The Mornington Peninsula

Brenda played tour guide for us for a day and took us down the Mornington Peninsula which lies south of Melbourne and separates Port Philip Bay from Western Port Bay.  We headed up to Arthur's Seat for a fantastic view over the bottom section of the peninsula and across 'The Rip' which is the narrow mouth of Port Philip Bay.

Our first 'wild' kangaroos.

A crazy shaped tree at the park at Arthur's Seat.

The Mornington Peninsula National Park covers the southern section of the peninsula and down at the southern most tip is Cape Schanck with its beautiful lighthouse which was built in 1859.  We were surprised at how similar the coastal vegetation looks to what we would find at home, except that on closer inspection, none of the species are the same.  The Bass Strait looked fairly wild and unwelcoming under the grey sky.

Geoff with the Cape Schanck Lightstation in the background.

Cape Schanck with its rugged black 'back' beaches - Brenda and Geoff.

The 'back' beach at Rye.

A rock arch called London Bridge,  Brenda, Lucy and Geoff

We headed west to the tip of the peninsula and the Point Nepean National Park.  Unfortunately part of the park was closed while they resurfaced the main access roads, so we could not get to the end and look out over the Rip towards Queenscliff or to look down on Cheviot Beach where Australia's then Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in 1967.  His body was never found, however in keeping with their sense of humour the Melbournites built a memorial to him - the Harold Holt Swimming Centre!    

The national park is formed from the old military base which protected the entrance to the bay and a large quarantine station.  The park was formed in the 1980's as the vegetation is unique but large areas of it remained off limits due to unexploded bombs as the military had used it as a firing ground.  A large effort was made to recover many of these bombs and in 2009 most of the park was opened to the public.  We thought Bill Bryson in his book Down Under summed it up well: "Here you have a country of three million square miles, nearly all of it empty and eminently bombable.  And here, just a couple of hours' drive from the country's second city, you have a headland of rare and sumptuous beauty, and of considerable ecological importance, and from this land you bar the public because you are trying to blow it to smithereens.  Doesn't make much sense, what?" Unfortunately this is probably true for many beautiful and ecologically important places around the world.

The quarantine station was really interesting and was operational from 1852 until 1980!  It must have been very disheartening to have traveled on a ship for up to 3 months to get to Melbourne and then have to be unpacked and stay at the quarantine station for a number of days to weeks with Melbourne visible over the bay on a clear day.  So close and yet so far.  We found it fascinating exploring the fumigation chambers and bath houses. Though to be honest we'd rather be quarantined on this stunning peninsula than, say at OR Tambo airport or heaven forbid,... Heathrow...!

One of the baggage fumigators 

A larger fumigator.

The Parade Ground at the Quarantine station

It was an interesting day out, and one of the things that fascinated us the most was the vegetation.  We'd only really seen the big Mountain Ash and tree fern forests so far, but here was something much more like what we had at home.  It was interesting to see many of our 'problem plants' (ones that Lucy gets paid to remove) growing in their natural setting and to see how many of our plants are problems for them here. Notably, our stunning daisies (gazania's), arum lilies and polygala's are real problem plants. It seems rich that we have to fight dense forests of Aussie aliens, when all we gave them were pretty flowers - lots of them!

We headed home in the late afternoon light along the inside of the bay and the 'front beaches'.  The sun came out and it was calm and beautiful.  The 'front' beaches have been popular summer destinations for Melbournians for many generations and people have erected private bathing houses on the beaches.  This is an interesting concept as each one is privately owned yet stands on public land and they are normally passed down within a family.  When one is sold (for the price of a small house in central Melbourne), the new owner basically just buys the rights to pay the municipality rent in return for having a small brightly painted wooden hut on the beach which is not not connected to water or electricity and in which you're not allowed to overnight!

Sorrento Beach 

Some of the bathing boxes in the background. 

A stunning sunset after a lovely day out.