Let's Do The Time Warp Again
Sun Herald
Sunday February 28, 1999
When you've had enough of the Grand Prix you can head for the 19th century. Hilary Doling went time travelling. IT may be only an hour and a half from Melbourne (less if you drive like Michael Schumacher) but the town of Queenscliff is about as far away from burning rubber and petrol fumes as you can get. It's a fair leap from the 20th century, too.
Queenscliff is probably one of the most perfectly preserved Victorian towns in Australia. It surely has some of the most magnificent 19th-century hotels.
What is amazing is that there are so many. Built way back, before Formula One was even thought of, the hotels once entertained the cream of Melbourne society, who travelled down by paddlesteamer to loosen their stays and take the air at the seaside.
The fact that the town fell out of fashion saved the hotels from demolition by developers.
They sat dilapidated, semi-derelict, with peeling wallpaper and cracking paint - like an ageing music hall singer's makeup - un- til people with vision arrived to restore them.
Now they are fine ladies again; china teacups clink in their salons, candelabra burn in the ballrooms and Melburnians are again flocking there in droves.
If you want to arrive in suitable style, take the ferry over from Sorrento, at the tip of the Mornington Penisula, and pay $3 for a horsedrawn coach ride into town, just to get you in the mood.
Those sensible enough to book ahead can get the coachman to set them down outside Mietta's Queenscliff Hotel, in Gellibrand Street.
When Patricia O'Donnell "discovered" the hotel, in 1978, it had orange, 70s-style carpet and chipboard doors. She restored the place and for 20 years has been collecting antiques to go in it.
"I want it to feel like a Victorian family home," she said.
It does. It is the kind of place where you'd swear Aunt Maud did the needlepoint, great Uncle Albert brought the chinese vases back from his travels in the Orient and, up in the tower room, young Reggie is definitely having his wicked way with the parlour maid.
And if Reggie isn't up there, you should be. The hexagonal room at the top of the house is made for romance, with a winding wooden staircase and a cast iron bed which has been raised so that you can see the view from the tiny windows.
The tower room is the only set-up with (basic) ensuite and management is quick to point out that the hotel is a registered building "which we have restored, not modernised".
Rooms are "pretty, but little. There are no telephones or bathrooms in the rooms and no television and radio in the hotel". Who cares? Padding along the corridor to an old-style bathroom is all part of the experience.
So is the food. On Saturday nights the formal restaurant is packed with locals as well as guests, because dinner is something special.
Non-nouveau portions and red wine sorbet between courses give the whole thing a time warp appeal.
But we are talking modern cuisine - no over-cooked Victorian cabbage here.
Over-indulgers who still need to walk off dinner the next day should stroll out to the end of the wooden pier, known as the new pier because it was rebuilt as recently as 1884.
On a misty morning you can stare out to sea and feel just like the French Lieutenant's woman.
That's if you ignore the very 20th-century graffiti - "Kev luvs Lucy", and what he'd like to do with her on a Saturday night - and the curious stares of fishermen.
For the rest of your stay it is worth wandering up to the old fort or down the main street, with its tearooms and antique shops.
Just down the road is Point Lonsdale, with its lighthouse and a sweep of beach. There wasn't a bathing hut and I knew I'd be showing my ankles, but the water looked warmish so I went for a paddle anyway.
You can only be Victorian for so long.
CHECK-IN
QANTAS has return flights from Sydney to Melbourne from $239 plus $3.40 airport tax. You have to book 21 days in advance and stay away on a Saturday night. The offer is valid until March 31.
A seven-day-in-advance fare, staying away Saturday night, costs $329 plus airport tax.
For more details call Qantas on 13 13 13.
For more details on Queenscliff and the Bellarine and Mornington peninsulas call Tourism Victoria on 13 28 42 or visit www.tourism.vic.gov.au
Pick up a copy of The Bays & Peninsulas brochure from Tourism Victoria, 403 George Street, Sydney.
WHAT IT COSTS
MIETTA'S QUEENSCLIFF HOTEL (03) 5258 1066
Monday-Friday and Sunday: $105 per person per night, from $210 per person for two nights, including accommodation, full breakfast, first and main course evening meal from bistro menu. From Wednesday-Friday and on Sunday, you can also dine from the main restaurant menu at an additional cost of $15 per person per night.
Saturday: $165 per person per night, including accommodation, full breakfast, three-course dinner and two-course lunch from the bistro menu. (Additional cost of $15 per person for dinner from the main restaurant menu).
Two-night stay (Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday) costs $285 per person, including first and main course from the bistro menu one evening and three-course dinner from the restaurant menu on the other, plus two-course lunch on the day of departure and full breakfasts.
The Four-Night Special with full breakfasts and two-course dinner from the bistro menu each night, available Sunday to Friday, costs $350 per person. Best of the rest VUE GRAND Phone (03) 5258 1544
As grand as its name suggests with a fabulously over-the-top dining room. Rates from $295 twin share midweek, $330 weekends, including dinner and breakfast. OZONE HOTEL (03) 5258 1011
Restored and classified by the National Trust, with 20 rooms. Week nights from $150 per double, Saturday packages, including accommodation, breakfast and dinner, from $285 per double. LATHAMSTOWE (03) 5258 4110
Recently restored B&B in a stunning heritage building with an eccentric tower lookout. One night's accommodation plus gourmet breakfast is $125 per person. ATHELSTANE (03) 5258 1024
Historic house decorated in modern, minimalist style. Rooms from $160-$270 a double, including breakfast.
© 1999 Sun Herald
