Queenscliff is especially pleasant during the week. I headed down there on Wednesday — the first trip in my new car.The town is about 90 minutes from Melbourne. (Much longer if you go through the centre of Geelong with its endless sets of traffic lights.) Once you get out of the suburbs (which seem to be expanding at the speed limit, so it feels as if you'll never escape them), the Bellarine Peninsula has an almost rural feel. It's too close to Geelong to be completely convincing but the cedar and she oak windbreaks, the cattle and horses and the vineyards give a good impression of the pastoral. It works for me.
Queenscliff lies on the western entrance to Port Phillip Bay. In the 1880s, it became popular with city folk and the squattocracy. During the boom of 'Marvellous Melbourne', a number of grand buildings went up along Hesse and Gellibrand Streets. Although the Ozone (formerly the Baillieu) Hotel is now being redeveloped as apartments, Queenscliff's other hotels have been restored to their Victorian splendour.
Vue Grand, Hesse Street
Queenscliff Hotel, Gellibrand Street
Ozone, Gellibrand Street
