By the sea ... Aquabelle Apartments have views across Rye’s foreshore and jetty.
Paul Kalina checks into a new beach apartment that is slick and shiny.
Heading south on the EastLink freeway, we pass Callum Morton's surreal installation, Hotel. "That's where we're staying," I joke to the susceptible interstate visitors in the back of the car, whose faces freeze in terror as they look at the 20-metre high model of a sad, abandoned hotel at the side of a desolate highway.
Their fears are partly allayed as we pull into the car park at the rear of Aquabelle Apartments. The three apartments stand above three shops that front on to Rye's main drag - a bottle shop, a real-estate agent and a Subway franchise, which have to qualify as a resort destination hat-trick.
Up a flight of stairs from the car park, the front door opens on to a wide hallway leading to a generously proportioned open living area at the front of the apartment. A wall of glass opens on to a balcony overlooking Rye's pretty foreshore, wide sandy beach and jetty.
Our apartment has two bedrooms. The main is at the rear and has a queen-size bed, en suite and small balcony with uninspiring views of the car park below.
The second bedroom has two king-single beds but only a skylight behind a torn blind. There are no windows, despite it being at one end of the concrete-box building.
Separating the two rooms are a toilet and bathroom, which houses a good-sized bath, shower recess, basin and concealed laundry.
The newly built apartment is modern and shiny, slick and well appointed, although about as personal as a housing development display unit, the type you might see at Docklands or in the high-rises sprouting alongside the busy roads of South Melbourne.
There are polished concrete floors throughout and, that one bedroom aside, large glass doors to bathe it in natural light.
The overall feel of the glass and shiny surfaces, however, is cold and hard as there are few furnishings or decorations to soften the effect. Acoustically, it's also a challenge. The sounds of traffic, activity in the cavernous kitchen and a wall-mounted television echo throughout the apartment. And although it sleeps four and has a dining table that would easily seat six, there's only seating for three on the leather couch in the lounge room.
The kitchen is well equipped with crockery, utensils, stove and dishwasher and is spotlessly clean. Apart from tea bags, some instant coffee sachets and thimbles of UHT milk, it's an entirely self-catering set-up.
This is a place for urban types who want to be close to shops, services and the beach but are happy to forgo the sand-in-the-toes and sound-ofnature experience of a weekend away.
Admittedly, it's the dead of winter but there's nothing even vaguely resort-like about this stretch of the bay.
These days, it feels as if Melbourne's sprawl has wrapped itself right around the Mornington Peninsula and that Rye, with its supermarkets and takeaway food shops, is just another suburban shopping strip.
Close by, however, is the picturesque Red Hill, with its abundance of wineries and caferestaurants, and the irresistible Heronswood Gardens at Dromana. In the opposite direction lies pretty Sorrento and the millionaires' playground of Portsea.
Rye's offerings are more modest, however. There's a pretty foreshore, a wide sandy beach and an old timber jetty, which, even on a rainy winter's day, offers great views of the expansive bay and peninsula, while starfish are clearly visible in the still waters below.
VISITORS' BOOK
Aquabelle Apartments
Address Level 1, 2331-2335 Point Nepean Road, Rye. Phone 1300 880 319, see aquabelle.com.au.
Cost From $260 a night (two-night minimum) for a two-bedroom apartment, $285 a night for a three-bedroom apartment.
Getting there Rye is a 90-minute drive from the CBD via EastLink and the Frankston Freeway.
Summary Comfortable accommodation in a centrally located, contemporary apartment that is adequately serviced but short on ambience or warmth.
Verdict 14/20
The score: 19-20 excellent; 17-18 great; 15-16 good; 13-14 comfortable.
All weekends away are conducted anonymously and paid for by Traveller.
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