Back to the Future

Morning walk, Rosebud, Mornington Peninsula

Point Nepean, eastern sentinel of Port Phillip Bay

School sports day, Point Leo, Mornington Peninsula - learning to surf!

Quarantine station, Point Nepean

Coming into Queenscliff, Bellarine Peninsula, windy and cold

Bellarine Peninsula steam train

It's official, World's Biggest Vanilla Slice

Beach huts, Rosebud

Ray's great train ride, 1st class of course

It's going to be difficult to keep up with the blog at this stage of our trip, as we've already seen and done so much in only a few days.

After another uneventful crossing on Spirit of Tasmania last Thursday night, warm and cosy in our little cabin, we re-entered the Mainland at 7am Friday morning.  The cold here seems to be a lot colder than the Tasmanian cold, for some reason.  It's been wet and windy for the past couple of days, though with the odd patch of brightness, as you can see from the photos.

We turned right, for a change, and headed for the Mornington Peninsula, taking the coast road all the way from Melbourne.  Couldn't believe the number of bike riders out before dawn; most had fantastically bright and flashing lights back and front, but we did strike one, all dressed in black, on a black bike, with a pathetic little red light on the back of his coat.  Amazingly, he didn't appreciate being told that he wasn't visible on the road, even though I did it quite politely!

There are some incredibly beautiful (and expensive) houses along the coast, and the scenery was spectacular, especially as we took the road from Dromana over the 305 metre Arthur's Seat - named by Acting Lieutenant John Murray in 1802 because it reminded him of the hill of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.  The indomitable Matthew Flinders climbed the mountain on 27th April 1802; we had trouble just driving up its steep and winding road let alone ascend on foot!  I haven't included the photo Ray took at the top - the view of the coastline in both directions was spectacular, but on such a grey and drizzly day the photo didn't do the place justice.

From the top of Arthur's Seat we descended to Point Leo, where the above photo of swimmers was taken; 20 or so wet and shivering school children learning to surf.  We were all rugged up in our heated van and couldn't believe how miserably cold they looked when they came back to the surf club showers!  I do hope they had hot water.

We stopped for coffee at the pretty, historic town of Flinders (named by George Bass, not surprisingly, for his friend Matthew Flinders) an attractive village filled with Art Galleries, cafes and some more expensive real estate.  Next door to our coffee shop was a fish and chippery which advertises the World's Biggest Vanilla Slice (certified by the Guiness Book of Records) and according to our young barista, many, many of the large slices are bought each day.  We went in (in the interests of research only) to check them out; hence the above photo.  Each one would have covered a small baking tray!  They didn't look as good as the smaller ones at Crescent Head though Ross.

Again we meandered round more country roads, arriving eventually at Rosebud where we stayed the night in a park on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay.  After a very wet night we woke to blue skies and sun, so took a long walk along the beach, admiring the colourful changing sheds ranged along the beach.  Most are brightly painted and well kept, and a local told us that they are well frequented in summer, though no overnight use is allowed.

On leaving Rosebud (with fuel being first priority so that our diesel heater continues to function) we took the coast road once again to beautiful Sorrento, with a side trip to Portsea with its wild beach and cliffs.  

Not being in any particular hurry to board the Sorrento-Queenscliff ferry to transport us to Queenscliff on the Bellarine peninsula, we drove to the end of the highway, to Point Nepean, which marks the eastern point of The Rip – the entrance to Port Phillip. 

What a fortuitous side trip this was.  We discovered the Point Nepean Quarantine Station within the National Park.  It is the oldest barracks style accommodation built for quarantine purposes in Australia, built 1852, predating the oldest intact structure at North Head by 16 years.  In later years, fortifications were built on the same site from the late 1870s to ensure that any attacking ships entering the bay would be under fire. The value of these defences was demonstrated on the declaration of the First World War when the German steamer Pfalz, attempted to depart Port Phillip Bay and was forced to turn back after being fired upon by the batteries at Fort Nepean.  It was the first shot fired by Australian forces in the conflict. 

Chevoit Beach is also located on Point Nepean where the SS Cheviot was wrecked in 1887 and Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared on 17^th December 1967, presumed drowned.

A pleasant 45 minute ferry ride across Port Phillip Bay found us in Queenscliff, a former 1880s seaside resort filled with attractive Victorian era buildings and more eateries than we've seen for the past 6 months!  It is also home to the Bellarine Peninsula Railway, which operates heritage steam trains between Queenscliff and Drysdale, approximately 45 minutes each way (only 16km but it can only travel at 20km/hr), along the southern shoreline of Swan Bay and through grazing country.  Being so late in the season, there weren't too many people on board the 3 wooden carriages, but at least half of them were children who seemed mostly to be in the company of their grandparents!  They enjoyed themselves hugely, as did we.  

So, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, we contemplate the journey ahead.  Great Ocean Road here we come.