The BELLARINE PENINSULA at the western entrance to Port Phillip is one of Melbourne’s many summer resorts. The white sand beaches of Baron Heads, Point Longsdale and Ocean Grove mark the beginning of the Great Ocean Road and its famous surf beaches with constant surf. The small village of Point Longsdale lies at the entrance to Treacherous Heads — the world’s most dangerous passage into the bay due to rough seas and whirlpools. It is only 3 km from Point Longsdale, through the swirling water (known as the Swell) with its hidden cliffs, to Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula in eastern Victoria.
The elegant old town of Queenscliff faces Port Phillip Bay, and therefore its beaches are quiet. His Ford was the largest British military post in the Southern Hemisphere during the 1880s, when the threat of a Russian invasion loomed. At that time, Queenscliff was also a fashionable resort for Melbourne residents — its elegant hotels, such as the View-Grend, are monuments of that magnificent era. The villages of St Leonards and Portarlington are also popular holiday destinations.
There are about 20 wineries on the peninsula, most of them sell wine directly from the basement and offer tasting.
