I had my two weeks notice in. I savored my last coffee on the job, handed out some high fives to the lovely people I had worked beside for three months. Four o’clock arrived and with a quick honk of the horn from around the corner where Moozh was parked, we were off. Driving through the city, we recalled all the places we had wanted to see and yet hadn’t, all the places we had frequented and loved, all the places we wouldn’t miss.
Our first stop was the Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks off the coast of Victoria. My exposure to Australia was when my grandparents visited back in the early 2000’s. We learned very briefly about Australia in school, with jokes abounding about the water flushing backwards and everything being upside down, about koalas and The Crocodile Hunter. I really knew very little about Australia until we actually started considering going there on our trip. As we were trying to figure out what we could see and what we would prioritize, I kept dwelling on a picture that my grandparents had taken of the Twelve Apostles from the beach. The sun was high, and caught up in the frothy surf as it broke against the shore, which gave the picture an oddly ethereal quality. I knew I had to see it for myself.
The degree to which the Twelve Apostles have changed in the decade since my grandparents were there is staggering. The stacks are steadily eroded by the ocean at a rate of about 2cm per year. It’s alarming until you consider the fact that the stacks were created by ocean erosion in the first place. Some will be scrubbed down into reefs likely within another decade.We were committed to seeing the Apostles not only at sunset, which would light the skyline directly behind them, but also at sunrise the next day which would paint the stacks and the beach with striations of color. That night, the boardwalk crammed with people and yet strangely quiet, the Twelve Apostles lit up in neon. Shards of light became prismatic as the sun sunk lower to the horizon. There was a momentary pause with a 'whoa' under our collective breath. What a sight. We bunked briefly in a cabin in Princeton, chosen for its five minute vicinity to the Twelve Apostles. Early in the morning, when the lights still buzzed with moths, we quickly sponge bathed before racing to the ever lightening sky. Sunrise supplies a completely different profile, a sunrise of pastels and calmer water. That early in the morning, the Apostles were more solitary. Fewer committments are made to sunrise as sunsets. We took in the near silence, broken only by breaking waves, with a quick coffee and a walk along the beach. We made for a few more perfunctory pictures before hitting the road for Mornington Peninsula.
Great Ocean Road weaves in and out of lush forested area, spliced with jaw dropping vistas of the crystal clear water and the limestone cliffs. It officially ends in the surf capital of Torquay, where many world famous surf companies have their headquarters including Rip Curl and Quicksilver. By early afternoon, we were pulling into the Mornington Peninsula. I had nearly perfected my Australian accent by this time and DELIGHTED my husband by narrating everything we did. The Australian accent is not only about pronunciation but also vocabulary. You can’t sound authentic without throwing in some ‘blokes’, ‘mates’ and ‘I reckons’. I think at one time he quite seriously asked me to get out of the car while it was moving.
Aside from being a boutique wine region, with many wineries producing wine destined never to see the borders of Victoria, not to mention Australia, the Mornington Peninsula has 25,000 hectares of national park space, a wildlife sanctuary and you can even swim with dolphins. AirBnB came through again and turned us onto what would become easily the most luxurious stay we’ve had since we started travelling. Located in the coastal town of McCrae, every detail of our stay was absolutely flawless and left us feeling we should have extended our time in Mornington Peninsula just so we could have slept in the bed for another night. After the delightfully eye opening wine festival in Federation Square, we arrived with certain wineries already in mind and marked on the map. James Halliday writes in his Wine Atlas about the new terroir-driven trend in Australian wine. We went by the space age Port Phillip Estate specifically for their Kooyong Pinot Noir and their Chardonnay pair that are divided by a limestone fault line in the vineyard. We drank wine made off a half-acre of grapes in a man’s living room at Main Ridge Estate. We got to see grapes in barrel at Ocean Eight and drink the only good Pinot Gris I’ve ever had. We had cheese at Red Hill Cheeses; beetroot relish and local olives at Olive Grove; we drank cider at Mock Red Hill and sampled Pure Peninsula Honey.
For sunset, we headed to the Peninsula Hot Springs, which offers a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. It boasts twenty different pools all of different temperatures and formations, including a Turkish steam bath and a sauna, the water of which is loaded with naturally occurring minerals. On our way out of the Peninsula en route to the Yarra Valley, we decided we were going stop by the Moonlit Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary on the peninsula. You can sell ANY Canadian on ANYTHING as long as you mention something about being able to hold a koala. I am no exception. For an additional $10, you can “cuddle a koala” at the keeper presentation that happens daily. What we didn’t realize was that we were going to be on a tight enough schedule that meant we would be leaving before the presentation was set to happen. What I also didn’t realize was that the kangaroos and wallabies graze freely and for $2 you can buy a bag of food and feed them. Simply hold out your hand and they’ll come right up to you. I sound like the little girl from Despicable Me. The wallabies were so adorable I wanted to die, with these little paws and little claws and the longest eyelashes. You will nearly get bowled over by the geese they have when they realize you have food but if you go on a hot day like we did, the kangaroos will gaze lazily at you through the brambles as they bathe in the shade of the bush. The two koalas look rather grumpy and are not too interested in their onlookers, which made the wallabies that much more exciting. And no I did not smuggle one in my bag.
Things I learned in the Mornington Peninsula:
The Twelve Apostles were called The Sow and Piglets until 1922. I can’t decide which is better.
I need a wallaby.
Three words: Cool. Climate. Shiraz.
Quote from Mornington:
Moozh: What? Koalas don't have pouches.
Me: Yeah they do. They're marsupials.
Moozh: What's a marsupial?
Me: …I don't know.
Our first stop was the Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks off the coast of Victoria. My exposure to Australia was when my grandparents visited back in the early 2000’s. We learned very briefly about Australia in school, with jokes abounding about the water flushing backwards and everything being upside down, about koalas and The Crocodile Hunter. I really knew very little about Australia until we actually started considering going there on our trip. As we were trying to figure out what we could see and what we would prioritize, I kept dwelling on a picture that my grandparents had taken of the Twelve Apostles from the beach. The sun was high, and caught up in the frothy surf as it broke against the shore, which gave the picture an oddly ethereal quality. I knew I had to see it for myself.
The degree to which the Twelve Apostles have changed in the decade since my grandparents were there is staggering. The stacks are steadily eroded by the ocean at a rate of about 2cm per year. It’s alarming until you consider the fact that the stacks were created by ocean erosion in the first place. Some will be scrubbed down into reefs likely within another decade.We were committed to seeing the Apostles not only at sunset, which would light the skyline directly behind them, but also at sunrise the next day which would paint the stacks and the beach with striations of color. That night, the boardwalk crammed with people and yet strangely quiet, the Twelve Apostles lit up in neon. Shards of light became prismatic as the sun sunk lower to the horizon. There was a momentary pause with a 'whoa' under our collective breath. What a sight. We bunked briefly in a cabin in Princeton, chosen for its five minute vicinity to the Twelve Apostles. Early in the morning, when the lights still buzzed with moths, we quickly sponge bathed before racing to the ever lightening sky. Sunrise supplies a completely different profile, a sunrise of pastels and calmer water. That early in the morning, the Apostles were more solitary. Fewer committments are made to sunrise as sunsets. We took in the near silence, broken only by breaking waves, with a quick coffee and a walk along the beach. We made for a few more perfunctory pictures before hitting the road for Mornington Peninsula.
Great Ocean Road weaves in and out of lush forested area, spliced with jaw dropping vistas of the crystal clear water and the limestone cliffs. It officially ends in the surf capital of Torquay, where many world famous surf companies have their headquarters including Rip Curl and Quicksilver. By early afternoon, we were pulling into the Mornington Peninsula. I had nearly perfected my Australian accent by this time and DELIGHTED my husband by narrating everything we did. The Australian accent is not only about pronunciation but also vocabulary. You can’t sound authentic without throwing in some ‘blokes’, ‘mates’ and ‘I reckons’. I think at one time he quite seriously asked me to get out of the car while it was moving.
Aside from being a boutique wine region, with many wineries producing wine destined never to see the borders of Victoria, not to mention Australia, the Mornington Peninsula has 25,000 hectares of national park space, a wildlife sanctuary and you can even swim with dolphins. AirBnB came through again and turned us onto what would become easily the most luxurious stay we’ve had since we started travelling. Located in the coastal town of McCrae, every detail of our stay was absolutely flawless and left us feeling we should have extended our time in Mornington Peninsula just so we could have slept in the bed for another night. After the delightfully eye opening wine festival in Federation Square, we arrived with certain wineries already in mind and marked on the map. James Halliday writes in his Wine Atlas about the new terroir-driven trend in Australian wine. We went by the space age Port Phillip Estate specifically for their Kooyong Pinot Noir and their Chardonnay pair that are divided by a limestone fault line in the vineyard. We drank wine made off a half-acre of grapes in a man’s living room at Main Ridge Estate. We got to see grapes in barrel at Ocean Eight and drink the only good Pinot Gris I’ve ever had. We had cheese at Red Hill Cheeses; beetroot relish and local olives at Olive Grove; we drank cider at Mock Red Hill and sampled Pure Peninsula Honey.
For sunset, we headed to the Peninsula Hot Springs, which offers a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. It boasts twenty different pools all of different temperatures and formations, including a Turkish steam bath and a sauna, the water of which is loaded with naturally occurring minerals. On our way out of the Peninsula en route to the Yarra Valley, we decided we were going stop by the Moonlit Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary on the peninsula. You can sell ANY Canadian on ANYTHING as long as you mention something about being able to hold a koala. I am no exception. For an additional $10, you can “cuddle a koala” at the keeper presentation that happens daily. What we didn’t realize was that we were going to be on a tight enough schedule that meant we would be leaving before the presentation was set to happen. What I also didn’t realize was that the kangaroos and wallabies graze freely and for $2 you can buy a bag of food and feed them. Simply hold out your hand and they’ll come right up to you. I sound like the little girl from Despicable Me. The wallabies were so adorable I wanted to die, with these little paws and little claws and the longest eyelashes. You will nearly get bowled over by the geese they have when they realize you have food but if you go on a hot day like we did, the kangaroos will gaze lazily at you through the brambles as they bathe in the shade of the bush. The two koalas look rather grumpy and are not too interested in their onlookers, which made the wallabies that much more exciting. And no I did not smuggle one in my bag.
Things I learned in the Mornington Peninsula:
The Twelve Apostles were called The Sow and Piglets until 1922. I can’t decide which is better.
I need a wallaby.
Three words: Cool. Climate. Shiraz.
Quote from Mornington:
Moozh: What? Koalas don't have pouches.
Me: Yeah they do. They're marsupials.
Moozh: What's a marsupial?
Me: …I don't know.