The Mornington Peninsula - Queenscliff, Australia
Queenscliff, Australia
Today began bright and sunny and we headed off for a drive around Port Philip Bay along the Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne's beach area. We took the fast route on the new highway all the way to Sorrento which is almost on the tip of the peninsula and were there in just over an hour. The eleven o'clock ferry was just leaving so we parked and walked up the hill into town for a look around.
There is a cafe that is famous for their vanilla slices so Lois and I went in to queue. Just as we reached the front, John came in an told us it was the wrong cafe! That started an argument as we lost our place in the queue and it was the right place after all. By now it was too late to stop for coffee as well if we were to catch the next boat, so we just bought cakes, had a quick look at the town and went back to the ferry terminal.
We got return tickets and boarded the twelve o'clock to Queenscliff. The first thing we did was go into the cafe and buy coffee. We sat by a window and ate our gigantic vanilla slices. We then went on to the deck and the trip took us right across Port Philip Bay, past the 'Heads', where the bay narrows to meet the sea. When we travelled to Tasmania last time, it took 3 hours to sail from Melbourne to the Heads as the bay is enormous.
The sea was completely calm and it was about 27 degrees by now. It took about 40 minutes to sail across, passing the returning ferry half way. The boat looked pretty new and there weren't many passengers, just a couple of coaches.
There was quite a lot of construction going on at Queenscliff, plus a large area being made ready for a 3 day music festival. The harbour area has modern shops and cafés plus a maritime museum. We walked the 15 minutes into town which was rather nice and is a cross between Victoriana and the mid west of America.
We found our way back to the ferry by way of a park, a pier and the beach. We couldn't get back directly as the music festival was in the way. We caught the other boat going back which was a bit older but with even fewer people. We bought cold ginger beer and I had a ham and cheese croissant and I spent the rest of the trip on deck at the back as it was sheltered from the wind that had picked up.
We drove back on the road next to the beaches, much slower but prettier. There are some cracking beaches at the southern end around a place named 'Rosebud' - an odd name I thought. There is a strip of woodland between the beach and the road that is full of lovely camp sites. In the summer it gets crammed I am told.
Further north, along the beach there are multi coloured beach huts and these cost as much as some houses! The sand was fine and white and the sea was clear and calm. The only drawback is that the bay is full of sharks! Nonetheless, it would be a lovely place to take Ryan and Amber. The kids out here don't know they are born!
We stopped at various beaches on the way, a lot of them with English names again. Eventually we decided to go back to the freeway and get home for a nice cuppa.
My nose is like a beacon again! We won't do anything else today as we have to leave for the airport at 6.45 am tomorrow so it'll have to be an early night methinks.