Sorrento - May 2016

With our seemingly never ending Indian Summer stretching on we decided to make the most of the warm weather again this weekend. After finishing off a little business in Mornington we headed further down the Mornington Peninsula to St Pauls Road in Sorrento and parked the ute at the car park above the back beach. Today we were going to re-walk a walk that we both did for the first time around thirty years ago, Tyrone Thomas' circuit around the historic town of Sorrento. Sam and I did this walk in the 1980's when I bought my first bushwalking guide book, one from Mr Thomas' Walks In Victoria series. Wanting to have some lunch in one of Sorrento's many cafes we decided to start the walk on the back beach which should have us arriving into Sorrento just as my stomach started to let me know that it was time to eat.

Looking out to Bass Strait from near St Pauls Road.

Initially we followed a section of the Mornington Peninsula Coastal Walk towards Koonya Beach, the sandy walking track along here keeps to the cliff tops, the views out towards Bass Strait and also of the many rock stacks make for great scenic walking. After a short excursion out onto Jubilee Point for our best look up and down the wild coast we continued on around the cliffs of Diamond Bay, before taking the turn off towards Mount St Pauls lookout. I'm not to sure what actually constitutes a mountain but I'm guessing that Mount St Paul pushes the lower limit, the mountain did provide the us with the highest view on todays stroll though.

That faint smudge in the distance is Cape Schanck.

Looking back towards Portsea Back Beach from Jubilee Point.

After descending off Mount St Paul we continued along the sandy track, weaving our way through the narrow belt of coastal scrub that is the Mornington Peninsula National Park, the park along the back beach is sometimes only a couple of hundred metres wide and its not unusual to be looking out over the ever encroaching houses, for the most part though the route is either looking south over the water of Bass Strait or tunnelling through the Tea Tree and Banksia's and the suburbs aren't really noticeable. Around an hour of gentle walking had us at Hughes Road, this was the spot where we left the back beach and crossed the peninsula to the gentle bay beach. 

Heading through the coastal scrub to Hughes Road.

Crossing the Mornington Peninsula on Hughes Road.

Crossing the Mornington Peninsula, that adds a bit of hardcore creed to this post hey....err no, not really! The Mornington Peninsula is probably less than two kilometres wide here so crossing the peninsula isn't that arduous. Hughes Road is OK walking as far as a road bash goes I suppose, the gardens in the flash houses are worth checking out, once on the Port Phillip Bay side of Melbourne Road there is a good footpath that we used to stay off the road. The route hits Port Phillip Bay at Cameron's Bight, the site of the first English settlement in Victoria in 1803, the local Boonwurrung People having been here for a few (thousand) years before that though.

The feral walker meandering his way along the beach at Cameron's Bight, site of the first English settlement in Victoria.

Navigation wasn't a real problem on this walk, once we arrived at Port Phillip Bay we turned left and followed the coast up to Sorrento. The walk along the bay alternating between the soft sandy bay beaches and grassy headlands complete with some of the most expensive real estate in Victoria. Passing by four graves thought to belong to some early settlers, we continued on to a nice lookout over Sullivan Bay. Greg (I researched climate change on wikipedia) Hunt is the local member down here, and there was plenty of support in the form of signs in the front yards of the flash houses, I was keen for a chat with Mr Hunt too, Sea Shepherd Cap and green shirt on, but alas Greg wasn't out on the hustings today, but then again the polo was on, I suppose. Arriving at the very flash Sailing Club we followed the soft sandy beach all the way to the ferry terminal in Sorrento, a bevy of Black Swans was all the excuse we needed to stop awhile and use the zoom on Sam's Camera.

Sullivan Bay.

We passed a few beach shacks as we got closer to Sorrento.

The Sorrento sailing club looks very flash.

Sorrento Front Beach.

Instead of making our way straight to the culinary attractions of Sorrento we continued along the coast in the direction of Portsea for awhile, climbing up past the old Sorrento train station, back in ye olde days a steam tram took visitors from the front beach to the back beach. After passing the historic Sorrento Hotel, complete with a stinger missile weather vane on its roof, we checked out the well manicured park before heading to the main street for a late lunch. While I settled in for awhile to read the Saturday Paper and re-caffeinate Sam wandered around the flash shops. 

With Sam's camera having a decent zoom I was able to get some nice photos of the Black Swans.

The old Sorrento Tram Station ran from 1890 to 1921.

The Sorrento Hotel.

Sorrento Park would make a good spot for a picnic if you didn't want to head to one of the local cafes.

Sam's Iced Chocolate, I look engrossed in something in the Saturday Paper.

An hour or so later we eventually resumed our afternoons stroll. We now crossed the Mornington Peninsula again and while the peninsula is a little wider here its still less than three kilometres from bay to ocean. Ocean Beach Road was our path towards Bass Strait, a footpath keeping us away from the cars. Arriving at the turn off to Coppins Lookout I headed up to get a photo along the coast, the rotunda at Coppins Lookout standing out on top of the high dune, Mr Coppin was an early developer that promoted Sorrento as a sea side resort back in the day. We were on the homeward stretch of our walk now, the now late afternoon sun making the wild coastal scenery look even more spectacular. Less than half an hour after turning left along the back beach we arrived back at the ute on St Pauls Road and headed off on the short drive home, it had been another great day.

The view east along the coast from Coppins Lookout.

There was a nice swell running in from Bass Strait today.

The Dirt.

We walked 12.8 kilometres and climbed 251 metres on this easy walk. The walk follows a mixture of sandy tracks, beaches, and suburban footpaths and is well signposted. Parks Vic have plenty of free stuff online about the Mornington Peninsula National Park, the whole walk could be completed with a Melways Map really as you'd be doing well to get lost. I used Tyrone Thomas' notes and mud map out of 150 Walks In Victoria, I haven't put a link up for Mr Thomas' book as I think its out of print. Sorrento is a very flash sea side town on the Mornington Peninsula and is home to a lot of nice galleries, shops, cafes and bars and makes a nice spot to break the walk up and have some lunch. 

The late afternoon sun was bathing the rugged coastline in a beautiful soft light.

Now just in case there is anyone out there who regularly reads this waffle then I thought I'd post an update on the injury I sustained up on the Cathedral Range North Loop a couple of weeks ago. After two weeks the wound under my eye was still giving my trouble so I decided to try some Magnoplasm, a few hours later I was able to pull this out of my head, hmmm.....I think I've got all the leftover tree out of my head now....maybe.