50 km South of Melbourne. This 50-km-long peninsula forms the eastern flank of Port Phillip Bay, and the beach resorts and small fishing ports along its eastern coast are very popular with trippers from Adelaide. (At summer weekends this means real crowds.). You can also swim with dolphin and seals with award-winning Moonraker Charters (www.moonrakercharters.com.au), which will set you back around $100, but worth it.
  

By the time you reach Dromana, the little coloured beach huts lining the sea have become an almost unending string. Inland at Dromana there’s a chairlift up to Arthur’s Seat, which has spectacular views over the bay.
   

At the southern end of the peninsula, the south-facing beaches have good surf. Sorrento, at the south-western tip, was the site of the first unsuccessful convict settlement around 1803. At least a couple of the inmates here were later to become rich men and pillars of Melbourne society. Today’s wealthy pillars of Melbourne society (not all of whom are unacquainted with convict life) now use Sorrento as their smart resort. From here you can take a ferry across the heads to Queenscliff and complete the circuit of Port Phillip Bay via Geelong (www.searoad.com.au).