Bushwalking at Fort Napean was the Bomb

with LT in the US, and a weekend flying solo, i took a trip out to Fort Napean on the tip of the Mornington Peninsula at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay called "the rip".  having seen portions of shoreline in the area, i knew it would be scenic if nothing else.  as it turned out, the scenery didn't disappoint, the fort was incredibly cool ... literally buried into the peninsula, and there was even some adventure on the walk back to the car.

little known fact, Fort Napean is the sight of the first Allied shots of both World War I and World War II, fired from separate 6-inch gun barrels at the same gun emplacement.  the fort is now an area entirely open to the public with kilometers of trails and tunnels through the bush to barracks, hospitals, firing ranges, gun emplacements, scouting boxes, and engine rooms.  here are images of the peninsula and the fort:

the Mornington Peninsula from the road to Albert's Seat

Fort Napean and "the rip" ... the fort is all in there somewhere

gun turret

the engine house ...  the engineer's had it good

one of the many tunnels leading to gun turrets, ammunition storage, and troop common areas

view out of a scout box back down the peninsula

Melbourne across the bay, the outline of the city is barely visible above the flag in the distance

having done little research prior to my trip, i arrived around noon thinking i'd be in for a short 1/2 hour hike out to the point of the peninsula and back.  by the end of the day i had "bushwalked" (aussie for hiked) well over 15km and only made it back to my vehicle at 4:55pm (the gates closed at 5:00pm) through a risky maneuver.  i had been seeing signs of wildlife all over the place, but no actual wildlife.  on the return trip to the car, i decided to take a more non-descript trail thinking it'd be the best opportunity to see something while understanding i'd have to keep a decent pace to make it back to the car and out of the park on time.  unfortunately i did not have the camera at the ready as, about 2km into the trail i scared up a kangaroo ... i merely caught a glimpse of it's second hop that thing had vanished.  evidence of the encounter:

fresh kangaroo track

yep, that's roo poo

after about another 3km, i came to this:

barbed-wire fence

not so intimidating ... until you consider every other fence i came across on the peninsula had this sign plastered to it every 20 feet or so:

ominous sign

it was 4:30pm.  according to the map, i was 3km (roughly 1.8 miles) from the car if i ignored the fence.  the other option was to follow the trail back out to the road and stick to the road back to the car, about 7km (4.5 miles).  with tired legs and lacking desire to potentially be locked in a park, i proceeded into what may have been unexploded bomb territory ... cautiously, but briskly ... camera at the ready should I run across another kangaroo, or see one flying post explosion.

no explosions!!  thankfully ... but that would have been a better story.