Mornington Peninsula

May 14th
Weather very ordinary this week.  Lots of wind and rain has been forecast, but what better place to be than in a warm apartment with all the trimmings?  An hour and a half in the gym this morning, then ducked into Rosebud Plaza for some supplies and back for some Spa treatments!  Why not?  Went out for a drive later in the afternoon to Sorrento and then to a place called Flatheads for dinner.

May 15th
Started the day by spending another hour and a half in the gym and having a cappuccino at the resort café. 

Getting all shook up on the Hypervibe!!

Drove into Dandenong to pick up the new baton for the tropical roof on the KK.  Not overwhelmed by their customer service, in fact they barely acknowledged our presence which was a bit disappointing!  Not another customer in sight either!  Not to be deterred we parked ourselves in front of their shop, put up the camper and made sure it was all sorted before we drove away.  Had thought we might go into Melbourne, but as we got closer the rain, trams, trains and automobiles started to get a bit much, especially as we were towing, so headed for Brighton and had a very late lunch at a lovely little café on the water called 'North Point'.  Then did the coast drive all the way down the Peninsula (Port Phillip Bay side) and back to Rosebud.

May 16th
Slow start to the morning.  Weather worse!  Went into Rosebud briefly and then back to the resort for some more Spa treatment.  Decided that the weather was not going to stop us so headed out.  Ended up wine tasting at Port Phillip Estate, an enormous and unusual building with an amazing view towards Phillip Island.  We couldn't see the view because of the weather so we had to imagine! Wines were pretty good too.  During our travels we had picked up a brochure for Mornington Brewery so headed there.  'Tomtom' sent us on a interesting journey (obviously the M11 has had recent changes that are not yet included in its updates) but we got there eventually.  A little quirky, as we were not expecting to find a Brewery in some back street of a light industrial area.  From the outside the building was very unexceptional, but we found a smaller version of  'Little Creatures' once inside.  A great place, interesting beers and fantastic pizzas!! 

Mornington Brewery

Off to the Peninsula Hot Springs tonight, a series of more than 20 naturally heated mineral baths flowing from the top of the hill (41 degrees) to the bottom (36 degrees) not including the plunge pools (at 17 degrees).  I thought it was lots of fun, Mike was not so sure.  It was definitely an experience, especially as we were sitting in the hot water with steam rising around us in the pouring rain.  Only took one photo (sorry, not a good one) because it was so wet!

A bath at the Hot Springs

May 17th
An hour and a half in the gym again this morning and a 'capp' at the café.  This is a routine we could get used to!!  Sunny periods today so we needed to make the most of them.  Drove up the ridge to Arthurs Seat which has fantastic 180+ degree views over Port Phillip Bay towards Melbourne CBD.

A view from Arthurs Seat

Stopped in for lunch at Arthurs Hotel and enjoyed the panorama from behind the glass sitting in the sun.  Yay for sunshine!  Then drove down from the ridge to the coast on the western side of the peninsula.  Driving, stopping, looking, driving, looking and so on was the order of the afternoon, never straying too far from the car because the showers kept coming.  Now some of you would know how Mike really enjoys vanilla slice.  A bit of a coincidence, but we stopped in at some random fish and chip shop come café at Flinders for a coffee, to find that they set the Guinness world record for the biggest vanilla slice ever made at 508.11 kg in June 2012.  Thankfully, the piece they sold Mike was not that big and we shared.  Called in at Cape Schanck Lighthouse.  One of those places that is supposedly open every day of the year according to the advertising.  Seven car loads of people in the car park wanting to sightsee and the gate and toilets were locked.  Another hmmmmm, but good photo anyway!

Cape Schanck Lighthouse

Last night on the Mornington Peninsula so we went out for dinner to the Rye Pier Restaurant & Bar.  Great food, great service.  Not so sure about hitting the road with the KK again tomorrow, I think we may have gone soft!!