Melbourne Patron

In early June, a group of friends and I spent the Queen's Birthday long weekend in Queenscliff, a 1.5 hour drive south of Melbourne. We hired a holiday house only a block from the main street, where we cooked, drank, and played a lot of poker. We also attempted to fish for squid off the pier, on the coldest and wettest day of the weekend; watched a steam train rejig its carriages at the historic Queenscliff station; took walks along the water and checked out the marina; and finished up the weekend at Point Lonsdale's spectacular lighthouse. It was the perfect winter holiday. Here are a few of my pics. Squid fishing Queenscliff pier shelter Water life A cold view Steam train at Queenscliff Station Steam train steaming Local boat dock Pelican, boat and bridge Suburbia Queenscliff Marina 360Q observation tower Point Lonsdale Pier Running on pier - older boy (1 of 3) Running on pier - older boy (2 of 3) Runnin...

On recommendation from the lovely folk at Next Door Cafe , on our way back from Port Arthur , we stopped in Dunalley for a late lunch of fish and chips (or "fiss 'n' chips", as my Mum would say. I reckon it's the only remnant of her Dutch accent). View from car park. Seem to have lots of those in Tassie As far as I could tell, there's hardly any of Dunalley. It's pretty tiny. (Wiki tells me it had a population of 313 in 2006.) And the Dunalley Fish Market is at the arse end - or the top end, depending on your perspective, I suppose. It does have spectacular water views - which I'm sure are amplified by beautiful summer weather - and is possibly the kookiest takeaway shop you'll ever see, but it also has what is likely to be some of the best fish and chips you'll ever eat. Entrance, complete with traditional fish 'n' chip shop plastic door strips Empty decorated tank thing (or a VERY large bathtub for visitors in summe...

We arrived at Port Arthur after a ridiculously early flight to Hobart and a lovely, albeit windy and therefore attention-demanding, scenic drive along some Tasmanian coastline. (Get up-to-date here .) Despite being full, even the car park felt eerie, although I initially allowed that this might have been due to the wintery weather. All I really knew about Port Arthur is that it was a protected tourist site where a significant amount of people were killed during a massacre by a madman in the '90s. While this is true, it seems the Port Arthur Visitor Centre focuses - appropriately - on the site's original history as a convict settlement, now an 'open air museum' and Tasmania's top tourist attraction. The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, which runs the joint, knows its popularity, too: innocent tourists (like us) drive there specifically, only to be whacked with exorbitant ticket prices, the cheapest of which is the Bronze pass at $35.00 per adult...