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Mornington
Peninsula and Phillip Island
Beaches, Rolling Hills, Island Life
By
Richard Moore
 During
my early photographic career I spent a lot of time taking news photos
on the Mornington Peninsula, south-east of Melbourne.
I
remember long summer days, beautiful countryside and amazing beaches
as being places I passed through as part of my working day. It was
tough.
As
a result I really love the Mornington Peninsula, which runs down
the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay and the western side of Westernport
Bay.
It
really is a lovely part of the world and has some really attractive
towns within its area such as Mornington, Mount Eliza, Mount Martha,
Sorrento ... each with its own personality and reason to visit.
Take
for example the historic homestead - The
Briars - outside of Mt Martha. It belonged to the Balcombe
family and has links to Napoleon
Bonaparte's exile on St Helena. The Briars has a very special
collection of Napoleonic items, including a death mask of the great
emperor himself. It is well worth visiting if you are in the area.
 Another
of my favourite spots on the Mornington Peninsula is Sorrento. I
have spent many weeks over summer holidaying there and the beauty
is that it not only has a very safe family swimming beach on Port
Phillip Bay, but also a rugged rolling ocean one only a few minutes
away.
The
beaches on the ocean side can be rough and dangerous - in 1967 an
Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, went missing - presumed
drowned - at nearby Cheviot Beach.
From
Sorrento you can take a car ferry across Port Phillip Bay to the
Bellarine Peninsula and hop off
at Queenscliff. A good day's drive
is to head off from Melbourne and head
either south-west or south-east and drive down to catch the ferry
across the bay and then back up the other side and back to the Victorian
capital.
On
the other side of Westernport Bay is one of Victoria's top holiday
spots and one of the state's major tourist attractions - Phillip
Island.
Connected
to the mainland by a 640m bridge, Phillip Island welcomes more than
3.5 million visitors a year - most of whom are there to see the
world famous parade
of little blue penguins.
It
is a great spectacle as the little birds waddle ashore and back
to their nests and well worth the effort of going to see it.
Phillip
Island is also home to surfing championships, rock festivals and
plenty of motorsports on its highly rated racetrack.
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