Tour of Mornington Peninsula

Our first official day in Mornington started off with the group of us heading out for a tour of Mornington Peninsula from Port Phillip Bay to Westernport Bay - yes, all in one day! With John Renowden and Geoff Gilsenan as our trusty leaders, navigating us in the Shire bus, we set off for our tour. Travelling south-east, we journeyed along the coastline, stopping at a few memorable lookout points like Murray's Lookout (picture below) to capture the view and take the first of many photos of our journey.




View from Murray's lookout into the Mornington Peninsula. Yes, it is raining at this point and a wee chilly. But no snow - so we aren't complaining!





We then travelled into Sorrento, where we explored the town and settled in for morning tea and an Australian pastry delicacy - Vanilla Slice. Which really is incredible, but it might fill you for the entire day. The picture below says it all.






From there we travelled south towards Cape Schanck where we worked off a bit of the Vanilla Slice by walking the magnificent boardwalk which guides you along the rugged rocky mountainous terrain which eventually leads you down towards a black stoned beach where we came face to face with the Pacific Ocean. We threw stones into the water to stake our claim.
Incredible views here - a must visit.





Picture of the lighthouse and the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing on the shore. WOW.






From there we were whisked back to Shoreham where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Shoreham Cafe - which was a recently renovated eclectic cafe/restaurant that is quite obviously quickly becoming a hot spot for tourists and locals alike. Great atmosphere. Great food. Company wasn't so bad either!

Believe it or not, there was one final stop on the tour - the Tanglewood Winery. A 50 acre vineyard supplying first-class Chardonnay and Cabernet for over 30 years and is one of the original few wineries in the area. Our group had a personal tour of the property and had the chance to see where the wine was created and stored and even sampled a few of their best reserves.

We then headed home for a break and then headed to Mt Martha where our group and our host families enjoyed a wonderful BBQ dinner at John and Maree Renowden. Fantastic evening and a chance for us to mingle with the other host families. Of course, it was also more amazing food and spirits for our group. We may need to start working on an exercise regime while we're here with all the food and drink we seem to be indulging in.