Its a long weekend here in Melbourne, in my view that's a good weekend not to go away! Too much traffic, too many people, yeah I'm getting old and grumpy, at least that's what Sam says! What to do then? I've walked along the coast from Mornington to Frankston before although last time it was a bit of a death march as the temperature was in the mid 30 c, today promised mid 20 c and a low tide, to good to resist. To seal the deal it was only a short public transport journey from home.
After a train ride to Frakenstahn, and a bus to Mornington, I soon settled in for the first goal of the day, a long lunch at one of the many cafe's that line Mornington's main street. One newspaper, two coffee's, a steak sanga, and an hour and a half later I thought it would probably be a good idea if I actually started walking. Wandering down to the end of Main street I got a photo of a monument remembering some lost souls that perished in a ship wreck, this seemed like a suitable place to start a walk along the coast.
 |
The monument at the bottom of Main Street, Mornington. Seemed like as good a place as any to start the walk.
 |
| The sun was starting to come out as I left Mornington. |
|
Initially the weather was a bit overcast, but I snapped away anyway, I was hoping the sun would come out so I could give the polariser a bit of a workout. As far as I know there are no notes for this walk, I basically headed north along the coast, more or less rock hoping or walking on the beach the whole way.
 |
Mornington Yacht Club is on the point.
 |
| I did say there was some rock hoping involved. |
|
Soon enough the sun made its entrance, and together with a calm day it made for some good photos. The beaches were starting to get a few people on them, although the only ones that remotely felt busy were Frankston and Sunny Side North, Sunny Side being a clothing optional beach it was as usual populated by blokes, life's kind of cruel really.
 |
Sunny Side beach.
 |
The best beach of the walk came after Sunny Side and that was Kunyung, Probably two kilometres of sand and crystal clear water with only a couple of people on it. I was now in my old back yard as I'd spent a lot of my teenage years living a few hundred metres from this beach.
 |
Kunyung beach, did I mention that the water was clear.
 |
From Kunyung, looking back towards Mornington.
 |
| Kunyung boat sheds |
|
|
With the tide low I stayed on the beach rock hoping around small headlands, the only times I had to climb the cliffs were to go around Canadian Bay Yacht Club and Davies Bay Yacht Club. Once past Davies Bay I was soon walking under the cliffs of Oliver's Hill with the Frankston pier looming in the distance.
 |
Mt Eliza boat sheds.
 |
Climbing to go around Canadian Bay Yacht Club.
 |
|
The last section of the walk was along the Frankston foreshore board walk, which made for an easy finish for my feet. After crossing Kananook Creek twice I arrived a the Pier Hotel, another haunt from my past, this I decided was as good a place as any to officially finish the walk.
 |
Cliffs between Canadian Bay and Daveys Bay.
 |
| Daveys Bay |
|
The Dirt
Like I said earlier, as far as I know no one has written this walk up in any guidebooks, the walk from the monument to the pub was 13.03 kilometres according to my GPS, and I climbed a grand total of 138 metres. If anyone wants to do this walk make sure you pick the tides, it would be extremely difficult with a high tide. Also take good boots, probably around 20 to 30% of the walk is over sharp and jagged rocks, not a place to fall over!
 |
| Frankston pier coming into view as I pass below Oliver's Hill. |
 |
| Frankston boardwalk |
 |
| The Pier Hotel, a classic Melbourne beer barn. |
Thanks for posting! Going to attempt this tomorrow :-)
ReplyDelete