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We were looking forward to visiting the Mornington Peninsula as we have heard that it is a popular holiday destination. I had done some research on living there full time and came up with zero. There are a small few caravan parks that allow on-site permanent living however they did not sites were we could set up our van and build an annex.
Turns out that we unanimously agreed that the Mornington Peninsula is overrated and that we have found plenty of places that well and truely outdo it as a holiday destination. Popular is an understatement. It was overloaded with holidayers. Just about the whole of the eastern bit was chockka with caravans. They allow holidayers to camp all the way up the coastline.
The only part I liked was the colourful bathing boxes that this part of Australia is well known for. Expensive!! I saw an add for one and they wanted $450,000 to $495,000. Hooleydooley!!
SEAROAD FERRY
In order to avoid Melbourne and COVID, we took the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento. It was well worth it and the cost was quite good too. We were the first on and off which was pretty cool. Check out my video below. We took Tookie in the backpack and he was very well behaved. We would only have him up top deck so I took a jumper to put over the backpack to shelter him from the wind. The forecast was for wind and rain, but we didn't get it so thank goodness for that. He did a wolf whistle and I had to say to the lady sitting behind us that it was the bird, no hubby. Lol.
When nearing Sorrento, hubby took him on his back and Tookie checked it all out. He is getting used to travelling in the backpack and readily went in an out, no trouble.
First photos are of Queenscliff. Last photos are of Sorrento.
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STONY POINT
We chose to stay on the western side as it was more in line with our budget.
We have mixed feelings about Stony Point Caravan Park. It has pros and cons.
Pros - Right on the water, clean BBQ & camp kitchen, boating, fishing, ferry to French Island and Phillip Island, train to Frankston where you can change and take the train to Melbourne, close to Hastings, a big hub where they have Wollies, Coles, Bunnings and everything else inbetween.
Cons - $35 is too much for what it is. $30 per night would be more appropriate. Staff unorganised and could not find our booking. Dongas for amenities is unacceptable in consideration of the accommodation cost. Extremely over the top busy on the weekend with every fisherman from goodness knows where and noisy cars going up and down the road beside our van.
If we had our choice over again, we would find somewhere else to camp. In fact I would give the Mornington Peninsula a miss altogether.
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FLINDERS BLOWHOLE
Not really a blowhole. Just a rugged, black rock coastline where the surf hits and spouts high into the air. Quite impressive still the same.
In between Stony Point and Flinders, we stopped so that I could take a photo of a bail of hay, something I have been meaning to do for a while. The bails were not really facing in a good direction so I may have to try this again somewhere else.
ARTHURS SEAT EAGLE
This is cable cars and named after the wedged tail eagle which is indigineous to the area. We didn't go on it but the views over Port Phillip Bay were impressive from where we stood under the cable cars, so I can only imagine how awesome the views would be from the cable cars. The trip up the moutain in our cars was quite scarey with a very windy road and sharp turns.
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SORRENTO BACK BEACH
On one of our day trips we drove back and through Sorrento looking for a fish & chip shop. As most villages on the peninsula, it was jam packed with holiday makers so we drove straight through and came across Sorrento Back Beach. It was a wild and windy day and threatened on a few occasions to pelt down with rain. We couldn't believe that people were swimming?!!
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DROMANA COLOURED BATHING BOXES
The Bathing Boxes that you see in the pictures are located at Brighton which is way up north of the Peninsula on the way to Melbourne. But as I said at the outset, the whole costline is dotted with these so we stopped at Dromana to snap off a couple of pix.
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SALT FISH & CHIPS, DROMANA
Oh this was bad! Very bad!
I found Salt Fish & Chips doing a Google search for the best fish & chips on the Mornington Peninsula. It had 4.3 star reviews on Google with most of the recent ones proclaiming how wonderful it is. Not any more after my 1 star review.
The 1 star is awarded for the fish which was nice. The rest was crap! Chips, very yellow and way over done, dry and tasteless. Potato cakes, just ok. Could have done with more salt. Scollops! OMG, I want to vomit! I took one bite and realised, after chewing, that they still had the orange roe in them! Who leaves that on? Are you guys serious?! I also requested some pieces of lemon. Well they couln't have cut the 2 pieces that we got any skinnier, or could they..... One squirt each. I should have asked for vinegar instead.
Anyway, needless to say, if in the area, please don't go to Dromana Salt Fish and Chips. Total waste of $40.
By the way, this wasn't the only bad food experience that we had on the Mornington Peninsula. Besides a longing for fish and chips, we were hanging for some regular junk food like KFC. So we were in Hastings getting some groceries and fuelled up. Next door was KFC and our toungues were drooling. Half an hour later we were wondering if fried boot would taste better, lol. Tip, don't buy KFC from Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula.
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MORNINGTON
So there is a town on the peninsula called Mornington. This was the busiest place that we went to, although it was on a Saturday in the school holidays so that explains it. They had closed off the main street to make a pedestrian strip. This would have been nice had we not have been nervous about getting COVID.
I had an urge for Fish and Chips. This was before our bad experience in Dromana. Hubby wanted noodles. I waited for over 5 minutes for someone to serve me, or even acknowledge that I was waiting. There seemed to be a line up of people outside waiting. So I walked back out and past the noodle shop and on the spur of the moment, decided to get Subway. Bad move. Don't think I'll be having Subway, KFC or fish and chips for quite a while. Lol. Hubby wasn't impressed with his fried rice, which was full of oil. Yukk.
So, having said all of the above, the Mornington Peninsula probably scores a 2 Star from both of us. If that.
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