Thursday, 13 March 2014
Picked
Geri up at the crack of dawn and drove all day to Eden Tourist Park where we
stayed overnight. Tomorrow we’ll drive on to our starting point in the
Mornington Peninsula. John did some fishing but unfortunately caught nothing. John
and Di left later and stayed at Wongarratta overnight.
Friday, 14 March 2014
Finally
arrived at our accommodation in Somers situated in the Mornington Peninsula
where we met up with John and Di, having arrived much earlier than us. They
walked along the beach from Somers to Shoreham about 15 kms and by way
of a miracle caught a bus back without having a Miki card! After driving for so
many hours, our bodies feel stiff and sore, so we took a nice stroll along Akron
Beach and caught a glimpse of some dolphins frolicking in the ocean.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Got ready to catch the ferry to
French Isle. John “C” forgot to buy one ticket and had to rush back to the
local bistro to get it whilst we asked the ferry crew to hold on and wait for
him. They very kindly did so and unbelievably we saw John stop in the middle of
the jetty to have a chat to a fisherman, whilst we are all desperately calling
out for him. Some people are just too
fanatic about fishing.... Anyway, we made it and arrived safely. Walked to
the General Store and were indicated to pay a visit to “Chickory Kiln”, an old
farmstead on the island. So we set off on foot. No cars are allowed on the
island, only the locals; so you have a choice of cycling or walking. Being a
walking group we opted for our usual. Later on we met up with a young couple
who cycled and they told us it was most uncomfortable as the roads are very
rough and not sealed. Chickory Kiln was
run by a lady called Lois who was very knowledgeable about the local history.
The farm belonged to her family for generations, but after falling on hard
times her grandfather was forced to sell it. However, she and her husband
purchased it back after many years and have been running it ever since. It was
a most interesting place full of animals everywhere, both farm animals as well
as the local koalas who pay them a visit on a daily basis, their dog “Calais”
was really sweet. We were served a most delicious Devonshire Tea served by Lois
and her friend Cheyne. A very pleasant day with just a 7km walk around the
Island. We had lunch at the Somers cafe and then Di and John went for a swim in the rain. (somehow this is just
too easy. Are we perhaps becoming soft?)
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Moved to our next destination, a
beautiful home called Glenvale in Red Hill South. Surrounded by lovely kept
gardens, the house has very large proportions but best of all, we ALL had our
own bathroom. Two friendly peacocks
(from next door) paid us a visit in the veranda, which completed the picture.
We started our first serious walk
from Flinders to Cape Shank (approx. 16km) and we all had to scramble down a
steep embankment via a rope. Well, not being fond of heights at all, I really
struggled. We were following the advice in a “bushwalking book” where the author
advised that it was a medium walk but through parts of private property. The
advice was also not to do the walk on a windy day BUT we went anyway even
though there was a very strong wind and we had to hold onto our hats. However,
after a short while we seemed to run out of a track and no matter how hard we looked,
we couldn’t find it so we walked on the road for a short while until we found a
track back down to the cliffs. We
chanced walking on private property. On we went up and down hills and valleys, through
grass tall enough to make our feet and knees disappear. On the other side of
the fence cattle grazed happily whilst we battled on through tall thick grass
and then horror of horrors....it was filled with these annoying “burrs” that
lodged themselves on all our clothes. We had them stuck on to our socks, pants,
shoes, everything, but the worse was when it came into contact with skin – then
we would itch and scratch. As we finally almost reached the end, a 4WD
approached us and the driver (being the
owner of the property) asked us, quite nicely actually, what we were doing
on private property. Our embarrassment must have been quite evident as he
pointed us in the direction of Cape Shank. There were amazing farm houses all
along the beautiful coast line.
Lunch was at a local Fish &
Chips joint boasting the illustrious record of producing the largest Vanilla
Slice in the World – 5 kilos! (Guinness World Book of Records). In the
evening Geri’s friends Dagma and Brett paid us a visit and we shared afternoon
tea.
Di and John ventured across the road
to the Red Hill shops where they found a great cafe that had wine tasting. The
idea is for you to purchase a card and as you try different wines the cost is added
onto the card. They were able to taste wines that cost about $100/bottle. Red
Hill is a wine producing area and Di thinks they have some of the best
chardonnays she’s ever tasted.
Monday, 17 March 2014
Our next walk is from Greens Bush to
Bush Ranger’s Bay which is called the Bay to Bay walk. This trek was made
through a “green corridor” between farms and runs inland. The numerous calls of
different birds, the smell of the trees and ferns enveloped us and we were
grateful for the generous contribution of the family who left this strip of
land for community use.
We then drove to Cape Shank
Lighthouse and walked down the boardwalk steps. Absolutely stunning views of
the coast! After the walk we visited a co-op
that sold fresh vegetables and bought some rhubarb and then visited the Ten
Minutes by Tractor winery and tried some of their wines.
Four of us (minus Geri) all went to the famous “ Peninsula Hotsprings” at Rye.
Just what we needed after our walking. The springs are divine, best of all is
the setting. Being outdoors and up high in the hills you can get a 360 degree
view of the Peninsula whilst soaking in lovely hot water. We spent 3 hours
there, starting at the top pool with a panoramic view of the country and ended
up at the bottom pool that has jets. All the pools are heated to different
temperatures. There is also a quiet pool but we all found it a bit hard to be
Silent. John C loves the steam haaman. Met some very nice people from all over
the world, a lot of them are on leave from their long work schedule at the
mines.
When we arrived back home Geri had
cooked us a delicious dinner of pasta and rhubarb pie, yummy.... and then played
cards.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Across the road from our
accommodation there’s a shed turned into a Bar/restaurant called “Epicurean”
and just behind it there’s a trek that ends in Merricks. So we set off and as
it was so straight and easy, before we knew it, we had completed it (about
6.5km)
We found the Merricks General Store
and had morning tea and then went to a very modern winery, Stonier Wines. We
told the cellarmaster (Rob) of our walks from Sydney and he said he would shout
us a free bottle of champers to celebrate when we finish our walk to Melbourne!
We will all happily go back to the winery to collect the bottle.
So we then went on to our second
walk of the day: Seawinds to Arthur’s Seat and on to King’s Fall Circuit (close
to 8km). In Seawinds there are some very nice gardens with sculptures by
William Rickets. There hadn’t been much rain so therefore no falls. Di saw a
snake along the way and we all saw an anteater.....
By the time we finished we were
famished. Arrived at “The Two Buoys Tapas and Wine Bar” in Dromana at 3:30 and
they were happy to serve us lunch at this late time.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Time to change accommodation again.
This time we’re staying at a very modern apartment in Sorrento with a large
veranda and an amazing view of Mornington Peninsula.
We drove to “London Bridge” but
really couldn’t make out which of the rock formations was supposed to be the
Bridge. John “H” stayed home today to rest his weary legs. Walked along the
beach cliffs (around 13km). The trek is really pleasant to walk along as we can
enjoy the vistas along the coast with its rugged rock formations and finishing
along the beach. We are all so over beach walking. At the finish there were a
few people hang gliding.
Lunch was at a little cafe in
Sorrento “The Sisters”. We then returned to apartment where some of us relaxed
on its veranda but not John and Di who went for a swim in the bay. Cold and
refreshing. Just across the road there’s the local pub “The Continental Hotel”
where we had dinner.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Today we headed towards Gunner’s
Cottage Point and walked to Fort Nepean. This fort was built against invaders
and it is reputed to be the “Gibraltar” of the Southern Hemisphere. It is
steeped in history and we couldn’t help but be amazed at its construction.
Along the walk we stopped and looked at the memorial to our late Prime
Minister, Harold Holt who drowned at the beach in December 1967. His body was
never found. This walk was about 7 kilometres.
The rip and tides between Point
Nepean and the other side of the bay is fierce and treacherous. We all watched
a tanker go at full throttle to get past the channel. We then had coffee at Portsea Hotel
and walked from Portsea to Sorrento through the “millionaires’ mile” where large
and expensive mansions abound (about 4 kms). The walk in front of the houses is
hard to find but Di knew how to find it. You have to
find a gate that seems to be for private property but when you open it there is
a track in front of the houses. The busiest people around seem to be all the
gardeners and landscapers. Lunch was at The Baths Cafe in
Sorrento, right on the water. Really recommend the grilled Swordfish with
pureed sweet potato and fennel.
In the evening we paid another visit
to the Peninsula Hotsprings, this time with Geri. However, as it was such a hot
day they actually cooled some of the pools down!
Friday, 21 March 2014
From Sorrento we walked to
Tootgarook (close to West Rosebud). It took us close to 4 hours and was about
15 kms. We stopped along the way to have morning tea. A few of us stopped and
looked at a memorial to the first settlers who tried to make a go of it there
but found it very hard to grow food and so moved to Hobart. There was a story
that only one convict escaped and his name was Buckley. It is thought that the
expression, “You’ve got Buckley’s chance” originated from this convict.
Afterwards, we all had the afternoon
free to do what we chose. John and Di went on a wine tasting tour and a swim, Geri and I went shopping and poor John “C” was our
chauffeur, driving us to and fro. Dinner was at the local pub “The
Sorrento Hotel” this time.
Saturday, 22 March 2014
So ends our pre-last Stage. John
“H”, Di and Geri left very early in the morning back to Sydney whilst John and
I cleaned the apartment, packed up and said goodbye to Sorrento. We went on to
catch the ferry to Queenscliff and on to our next adventure through the Great
Ocean Road to see the Apostles, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Alpine Way....
Altogether we estimated we walked
about 110-120 kilometres. There’s only approx. Between 80-90 kms left to reach
our final destination – Melbourne.
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