Three Nights in Portarlington

I bloody love a quick getaway – somewhere close but completely not my own house and laundry and floor that needs vacuuming. It’s just the thing when I get itchy feet (and not just from my dirty floors).

Portarlington fit the bill this time around – somewhere we’d never been, and somewhere that was on the water.

We figured we’d done the Mornington Peninsula a few times, why not the other side of the bay?

What we found was a sweet little town that was not too touristy (aka having to wait an hour for your hot chips) and in the right price range. The bakery was amazing, the hot chips equally so. Our lodgings had a wonderful view across the water, though it confused us all no end to watch a sunset over it.

We strolled along the rock wall, gazed through the deep, clear seawater (and found some starfish!), and generally wandered about enjoying the warmer weather.

Well, except that one day when it pelted down. We were on our way exploring, headed to Queenscliff to see what was what.

Queenscliff was super cute, plenty of sweet old buildings to look at, and a bookshop that could easily take its place among my favourites. Anywhere you’re cautiously treading down corridors teetering with ceiling-high haphazard book stacks that smells like a libary in 1854 is very much My Bag.

This here on the right was the cookbook section, which I always find myself in within three seconds of entering an establishment. You can imagine my surprise when loitering on a shelf, face-out, was a book I’d never seen before but to which I owe my very first blog post.

I’ve never read this book. I don’t know much about it except I heard about it many years ago as a book that wanted to prove vegetarian food wasn’t just a load of old lentils. It obviously stuck with me as I wrote that post nearly a decade ago.

It’s funny what life throws up at any given moment.

A bit like this rando trivia item that we read during one of our games. It turns out a bull’s sperm was defrosted for Liz to commemorate 25 years on the throne. I’d probably have just sent a card.

Anyway, I’d thoroughly recommend a bit of Portarlington if you’re looking for a bit of a seaside jaunt without the billions of people along for the ride. Deeply pleasing (as I sit here remembering the hot chips).