Two Bays Track, Cape Schanck to Dromana - 9th August 2014

My breadcrumbs for the day.

I reckon the blog is getting a bit soft so I thought that I better do a decent length walk. The Two Bays track crosses the Mornington Peninsula from Bushrangers Bay in the south to Port Phillip Bay in the north, in the process traversing most of the environments that the Mornington Peninsula is known for. So, with a long day ahead I knew it would be important to hit the track early, what do they say about 'best laid plans', instead of hitting the track early I started at the more civilized hour of 11am, hmmm. Doing a quick calculation in my head, 7 hours of daylight (maybe), around 28 kilometres to walk, my sloth like pace, I think I'll be finishing in the dark.

The start.

The stairs down to the tip of the cape.

Sam was kind enough to drop me off at the car park at Cape Schanck, taking a before photo before heading off for a much more hardcore day of shopping. I thought it would be a good idea to take the short circuit that leads to a lookout over Cape Schanck, in the process getting a couple of photos of the lighthouse. Back at the car park I noticed that I'd already whittled away thirty minutes and I'd only walked less than a kilometre. Time to hit the track, the track initially follows the small section of land between the cliff tops and the adjoining private land, it is a spectacular section with view along the coast towards Flinders and back towards the cape as well as off shore to Bass Strait.

Cape Schanck lighthouse.

That's Bushrangers Bay in the distance.

Walking through a tunnel of tee tree on the track over to Bushrangers Bay.

Bushrangers Bay.

I was making good time now and soon Bushrangers Bay appeared through the tee-tree, the beach looked tempting but, as the ambient temperature felt more polar than tropical I decided to forgo a swim. The track now follows the valley of Main Creek for quite a few kilometres heading towards Greens Bush. The walking is easy and there are plenty of views across the valley towards Flinders. After a brief lunch stop the track turned away from Main Creek and started to follow Lightwood Creek, heading towards Hyslops Road, this section of the track passes through masses of Grass Trees which seem to thrive in the sandy soils.

Looking back down the valley of Main Creek.

Main Creek.

There are a surprisingly large number of kangaroo's on the Mornington Peninsula.

Popping out of Greens Bush at Hyslops Road I now had a bit of a road bash for awhile, the view across the paddock now had the waters of Port Phillip Bay in the distance, it was after 3pm however and the bay still looked along way away. The road bash was enlivened by the farm animals, one farm had a bit of a menagerie, with alpaca's, sheep and cattle all sharing the paddock. Crossing Browns Road I followed the narrow road reserve through a couple of valleys, the last climb to Duells Road was a bit of a grunt and I took a bit of a break on the well placed seat at the top.

If you squint you can see Port Phillip Bay in the distance.

The track now weaved its way through the back streets of Rosebud, following the track markers on the power poles I successfully negotiated the housing estates and once again found myself heading into the bush at McLarens Dam. It was now just before 5 pm and I had around 5 kilometres to go, I should be sweet I thought, the problem with that thought soon became obvious however. As I crosses the wall of McLaren Dam I could see a 4wd track climbing towards the clouds (OK I may be using some poetic license there, but it was moderately steep and I was rooted tired!), I had that sinking feeling that this may be the sting in the tail, sure enough there was the track marker pointing to the clouds (well, up hill).

Negotiating the back streets of Rosebud.

McLaren Dam.

Two Bays Track heading towards the clouds.

The climb wasn't to bad however and I was able to get my breath back photographing an old lawn bowling club that had been abandoned, I thought that it was a bit odd that there would be an abandoned bowling club in Rosebud as I'd always thought of Rosebud as 'gods waiting room'. Climbing further I passed through a mob of kangaroos grazing beside the track, I took a few photos but they are all crap so I probably wont post any. After about 20 minutes the climbing stopped and the track began contouring around the side of Seawinds Gardens and Arthurs Seat.

Considering the demographic of Rosebud I thought it was a bit odd to pass an abandoned lawn bowls club.

That's Port Phillip Heads in the distance.

The good news was as the track was contouring on the side of a decent hill I had good views down the Mornington Peninsula towards Port Phillip Heads, I also was able to watch the sun setting in the west. Just as the last of the light was fading I emerged from the scrub at the Latrobe Parade Carpark, most normal people would have left their transport here but with me wanting to harden the blog up a bit, I had actually parked at the beach at Anthonys Nose, so I had another half a kilometre to go ( or maybe I'm just an undiagnosed masochist......  Nah I  didn't think so:). Crossing over the Mornington Peninsula Freeway I decided to burn any remaining light by taking a couple of long exposure shots from the bridge, the slow shutter speed also finishing of my camera battery. Arriving back at the ute at 6:30pm I glanced at the GPS and saw that I'd walked 29.6 kilometres, now if I was really hardcore I'd go for a 400 metres stroll along the beach to round it out at 30 kilometres for the day, instead I rang Sam to tell her I'd be home in half an hour and that I was looking forward to a hot bath, that's fully sick hardcore at my age!

The sun set wasn't the best I've ever seen!

The Dirt.
I walked 29.6 kilometres and climbed 835 metres over the day. The walk can be easily shortened into more manageable sections. I used the notes from Glen Tempest, Daywalks around Melbourne 1st edition, the book is out of print, I also used the Meridian map, Mornington & Arthurs Seat. The only issue with the walk is the length, the track is well marked and graded, with all creeks being bridged and duck boarding over the swampy sections. The track passes beaches, sea cliffs, creek valleys, forests, hills, farmland and even a small urban section, so it has something for most tastes. If I had to rate the difficulty of the walk I suppose I'd rate it as hard, but only due to the length.

Using the last of the light and camera battery, maybe next time I'll use a tripod.