We have made it to the Mornington Peninsula 3 times, once coming back from the Great Ocean Road via ferry, a day trip, and a long weekend. The Mornington Peninsula almost encloses the bay on which Melbourne is located with Port Phillip Bay on one side and the Bass Strait (part of the Great Southern Ocean) on the other. It is like a Caribbean Bay on one side and the central California coast on the other side.
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The first trip was a drive by on a cloudy day, but we could see that it was a place to come back to. Our second trip we were focused on doing some hikes along the ocean side of the peninsula and visiting wineries. But we were surprised to find that most of the visitors were on the bay side as the ocean side is too dangerous in most places to swim and a strong wind. After a short hike on the ocean side, we crossed to the bay side and took a hike on “Millionaires Walk” along the bay cliff and beach from the town of Portsea to Sorrento. One of the wealthiest areas of Australia with a couple of heliports with a turquoise blue water that doesn’t come through in the pictures. There is only one winery on this part of the peninsula and it required an appointment – we went on our next trip. We hit Sorrento which is the main town and headed back towards Melbourne and found a couple of wineries that were on the way and finished on a beach that was not directly on the Bass Strait and was much nicer to sit.
Sorrento & Portsea
We decided that we needed to go back as it is only a 1.5 hour drive – harder to get the rental car than to drive. Of course, I went for the cheapest option which was a van that that National selected. So we got a moving van with literally wood floors and only 2 seats.
Sharon had been invited to a party with some friends she met while stranded in Uluru on a Saturday night (which was on the way to the peninsula) and we arrived Sunday morning. We spent two days there as Monday was a public holiday. The options for places to stay were limited and expensive – so I booked via AirBNB and got the only reasonably priced place. The “Age of Love” BNB. Good location and it served its purpose, but it really wasn’t a BNB, it was people living in the upstairs a store selling new age items and we were staying in an extra bedroom. The hippie host was sick and couldn’t meet us and her Scottish partner greeted us – he was very nice and told us we didn’t need a key as they don’t lock the doors. He was an ex-second division soccer player in his prime back in Scotland and we really didn’t understand anything he said.
We started the day with a hike on the ocean side and then went to the Portsea Estate Winery. Worth the wait for an appointment as we had a 2 hour private tour of the estate with a guy who, until recently, was in the professional work force but now was learning how to run a winery as he married into a family that owed the estate. The wine tasting with good – but the grounds overlooking the ocean and bay were great. We went Sorrento for dinner and a relatively early evening.
Fort Nepean
On our last day, we went to the end of Mornington Peninsula at Fort Nepean which was the military installation which guarded the inlet between the Great Southern Ocean and Port Philip Bay (e.g Melbourne). Great views of the bay and the ocean.
Overall the Mornington Peninsula is really undersold – in any other place this would be a can’t miss attraction but here just another nice place. We drove along the coast back to St. Kilda – basically 60 miles of seaside towns and million dollar houses. Way underrated.
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