Mornington to Queenscliff

Today we catch another Ferry. This time a shorter 40 minute crossing of the mouth of Port Phillip Bay. When the Tasmanian Ferry goes through the heads it bucks and dives about – what will this boat do?

AtoM Stage 2
Mornington to Queenscliff

Sorry. Not many pictures today. Thought I had taken more !

Up at 5.30am. The tent had survived OK even though the ground was so hard only a few pegs had gone in far enough to take a guy rope.

Although up early I stuffed about so much it was 8am before leaving. The road leading from the park was very busy. I elected to ride the footpath but had to cross the road twice. Each time a “Lolly Pop” person stopped the traffic as they did for the school children. They blew a whistle and stepped out with their stick and everyone stopped!

I had to go down and cross the Nepean Hwy where my planned route should take off into smaller streets and finally meet The Esplanade to take me further south by the beach suburbs. Initially I was mixing it with parents taking kids to school and then travelling through sandy roads hiding expensive looking housing. They all had steep little hills to add interest.

We did indeed come out onto the Esplanade. It did not run alongside the beach though. Instead it ran along a cliff top and climbed up and down for some 20 kilometers. Going was slow and the legs were lacking energy. So I just dropped through the gears and tried for small glimpses of Port Phillip Bay.

McMansions lined the high side of the road. Double story ones so they got the views I could not see. The road was busy so I hope their windows are triple glazed to keep the external sound down. In fact all the way to Sorrento the Mansions were a feature. It makes one wonder how come so many people can afford them.

Eventually the road dropped down to Beach level and sensible riding could begin. The road flattened and traffic built up. Away from small towns and shopping areas I had a cycle lane to use. In the shopping areas the cycle lane disappeared. Just when it was really needed the most. Eyes in the back of the head would be useful too!

I tried a trail on the coast side of the road but it was sandy, narrow and often disappeared. A couple of kilometers were taken on a very nice trail between a resort and the next shopping area

It was with a sigh of relief the Sorrento town sign was reached and I could take the trail to the Ferry. About this time the Ride with GPS app was telling me it had no coordinates and it terminated the ride losing the stats for the ride so far. I hope this doesn’t happen too often. It would seem there aren’t enough GPS satellites above Sorrento.

Access to the Ferry was simple and for $13 I got a ticket to take Magnum and me across to Queenscliff. The 40 minute ride was enjoyable and a pleasant break from today’s traffic hassles. The Ferry has a Cafe “upstairs” with good views and good coffee.

I chose to ride a trail from the ferry terminal to Queenscliff. There a very good thing happened. It was a large bunch of schoolkids and teachers walking along the track. As they neared I could see most of the kids and teachers were non Anglo-Saxon. They were all enjoying the walk and all smiled and passed encouraging comments to me as we passed each other. It was a great mix of people. So nice to see after reading the the detail of the Terrorist attack in Christchurch earlier. Who would have thought the video of the attack would be uploaded 1.5 million times? Sick.

Quiet roads then led me to my chosen caravan park. It was really crappy so I went back to a Big 4 passed earlier. $55 for the night this time. Yes, in this area cheap tent sites have disappeared!

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