Goin' Feral One Day At A Time: Point Nepean

Arriving home from Peru after just under 40 hours in transit, including a mind numbing 10 hours at the airport in Santiago, Chile, I was keen to shake the jet lag as soon as possible. The best way I've found for getting rid of jet lag is to get outside into the sun and do something. So, working on that rational I talked Sam into a walk not far from home, we took the short drive down to Point Nepean and explored the historic fort and the wild coastline. I've been to Point Nepean quite a few times over the years but there is always something new to see as parks are continually cleaning up the unexploded ordinance and opening up new areas of the park.

Gunners Cottage, the start of the walk.

The park has also been the scene of some epic battles although not necessary of the military type, The longest running disputes have been over the development of the national park, with the white shoe brigade anxious to get their hands on the prime real estate to line their pockets with some easy money, while at the same time there has been a grass roots campaign to keep big development out of the national park so everybody can enjoy it regardless of income. The battle has moved back and forth depending on the persuasion of the state government in power at the time, when the conservatives and their property developer donors had the levers of power there was plans drawn up for a swish hotel, now the left have there hands on the levers again the plans have been dropped, I don't think this war is over however. Point Nepean is actually more famous for other battles however, its home to a large fort built to protect Melbourne from the marauding navies coming from the north during the first and second world wars, oddly enough the invaders never came. That didn't stop Fort Nepean being the scene of the first allied shots fired in both the first and second world wars. In the first world war they fired at a hapless German freighter trying to get out of Port Phillip Bay on hearing that war had been declared, I suppose that the captain may have been expecting it on that occasion. Firing on the Bass Straight Freighter at the start of the second world war was pretty harsh though, the I reckon the Taswegians are still getting over that!

The walk goes through a lot of coastal scrub.

Anyway after parking at Gunners Cottage we set off on a beautiful day into a section of the park that I hadn't visited before having only been cleared of unexploded ordinance recently. We climbed to the south of the access road up to the old firing range and then followed a wide sandy track towards Cheviot Hill, judging by all the warning signs this isn't a place to duck into the scrub for a quick piss. A short roller coaster walk later over some dunes we intersected with the old track to Cheviot Hill coming in from Happy Valley (sounds like a nudist resort but actually one of the old military camps), from now on I was back in familiar territory.

The old firing range.

Climbing up to the lookout on Cheviot Hill we gazed down onto a wild stretch of coastline. This is the spot where a Soviet Submarine abducted Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967..... oh wait a quick google search tells me it may have been aliens, who knows, the body was never found. I've got my own theory on Harold's disappearance though, are you sitting down? I figure that old Harold probably suffered from the undiagnosed disease that afflicts a lot of blokes, DHS. DHS or to use the full medical name, Delusional Hotness Syndrome seems to affect blokes more when members of the fairer sex are in the vicinity. Now I believe that there were a couple of ladies on the beach with old Harold that day and I'm betting that DHS kicked in and Harold decided that it would be a good idea to take a dip in the foaming, rip infested surf, thus reinforcing his alpha maleness. I know its out there but I reckon old Harold drowned because he couldn't handle the rips along with the jagged rocks and pounding surf.... but then again maybe it was those pesky Soviets? I actually have a bit of a family connection to this, apparently my mother was in the Frankston Cop Shop when the call came through that poor old Harold had gone missing.

Cheviot Beach from Cheviot Hill.

Sam's on the lookout for old Harold.

Anyway enough crapping on lets get back to the walk. From Cheviot Hill we meandered our way through the coastal scrub towards Point Nepean and The Rip. The walking along here is dead easy, either on sandy tracks through the scrub or along the access road that the shuttle buses use. The bitumen road is actually pretty cool to walk along because it allows you to take in the ever expanding views over Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay. After passing by the south side of Fort Nepean we followed the track down to sea level, The Rip separating us from Queenscliff which looked impossibly close. After watching a few boats negotiate the treacherous stretch of water we turned and started back in the direction of the ute.

The view from the road is not too bad.

The Rip with Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff on the other side.

Now that's a sign you don't see everyday on a walk in Australia.

First up we had to climb up to the fort and explore the old tunnels and bunkers, there really is hours of fun to be had checking out all the nooks and crannies in the old fort. Having been there quite a few times before we didn't linger too long and were soon on our way back towards Eagles Nest. Eagles Nest is the site of a huge gun emplacement, a information sign telling us that when the gun was fired it broke eardrums, I guess OH+S wasn't big in those days. Leaving Eagles Nest we retraced our steps for a bit before dropping down onto the bay beach for a bit of a slog along until we got to Observatory Point. The beach was fairly soft and the tide was a long way in so, even with my cat like reflexes, we managed to get swamped by a couple of waves. The beach along here is eroding a lot and the land and trees are being claimed by the ocean, I'm not sure if its always been the case or if its got something to do with Port Phillip Heads being dredged, I know that the Portsea locals aren't happy claiming that their beach is disappearing.

That's Port Phillip Bay over our shoulders.

Fort Nepean.

If I could turn back time.... Yeah, I couldn't talk Sam into climbing on like Cher, she muttered something about dignity.

Inside the tunnels, hours of fun.

Looking back up the access road from Fort Nepean.

The old cattle jetty signalled the spot where we would leave the beach and head inland. The last point of interest on our walk was the old cemetery. In 1852 the Ticonderoga sailed in rife with Typhoid, over 100 people lost their lives, this is the lonely spot where a lot of the people were buried, a place far removed removed from their homelands of England and Scotland. Incidentally, the old Quarantine Station was the spot earmarked for the luxury hotel and spa that the developers want to build. From the cemetery its only a few metres back to Gunners Cottage and the end of the walk.

An old observation post over looking Bass Strait.

The massive gun emplacement at Eagles Nest.

The Dirt.

We used the notes out of Melanie Ball's Top Walks in Victoria by Explore Australia which are more than adequate for this walk. According to the GPS we walked 9.47 kilometres and climbed 234 metres so its a pretty easy walk.

Parks Victoria also have a lot of free stuff online about Point Nepean, for any punters that don't want to walk there is a shuttle bus that parks put on that runs through the park and stops at most of the points of interest.

After our walk we headed back to Sorrento for some lunch, there are a wide variety of establishments there that would cater for most peoples food needs.