Since taking its debut trip in 1994, the Blues Train, founded by music industry veteran Hugo T Armstrong, has become a popular live music event for anyone enamoured by delta blues, down-home blues and most other sub-genres you could shake a harmonica at. The appeal is much broader than the blues itself though: how many other steam-train journeys offer raucous live music and hearty food on the fly? Each event starts and ends at the historic Queenscliff Station. It’s a five-hour train ride that includes bar service, a buffet dinner, four 30-minute performances from local blues artists and a journey along the historic Bellarine Railway, which is maintained by volunteers from the Geelong Steam Preservation Society.

Here, you can sleep in a turret. Even the bathtub has a view.

A self-contained studio for a quiet seaside escape.

This family-run eco-tourism business lets visitors explore a side of the Bellarine not visible from the shoreline. Blending a sense of adventure with a dash of sea-life education, a tour commences in the shallow protected waters of Pope’s Eye in Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park. Here you’ll view vibrant reef fish, starfish and sea sponges while becoming accustomed to your snorkelling gear. Then it’s out to Chinaman’s Hat – a wooden fort that acts as a sun deck for around 40 seals – before swimming with the dolphins that inhabit the bay. Tours leave Queenscliff twice daily in warmer months.

Antiques, collectables, memorabilia and bric-a-brac come together at this Queenscliff offshoot to the Geelong Vintage Market. The crackle of music on vinyl fills the space and sets the mood for exploring the eclectic jumble of objects from eras past. Secondhand books, vinyl and DVDs can be found among retro kitchenware, embroidered doilies and vintage garden tools. The building was originally Eddies Emporium – a variety shop that stocked just about anything. The theme continues today with the original branding still intact on the shop’s front.

Soula and Theo Mantalvanos ran a graphic-design studio in Collingwood for 17 years. After a short stint on the east coast of Tasmania they decided to stick to a slower-paced life, so they opened Queenscliff Gallery and Workshop in an old church in December 2015. Here they exhibit new and existing works by Australian printmakers or those with a printmaking element to their art practice. There's a new exhibition each month, and they run workshops in printmaking, life drawing and iconography.

A dapper cocktail bar in the loft of an art gallery.

Casual dining in a historic guesthouse.