Canonical: https://peninsulainsider.com.au/journal/insider-picks-2026-08-12/ Publisher: Peninsula Insider Published: 2026-08-12T00:00:00.000Z Modified: 2026-08-12T00:00:00.000Z Format: public main text, generated from the canonical page; imagery and interactive controls omitted. Dates and caveats below retain their page meaning; this format is not a new fact check. Insider Edit 12 August 2026 4 min read # Insider Picks - 12 August 2026 Moke Dining's five-course winter set menu in Flinders, the gannet colony at Point Danger in peak winter season, and the Helen Britton retrospective closing at MPRG this Sunday. Keep this for later - By **The Peninsula Insider** Insider Picks Winter **EAT - Moke Dining, Flinders** Michael Cole’s five-course set menu is worth the drive to Cook Street in any season. In winter it becomes the point of the whole weekend. The menu changes weekly, but right now the kitchen is working with the kind of produce - braises, root vegetables, preserved summer fruit - that only makes sense in a cold room with twenty seats and nowhere else to be. Cole placed fourteenth at Bocuse d’Or. That detail is not decorative; it explains why the plates feel tighter than anything else on the Peninsula at this level. Book Saturday lunch and walk the Flinders cliff path to West Head beforehand. The restaurant earns being earned. The room is small and quiet in a way that feels deliberate, not accidental. Moke Dining, 45 Cook Street, Flinders. Friday dinner and Saturday lunch. Book ahead at mokedining.com.au - winter sittings fill within days of the menu dropping. Pair the day with a cliff walk to West Head; the path from the Flinders Hotel carpark takes about forty minutes return. **EXPERIENCE - Gannet Colony at Point Danger, Portsea** The Australasian gannet colony at Point Danger is resident year-round, but August is the month to go. Juveniles haven’t yet dispersed, adults are active on the cliff ledges, and the Bass Strait swell is running hard enough that the birds are working properly - long glides, plunge dives, the full display. The clifftop track from the end of Back Beach Road puts you directly above the colony without descending to the beach. Go mid-morning when the light is off the cliff face and the wind is coming from the west. Binoculars improve the experience considerably. The track is unsealed and can be slippery after rain - wear shoes that grip. Dogs are not permitted on the national park section. Back Beach Road, Portsea, within Point Nepean National Park. Allow 45–60 minutes return. No booking or park entry fee is required; optional services may charge separately. Combine it with lunch at Bistro Elba in Sorrento on the way back - book ahead, the Friday and Saturday sittings are full most weeks. **DISCOVERY - Helen Britton: The Story So Far, MPRG** This one closes Sunday 23 August, so the window is this weekend and nothing else. Helen Britton: The Story So Far at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery spans thirty years of the Sydney-born, Basel-based jeweller’s practice - brooches, neckpieces, and works on paper that read more like compressed paintings than jewellery. The scale is intimate but the ambition is not. Britton’s work sits in the permanent collections of the V&A and the National Gallery of Australia, and this is the most comprehensive Australian survey of her career to date. It hangs alongside Natalia Milosz-Piekarska’s Sifted Light, a photography series also closing the same day - two shows worth the one stop. Both are free. Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington. Open 11am–4pm Wednesday to Sunday. Free entry. No booking required. Last day for both shows is Sunday 23 August. If you are making a day of it, Merricks General Wine Store is twenty minutes south and worth stopping for lunch. **Quick Reference** Pick | Where | Key Detail | Moke Dining | 45 Cook Street, Flinders | Fri dinner, Sat lunch - book at mokedining.com.au | Point Danger Gannet Colony | Back Beach Road, Portsea | 45–60 min return walk, no booking, Parks Victoria entry applies | Helen Britton at MPRG | Dunns Road, Mornington | Closes Sunday 23 August, 11am–4pm, free | Something wrong on this page, or is this your business? [Tell us what to fix]() and you get a case reference back. corrections@peninsulainsider.com.au reaches the same desk. Questions readers actually ask ## FAQ How do I book at Moke Dining in Flinders? Moke Dining is at 45 Cook Street, Flinders. The set menu runs Friday dinner and Saturday lunch. Book via their website at mokedining.com.au - tables go fast, especially Saturday lunch sittings in winter. When is the best time to see Australasian gannets at Point Danger, Portsea? The resident colony is visible year-round but August is peak activity before juveniles disperse. Walk the Point Danger clifftop track from the end of Back Beach Road, Portsea. Allow 45–60 minutes return. No booking required. When does the Helen Britton exhibition close at MPRG? Helen Britton: The Story So Far closes Sunday 23 August 2026. Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery is at Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington. Open 11am–4pm. Entry is free. Or let PI plan your day ## Where in the Peninsula is PI? A painted Peninsula, three witnesses a stop, and the sun for a clock. Find PI before sunset and her route becomes a day you can drive. 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