Mornington Peninsula

This Sunday I took a trip to the Mornington Peninsula, which forms the southern of part Port Phillip (the bay around Melbourne).  It's similar to Cape Cod in that it's very beachy-summery without being posh.  My friend Alessandra told me about the trip, so the do-everything-in-Australia part of me chimed in and claimed a spot in the car.  It was a great trip.

I met the group Sunday morning at the car rental place in the CBD.  I didn't really know anyone beforehand except Alessandra, so it was nice to meet new people.  Turns out, I was the only guy with seven girls, so I had quite an entourage going.  The other great thing aobut this trip was that I did virtually no planning for it, which meant I could just sit in the back and relax while the girls figured out (without GPS, impressively) where we were going.

Our first stop was Frankston pier, which was a bit underwhelming because the weather wasn't eactly cooperating.  Luckily, I didn't get blown off into the water.  The only other people there besides us were local hobby-fishermen, and they weren't having much success.  For some reason I really like to watch people fish; it's relaxing, and I really admire the patience.

Frankston pier

The patient fishermen

A rusty pylon; just thought it looked cool

The next stop was up on a hill near the top of an old chairlift where there was a lookout.  We could see the entire bay from up there.  There was a little plaque with arrows pointing to all the different cities, but it was pretty easy to spot the Melbourne skyline without it.  The other view up there was a shiny yellow Lamborghini, a car that seems to be following me around Australia.  Naturally, I ended up with more pictures of it than on the bay.  Oops.

That's us, and behing us the view I was supposed to see.

What I actually saw.  (The car that follows me everywhere)

Our next few stops were quick jaunts at little beaches and touristy places.  One of them was Collins settlement site, which was the first official British settlement in Australia.  There was a sign there that listed what types of people were on the boat (convicts, officers, free settlers, and their families).
We spent a little while walking around Sorento, one of the main towns.  This is the part that really felt like Cape Cod.  Lots of ice cream shops, candy stores, toy stores, little galleries, etc.  One of the shops had two pet birds (Macaws, I think), and one of them talked with an Australian accent, which was natural, of course, but I found it wildly entertaining.  It got me thinking what talking birds must sounds like in other countries... Jamaica?  There weren't too many people in Sorento that morning, but a friend of mine told me it gets really crammed in the summer during vacation time.  I can imagine.

Collins settlement site

Beach boxes.

Le talking bird, Australian style

Didn't go in, just liked the sign

Our next stop was actually a bit of an accident.  We had accidentally driven past our intended destination, and when we went to turn around in a parking lot for a national park.  We decided we had time, and we did a little drive/walk out the Fort Nepean, an old military installation at the tip of the peninsula.  It was awesome.

On the walk out to the fort we had some of the most spectacular vistas. The weather had cleared up at this point.  Along the way to the fort there were a bunch of smaller bunkers and lookout towers.  All these fortifications are abandoned and obsolete now, of course, so they turned it into a tourist stop.  I'm pretty sure this fort never saw any combat, as I don't think Australia has had any wars on its soil.  The fort was abandoned in the 1950s.  Most of the fort is underground tunnels, which they put lights in so we could explore.  I remember thinking it would be the ultimate hide-and-seek location if I was little.
After a couple hours at Fort Nepean we had to head back to the car because we had a 7PM booking at the hot springs.  We stopped at Subway for a quick dinner.  No pepper jack cheese, unfortunately, but otherwise it tastes exactly the same as it does everywhere else (I think Subway goes through great lengths to make it that way).

Lookouts near Forn Nepean.  Almost seems Golan-esque

Not a bad place to do your military service, I would imagine

Peninsula hot springs was easily the highlight of my trip.  We spent three hours there, form 7 until they kicked us out at 10 when they closed.  The springs are artificial pools, but the water comes naturally from around 600 meters below the surface.  There were around twenty diferent pools, each one a different depth and a different temperature.  Some were warm, others were unbearably hot.  There was also a steam room and sauna, and a couple freezing cold plunge tanks to jump into afterward.  It feels incredible to jump in the icy water after you sweat to death in the steam room.  My favorite pool was up at the top of the hill where there was a spectacular nighttime view.  This ranked up there with the most relaxing times of my life.  After three hours, when my hands looked like clammy prunes, we had to leave.  We were basically the last ones out of there.
It was an exhausting day.  I slept on the ride home.