By Richard Cornish
1. Anywhere Festival
As a performer, one of the barriers to taking part in arts festivals is the need to invest a fair bit of cash in hiring a venue, whether a theatre or a local hall. The Frankston Anywhere Festival gets around this by holding more than 100 performances around this seaside suburb in venues such as car parks, barber shops, heritage buildings and shopping malls. Shows include a hilarious window-shopping tour of Frankston by performance bogans Dash and D'Bree – characters who are stuck in a retail world getting paid $17.60 an hour to wipe bum marks off change-room mirrors. There's FMZ, a car-park zombie show written and produced by teenagers, and comedy shows including Is That a Burrito in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy You Have a Burrito? performed in local pubs and cafes.
The beach at Frankston is one of the cleanest on the bay.Credit: RIchard Cornish
Aug 21 – Sep 6, various venues, anywherefest.com
2. Ballam Park Homestead
Contemporary sculptures abound in Frankston, including this monster on the foreshore.Credit: RIchard Cornish
The settlement at the mouth of Kananook Creek is thought to be named after Frank Liardet, an original settler and son of a Port Melbourne publican. His brother Frederick Liardet had a horse-and-bullock stud on which he built a brick home nearby in 1850, planting many oaks and olives. The house and trees still stand and the property is open to the public every Sunday afternoon. Come for the $7 Devonshire teas made with volunteer Marylin Foster's scones and homemade jam. Or try a bowl of chicken and vegetable soup with toast for $6. Wander the 5.3-hectare grounds and explore the homestead, set up as a museum and decorated with Victorian antiques and arcane kitchen gadgetry.
Cranbourne Rd, open 1–5pm on the first four Sundays of the month, $6 admission, frankstonhs.org.au
3. Coffee and jaffles
Les Hunter is a local who loves good coffee. Unable to find single-origin coffee in his hometown, the former graphic designer took over a former massage studio near the train station, installed an espresso machine and now has a steady stream of caffeine addicts traipsing through his door. Hunter also offers easy-to-prepare food. Inspired by the lunches at his old school, Ballam Park Primary, he now serves cheap but tasty jaffles: cheese and Vegemite, cheese and baked beans, and cheese and spaghetti for just $4.50.
Bushwalks and outdoor sculptures combine to make Frankston memorable for visitors.
Stereo Espresso, Shop 4, 14 Wells St, Mon–Fri 6.30am – 3pm, Sat 8am – 2pm
4. Sweetwater Creek
Jaffles at Stereo Espresso are just the thing to break up your day's explorations.Credit: RIchard Cornish
It is easy to find the start of this secluded bushwalk. Just look for the famous Round House, designed by Roy Grounds in 1953, on Olivers Hill. From here the path follows the course of Sweetwater Creek as it meanders four kilometres through remnant stands of manna gum, acacia and banksia forest to Frankston Reservoir. The path is quite dramatic in places, with a small waterfall tumbling over smooth granite boulders and a suspension bridge crossing the creek. While the suburban bush has an exotic mixed understory of runaway agapanthus and belladonnas, the walk offers the serene calm of the Australian outdoors with the aroma of eucalyptus and the gentle twitter of fairy wrens filling the air.
For maps, visit the Frankston Visitor Information Centre, 7N Pier Promenade, 1300 322 842
5. McClelland Gallery
Commuters on Peninsula Link will have noticed the kinetic Tree of Life sculpture has been replaced by a massive, metallic garden gnome called Reflective Lullaby. This site, at the intersection of Cranbourne Road and the Peninsula Freeway, is curated by the nearby McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park. McClelland is a 16-hectare site, mostly covered in native bush, on which more than 100 pieces of contemporary sculpture by some of Australia's and the world's best sculptors are on permanent display. Here you will now find Phil Price's Tree of Life. On exhibition in the gallery is a retrospective of the works of Andrew Rogers.
390 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin, Tue–Sun, 10am – 5pm, entry by donation, 03 9789 1671, mcclellandgallery.com
6. On the beach
Frankston offers some of the best beach walks around Melbourne. The prevailing breeze blows in off the bay, taking with it the sound of traffic on Nepean Highway. Walking tracks along the beach and dunes offer sheltered stretches for exercise. On some days in winter, your only companion could be a sole Pacific gull or pair of plovers, giving the long stretches of sand a pleasantly deserted feel.
Next week: Dargo
6reasons@richardcornish.com.au