I seem to recall the Point Cook Flying Club would fly their C150's all the way to the Bellarine Peninsular climbing laboriously to 4000 ft. They flew over an awful lot of water and no way could they glide to land especially with HW component. Then they would do a few steep turns and stalls and maybe a PFL or two then flog all the way back. Very expensive for the poor student but good for the instructors. I could just visualize the upturned eyes of the sharks in the bay waiting for a ditching.
I could never understand why they didn't just do their medium level turns and steep turns just outside the circuit area and save the students all that money. I am sure the club had a good reason for it - but I never twigged what it was.