bradley said the community had shown a lot of forethought.

Gavin McGrath

3. A very big stupa, Bendigo

The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion is a large white-wedding cake of a building surrounded by farming properties and native bushland on the outskirts of Bendigo in central Victoria.

At almost 50 metres high, it's the largest Buddhist stupa in the southern hemisphere, and it's located at Myers Flat because Ian Green, a former advertising executive, was told by his Lama (teacher) to build it there.

Mr Green, who is the stupa's chair, was driven to build it by his faith, and 24 years after construction began, it attracts Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike: 125,000 visitors each year.

"There's just over 200 prayer wheels [at ground level]," Mr Green said.

"So as you walk around in a clockwise direction, which is the auspicious way to circumambulate a holy object in Buddhism, you can actually spin them.

The effect is akin to reciting the mantras.

Mr Green believes the purpose of the stupa, a reliquary or place of holy relics, is to inspire visitors. It's a place of peace and contemplation.

It's also a physical representation of the Buddha, sitting cross-legged, with eyes painted at the top, looking out in all directions to where he can be of most benefit to others.

Jo Printz

4. Public toilets with class, Nhill

In the Wimmera town of Nhill, a block of public toilets in the local park have become an attraction in themselves for truckies and travellers heading down the Western Highway — not because of how they look, but how they sound.

For 20 years, classical music has been playing in the western Victorian town's toilets — all day, seven days a week, through speakers connected to an iPod in the visitor information centre next door.

It was originally intended as a way to deter vandals from loitering in the toilets, and while other councils across Australia have tried similar tactics, Hindmarsh Shire believes they were among the first.

Tourism and economic development officer Jeff Woodward said it served as an effective way of welcoming people to Nhill.

"Enjoy the classical music while you're visiting the toilets. [Then] taste the local coffee and have a look around the local shops and all the sights and things to see.

"[It] probably introduces a lot of people to classical music for their first time as well."

Although it's always been exclusively classical music on the playlist, Mr Woodward said there were no particular composers or styles chosen specifically.

"There seems to be a lot of nice, slow, relaxing stuff and then some big drums come in … I don't know whether it's themed, but it's effective."

Andrew Kelso

5. Surfing on land, Phillip Island

No list of Australian roadside attractions would be complete without a big thing.

While Phillip Island's Big Wave may not look imposing at first glance, Ripcurl store manager Sam Guzzardi says a tube like that in the water would be a monster.

The Big Wave, located in the popular Victorian town, was commissioned by the store's then-owner and constructed by "local surfer, hero, artist" Dave Fincher in 1992.

The concrete sculpture is so heavy that when it was relocated during store renovations, it had to be moved with a crane.

Located just metres from the bridge across from San Remo, anyone driving through Newhaven and onto the island will pass the Big Wave — and "more than you would think" stop to take a photo posing on its wooden surfboard.

"When you live here, you sort of get so used to it, you drive past it, you wouldn't even remember there's a wave here," Mr Guzzardi said.

He says the sculpture can be compared to "substantial tubing waves" on Phillip Island, but locals keep the details of that particular wave close to their chests.

Alice Walker and Jonathon Kendall