Day 93 - Friday 31 March - On the Mornington Peninsula

Day 93

Friday

31 March 2017

Mornington Peninsula

Hard to believe it is the last day of March and we are three months into this amazing journey. We have already seen so many fabulous places, met some wonderful people and had experiences you only dream of and we still have so much ahead of us. Life is good!

After two early morning wake up calls, I was in absolutely no hurry to be out of bed despite Paul urging me to go for a walk. He opted to read instead and I followed suit.

Just after 8 he decided he’d had enough time in bed and was off to shower, leaving me to lay a little longer. I soon surfaced however ready to see the day. It was lovely and blue outside and inviting us to come and play. We didn’t heed its call however, getting caught up with things in the van. It was 10am before we did actually get out for a lovely walk along the foreshore.

We watched the water as it dazzled before our eyes in the sun. The swans were a plenty swimming in the water or wandering the sand bar just off shore. I rang home, catching Mum. She gave me a rundown of the goings on at home while we continued to walk. I spied a beautiful red scratching about in the sand that I excitedly ran off to take photos of.

Before we knew it, we had walked all the way to Rosebud, about 3kms up the road. We turned around and began the trek back to the van, conscious of the weather changing. It had been quite grey and ominous looking towards Geelong and we were just hoping to get back before we received the downpour. Thankfully we did and the rain never eventuated.

We decided on having an early lunch and then packed up our gear and made our way to Dromana, the Base Station of the Mornington Eagle, a 15min gondola ride to Arthur’s Seat. 

We boarded a blue pumpkin and began our ascent. It was a little cool, but worth it for the view. We hopped off at the top and did a quick wander of the grounds, Paul spying the sign “Brewery”. We took some pictures, but the views were better from the Gondola. We found Arthur’s Seat, take 3, to sit on and then returned to the gondola for the descent. While it was a little overcast, it certainly didn’t hamper our view over Port Phillip Bay and the Mornington Peninsula. We could even see the Shadowy skyscrapers of Melbourne, appearing across the bay, like the famed OZ in The Wizard of Oz.

Once we exited the gondola, we drove the car up to Arthur’s seat and stopping outside the restaurant purporting to be a brewery, it wasn’t. Paul still did a 2 glass tasting of Coldstream Brewery and then we hopped back in the car and drove to a lookout for a view over the lower Mornington Peninsula.

Our next destination was a brewery, Red Hill Brewery. It was only 10 mins away, but it could have been a world away. The climate and vegetation was so different to what was on the lower side. This was far higher ground and quite undulating.

When we arrived at the brewery, we noticed it had its own grove of hops out the front. We entered the brewery and Paul was given a free tasting paddle to review, when he finished he got talking to one of the workers about the brewery and their hops of which they are growing four different varieties.

We then followed the Shoreham road on to Shoreham, stopping at a surf beach to check out the view. From here you could see Phillip Island.

We continued on through Flinders and then took a one way road out to Cape Schanck Lighthouse. We parked up and then got out to explore the grounds. An Asian bride was being photographed, just as it began a light drizzle.  We investigated the lighthouse and the cottage before following the boardwalk out to the cape.

The stairs were many and the weather was howling around us, but we were determined to walk to the end of the path. It was well worth the effort. At the end there was an echidna snuffling around a log probably looking for its dinner. We admired the ruggedness of the coastline and the thrashing of the rolling surf pounding into the rocks below.

Once satisfied with our adventure, we returned via the many steps, followed the loop path and returned to the car park. We then returned to the caravan park, basically directly north of our position and effectively allowing us to drive the widest part of the peninsula. It was only a 20min drive.

The day was mostly overcast, but now the temp had dropped, it was however completely still and quite pleasant. We sat in the van for a while doing our “work” before organising dinner and eating.
We made it out for an evening walk, this time it was still light, which made it far more pleasant. The bay was very calm offering very little breeze as we walked the shoreline. The pink of the sun was hidden by the banking cloud, only peeking through in patches. Once at the boat ramp, we made our way to the road and walked under the street lights back to our campground, happy to call it an evening.

Day 92 - Thursday 30 March - Crossing the waters of Port Phillip Bay

Day 92

Thursday

30 March 2017

Queenscliff – Searoad Ferry to Sorrento – Tootgarook - Portsea – Point Nepean- Mornington (Camps 8 Vic #108)

Ding da ding da ding. There’s that alarm again. I set it in the hope there would be another beautiful pink morning, but it wasn’t to be. It had rained most of the night and the storm clouds were still present, blocking out the returning sun. We readied ourselves for our impending travels, something a little different on the agenda for toady, a car ferry from Queenscliff on the Bellarine to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.

We were all packed up and on the way to the wharf by 8.30am, we checked in through the measuring station, paid the fee of $130 and then waited in the cue for the ferry to arrive, its passengers to disembark and then we were all aboard.

The ferry was drive on drive off, so we weren’t going to have any issues getting about on this one. Once in our designated spot, we were free to leave our van and head to the warmth inside the boat.

We found ourselves a seat and proceeded to catch up on all things technical. The boat pulled away at 9am, starting its 40min journey. I took the opportunity to takes some pics as we left Queenscliff, but didn’t stay out long, as the air was fresh. 

The journey was smooth and uneventful, with the time passing by very quickly. I ducked outside again to take photos of us arriving and then we were told to return to our vehicle ready for disembarking. It was all too easy.

Once off the boat, we parked on the roadside. The rain had settled in but I was determined to take some photos on the Sorrento foreshore and thankfully the rain dissipated. We then returned to the van and made our way into the small town centre and found a place to park before going for a wander of the area. There wasn’t a great deal to check out, mainly very upmarket shops. I did find Watts Cottage to photograph before doing some grocery shopping and getting back into the vehicle to hide from the rain once again.

We set the GPS to a camps 8 ground and followed the road along the foreshore. There were plenty of foreshore camps to choose from. We ended up about 14km away from Sorrento in Tootgarook.  We found the camp office, booked in for 3 nights at $33 a night and then moved the van into our designated bay. Home.

Unfortunately the rain had set in again and we were both a little soggy. I changed and set up the inside of the van while Paul sorted the car and other associated bits.

Once all sorted, we had lunch and took stock, working out a plan for the afternoon. We did a walk of the bay foreshore admiring all of the brightly coloured bathing boxes and then we were in the car just after 1pm and heading back towards Sorrento, on our way to Portsea and then Point Nepean. Portsea was very flash, an obviously affluent area much like Dalkieth back home. Port Nepean was only a couple of Km’s on. I didn’t realise it was a national park with quite an historical significance. A quarantine centre was set up here for the incoming ships from the UK in the 1800’s and was in operation until 1980 and used in 1999 for 500 Kosovo refugees. It was a massive establishment and wandered around it, checking out the various buildings and reading the history. It was quite fascinating, though it had an eerie, ghostly feel to it. It was certainly an unexpected find.

Once we finished our wander, we returned to the car and drove back past our campsite before veering away and making it onto the Mornington FWY heading for the Mornington Peninsula Brewery.  At 3pm we had travelled into the Mornington industrial estate and were at the gates of the brewery. It was just opening for its afternoon trade and Paul was able to speak to Tim the main manager. He set Paul up with plenty to taste, chatted about the brewery and even shouted us a delicious wood fired pizza. Happy days. We were surprised how busy the place became, considering its location. It was great to see and we were sad to head on when we were all done.

We drove into Mornington itself, quite a large centre and parked up near the boat club. We took a wander around, enjoying the views before making it back to the car and returning to the van, this time via the coastal route, a much prettier option than the freeway.

Once back, we unloaded our gear and began the usual IT tasks, that always seem to take forever.  I watched the setting sun turn the sky yellow and orange, so I walked the 50m to the foreshore to take a couple of photos and then returned, as the sky started spitting on me again.

By the time 8pm rolled around we figured we should go for a walk, so we wound our way in the dark to the water's edge and followed the bay. The waters were so calm and inviting. We could see heavy showers in the distance and hoped they wouldn't come by us. 

We walked on to a light we could see and then made our way back via the footpath, the umbrella only needing to be opened once for a very light drizzle. Paul spoke to Jaden while we were out, catching him up with where we were and where we had been 

We managed to find our way back to the van in the darkness and cracked a can of soup to have for an evening snack.