A special week

It's been a pretty special week for us …….. starting off with a brilliant super moon sighting early in the week ……...

 and then Abi's 7th birthday celebrations.... starting with the long desired ear piercing event …..

 … presents from distant aunties …...

 birthday afternoon tea treats (not another photo Granny!!) …..

 and celebrating a new skill (after much practice) - perfect cartwheels at last.

 Davey from London has been here for the week too - a very precious time for Maxie and Rod - but special for our whole family too. We loved our time with him this week.

 Josh and Jody hosted a beautiful breakfast for the family yesterday morning to celebrate Abi's birthday - such a happy and precious time together - the only cloud being Davey's imminent departure for the airport at 11.00am!!!

A picture of four of my favourite men ………. I only wish I had asked them to move to a more even lighting situation ……. but still a beautiful pic (to me)

 There was a feast of beautiful food (as usual) …..

 .. and Abie managed to convince some of the guests to play her current fave card game with her .....

 The "puny Uni" present especially chosen by London Ivy was a big hit....

 …. and the science behind this gift was a source of wonder!

 Abi was determined to cut the cake ALL BY HERSELF this year!

 We all found the farewells to Davey very hard …. so we were lucky that Abi asked us to accompany her on a "nature walk" after the party......

to her favourite rocky outcrop on Fadden Ridge ……. a great space to settle the emotions ……..

…… and off for a bit of kangaroo, dragonfly and bird spotting (and catching crickets). The puny Uni had to come on this nature walk too - quite a shock after all its time in grey London winter I'd say.

 There were lots of crickets to catch in this grassy patch.....

A special week indeed!

Cape Schanck and Portsea

After our morning coffee at Laneway Espresso in Dromana we headed to the southernmost tip of the peninsula this morning - to the lighthouse at Cape Schanck. We arrived in the middle of a freezing cold rainy spell - so much so that all we could do was sit in the car in the carpark for about 15 minutes hoping to wait it out!!

And it worked....... the clouds cleared, the rain stopped, the wind dropped and we were able to do the cape walk in all its glory.............

 This side of the cape faces Bass Strait and sees some pretty wild weather at times.

This side of the cape faces Bushranger Bay - and is a much gentler place. There are some fabulous walks around this coastline (maybe next visit!).

 Still sporting the windswept look! ...........

 We loved seeing the stunning environment at Cape Schanck.

 Back in the car it was only a 25 minute drive up the SW coast to Portsea, the most exclusive of all the settlements on the peninsula. We enjoyed lunch at Le Capucin at the village before exploring the beautiful Portsea beach and pier area. 

 We admired these young women jumping off the pier into this cold but absolutely pristine water - to cool off after their morning jog.

 The Portsea real estate is really something else!

And the bathing boxes at Portsea are suitably refined too - very pastel toned compared to the bright colours of the other bayside beaches.

 We did a short walk in the National Park at the western tip of the peninsula to "Observatory Point". This is the view west from where the walk ends (on a bayside beach) up to Point Nepean and on to the tip of the Bellarine Peninsula next to it - showing how narrow the entrance to Port Phillip Bay is for those great big ships.........

This is the view east back towards Portsea. You can just make out Arthur's Seat (the mountain) in the middle distance and Mount Martha (where we're staying) in the extreme distance on the left of Arthur's Seat.

 In the late 1800s as thousands of new settlers arrived in Victoria, cattle used to be unloaded at Observatory Point  to undergo quarantine checks before they could be released in the colony. This remaining timber structure is part of the original pier from those times.

We waited AGES for this family to take all their selfies, Insta and FB pictures with this photogenic structure before we grabbed a few minutes of intermittent sunshine to take our shots. Just when we thought they had FINALLY finished they asked Maxie to take a family pic to round off their Observatory Point collection!

 Typical country on this part of the peninsula .......

We have loved our quick view of the Mornington Peninsula and have vowed to return - but next time we'll be better prepared for cold, wild weather and bring our walking gear!

Rain on my peninsula

We've been a bit unlucky with the weather here on the peninsula; very windy, lots of rain squalls and pretty cool temperatures today. Rob and I were lucky to get in a walk this morning without getting wet - but we got very windblown.

Mt Martha beach is pretty spectacular ........ even in this wild weather.

 Mt Martha beach faces Port Phillip Bay - so these waves are an indicator of the strong winds today.

 Love those bathing boxes!

We revised our tourist plans for the day and instead of making our way to the Diggers Garden at Heronswood we started with a s-l-o-w (and warm and dry) morning coffee at the very hip Laneway Cafe at Dromana.

From there it was a short 20 minute drive through the scenic (and wet) roads of the Red Hill wine region to our chosen lunch spot: the Piazza Cafe at the beautiful Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove on Shoreham Road.

 The Montalto Vineyard set up is the complete experience - lunch ingredients from the garden outside, wines from the vineyard (of course) and beautiful olive oils onsite too. Rob and I enjoyed our glass of 2017 Pinot Noir from the estate with our delicious lunch.

 This is a beautiful vineyard for strolling around - well tended vines, a sculpture park and extensive gardens - but not for us today unfortunately - too wet, windy and cold............

After lunch we drove on down to the pretty village of Flinders, where Western Port Bay meets Bass Strait. There were good views across to Phillip Island from the 250 metre long pier on the beach at Flinders.

We strolled around the shops in the small township of Flinders until a rain squall drove us back to our warm, dry car. So we headed back to Mornington then Mount Martha for a few supplies before calling it a day and returning to our "beach box cottage" in Osborne Drive. It might sound like we covered a lot of territory today but nothing is more than about half an hour away on the peninsula.