Flinders Ocean Beach Walk, Mornington Peninsula National Park - April 2019

The view along the coast towards Cape Schanck at sunset was sweet.

There are a multitude of short walks around the Mornington Peninsula that, while not falling into the ‘must do’ category, are pleasant enough little strolls if you are lucky enough to find yourself in the area. This walk along the Flinders Ocean Beach being one such example. Sam and I were looking for a nice easy stroll close to home tonight, one that I might be able to get a few interesting photos for the blog on. So, after a cursory glance at the tide times, we decided that a nice easy sunset stroll along Flinders Ocean Beach would be the go.

It's not every day that I start a walk beside a Gunnery School.

After parking the ute up near the West Head Military Base we set off, with around an hour before sunset this wasn’t going to be a long walk tonight though. Twenty metres from the car park we arrived at the West Head Lookout and beach access steps. Apart from the obvious view out towards Bass Strait the lookout also provided a good look down the rugged coastline towards the distant Cape Schanck.

Once on the sand we gave West Head a miss for now and headed off in the other direction. 

We initially walked west towards Cape Schanck.

Dropping down to the sand we decided to turn west and start beach combing our way in the direction of Cape Schanck, figuring that we would explore the cliffs of West Head in the other direction when we returned. Apart from walking almost directly into the setting sun the walking is pretty easy along here, well at low tide anyway. The Flinders Ocean Beach is a wide and firm white sand beach and initially at least, it is backed by the Flinders Golf Club so there is little in the way man made infrastructure to blot the view.

Flinders is very close to Phillip Island and The Nobbies.

There were plenty of Bin Chickens around.

There looks like there was once a man made breakwater constructed along here as in two spots there is what looks like a small rocky wall heading out into the bay, at high tide this rock wall would be covered with water but at low tide the rocks are visible. Mushroom Reef, just off shore, is a fairly well known dive sight and is protected by the Mushroom Reef Marine Sanctuary, although from the sand you can’t see much even at dead low tide.

This has to be man made...doesn't it?

Flinders Ocean Beach.

After walking another wide sandy bay the easy walking came to an end. Sam decided to stop here and wait for me while I rock hopped my way along the coast a little further. At low tide the rock walking was pretty easy though and this is a fascinating place to explore. The many rock pools were all teaming with sea life and it was a little frustrating that the fading light meant that I didn’t have much time up my sleeve this afternoon.

These rock shelfs make for great walking, in my humble opinion.

There are plenty of nice rock pools to explore.

I was interested to check out the coast heading towards Bushrangers Bay at sea level, an exploratory walk I want to get around to one day.

One day I want to try and get along the coast between here and Bushrangers Bay so it was nice to get a bit of a look at what’s in store today. Unfortunately there is a around ten kilometres of coast line that falls outside the Mornington Peninsula National Park between where I was now standing and the sand of Bushrangers Bay. I’m interested to see if it is feasible that I might be able to get around the cliffs at sea level, as trying to get permission to walk the open paddocks on the cliff tops will be next to impossible I’m guessing.

Rock pools on Flinders Ocean Beach.

Heading back it was now getting pretty dark.

After spending as long as I dared exploring this wonderful spot I decided that I’d best head back to the sand so that Sam and I could get back before it got totally dark. Once back at the access steps for West Head Lookout we continued on along the coast below the cliffs of West Head. I’d wanted to do this part of the walk as the sun was setting as I was hoping that the cliffs would light up as the sun went down, judging by the number of photographers around it looked like I wasn’t the only one with this cunning plan though.

West Head was looking a whole lot better now.

The view west towards Cape Schanck wasn't too bad either.

Sam took this with her phone, it's a fairly accurate depiction of exactly how dark it was now.

The changing colours of West Head at sunset. 

The view out to Bass Strait from West Head, as the sun went down.

I was going for the arty, wanker blogger shot.

Strangely though most of the photographers stopped near the bottom of the access steps, even more strangely (I thought) was that they were all taking photos into the setting sun towards Cape Schanck. While the view looking west was pretty sweet I thought that the cliffs of West Head were the money shots. Now it depends which map you look at as to how far you are allowed to walk around West Head, my Melway has the coast line down as a Restricted Area but most other maps only have the land above the high tide as restricted. So I’m not sure of what the exact legality of rock hoping around the headland is but there doesn’t seem to be any real issue with it on the ground, indeed I’ve done it before with no problems, although you do need a dead low tide, calm seas and be prepared for some slippery rock scrambling.

Sunset from sea level at West Head.

West Head. I've got these photos in the exact order that I took them, it's amazing how manipulating the settings and framing on my camera can give such contrasting results.

West Head.

West Head, it's just possible to rock hop around the headland.

The view out to Bass Strait from West Head was getting even better.

Sam and I weren’t going all the way around tonight though, so after sending my SD card into meltdown as I tried to do justice the the colourful scenery we once again retraced our way back to the West Head Steps. By the time we climbed the staircase away from the beach it was for all intents and purposes dark, I had a couple of desultory attempts to take a few more photos but really I was just thinking about heading home for a hot shower.

Looking back across the exposed reef at West Head towards Cape Schanck.

West Head.

I'm not sure why all the other photographers were looking the other way.

West Head Reef.

The Dirt.
We walked 5.1 kilometres and climbed 44 metres on this very easy stroll. If a relaxed, beach combing type of walk is what your after and you are in the area then this a a nice walk to consider, there are no real navigational difficulties - just turn around and head back when you’ve had enough. A low tide is the main prerequisite for the walk. Don’t attempt the West Head bit unless it’s a very low tide and you are confident scrambling on wet, slippery rocks with Bass Strait surging around your feet. Ken Martin has written this walk up in his book Walks of the Mornington Peninsula although to be honest the Melway map will get you through easily enough.

Relevant Posts.
Flinders Jetty to West Head, 2016.
Greens Bush & Cape Schanck, Mornington Peninsula National Park, 2017.
Point Leo to Balnarring, 2015.

Bass Strait from West Head...yeah, I know this is a bit of a photo dump but it is my blog after all.

Flinders Ocean Beach.

The West Head Steps....it was pretty well dark by now.

One last shot from the West Head Lookout before we jumped into the ute and headed home.