Sunday Drive: Jackalope and the natural Mornington Peninsula

At the so-called back of the Mornington Peninsula is a natural playground – a peaceful spot where country meets the sea.

The area in and around Merricks, Merricks North and Red Hill is still a largely undisturbed part of the region, flecked with verdant paddocks, ripening vineyards and world-class restaurants where it is impossible to have a bad meal. Take your pick, anywhere, and be blown away.

Here, in Merricks North, is Jackalope – one of Australia’s best hotels. This glamorous, 46-room bolthole, which opened in 2017, provides a six-star interlude between excursions to explore the provincial peninsula, away from the buzzing shopping strips of Sorrento and Blairgowrie.

This district is the peninsula before it became a true outpost of Melbourne. For all the convenience offered by the metropolitanisation of its seaside villages, this is the place for foodies who don’t want to get wet. Unless it is in Jackalope’s pool on the lip of the vines, in a deep tub in a suite (including luxe “lairs” and terrace rooms), or via a splash of vino.

Walking tracks and cellar doors in these parts replenish the soul, as much as a dunk in the ocean beaches and frolicking on the foreshore.

A must-do walk follows an old railway line from Red Hill to Merricks – once a trade route for ferrying fresh apples to Melbourne via Hastings. Views take in Westernport to Phillip Island, with gentle ascents to gradually build an appetite.

The Franklin Lookout, on Arthurs Seat Road, Arthurs Seat, is a pleasant drive from the hotel and has one of the most impressive views of the peninsula, capturing the full, glittering sweep of Port Phillip Bay.

Explore this beauty in a beast

Lexus has paired with Jackalope on an experience: sparkling wine on arrival, a DIY spa treatment, early and late check-outs, room upgrades when available, and the use of the hotel’s Lexus car service within a 15 kilometre radius.

It’s perfect for hopping to the local vineyards for a meal, though Jackalope has its own internationally recognised Doot Doot Doot (for experiential dining) and Rare Hare (a gastronomic cellar door).

On this occasion we drove the handsome Lexus LS LS500h F Sport sedan – a hybrid vehicle with a capacious cabin and almost zero noise emission for this sort of touring – which glided along the peninsula’s twisting back roads as easily as the region’s pinot slips down the hatch.

Doot Doot Doot’s executive chef is Simon Tarlington (ex-Paringa Estate), and a meal beneath the restaurant’s golden chandelier canopy is theatrical, but never stiff and sombre.

Tarlington has crafted a customisable dinner menu ($125 a head), with a choice of entrees, mains and desserts, beside artful bites and sides. It’s an approach that extracts fun from the finery and serves up a best-of-the-best of his wizardry.

jackalopehotels.com

lexus.com.au

The writer travelled courtesy of Jackalope and Lexus.