Laura ditched me for another race weekend, so I headed back out to explore another portion of the Mornington Peninsula. This time Flinders and Cape Shanck.
I had vaguely recalled a glowing recommendation of Flinders and that was my first stop. It wasn't a very long stop. The town of Flinders stretches roughly 150m either side of an intersection. It's the kind of town that has a real General Store. Individual sections of groceries, wine "cellar", movie rental, ice cream parlor, toys, and a few bits of clothing each with their own checkout and all staffed by two people. Cafes, art shops, and antique stores made up the rest of the town. Nice enough little town, but I left wishing had I researched what brought on the endorsement. I'm certain I missed something that was pretty special, but hard to figure how.
From town, I headed up the other road about 500m to Flinders Beach and the Mushroom Reef Marine Sanctuary. I completely missed the "Reef" part of that sign. I descended the steps to walk the beach expecting to see mushrooms everywhere up around the rock outcropping. There was a mushroom ... one ... on the beach, but I'm pretty sure the name comes from the shape of the reef.
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| Flinders Beach with Mushroom Reef out in the distance. |
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| Cool rock formation. |
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| Mushroom Reef. Narrow strip spreading out to an expansive reef ... like a mushroom? |
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| House with a pretty decent view. |
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A face in the rocks that I have a hard time believing happened
naturally, but I couldn't find any evidence it was manmade. Pointy
nose in the middle of the picture, two white eyes above, and a crack
that could be a mouth in the dark part at the bottom. |
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| The lone mushroom on the beach. |
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| Sand and seaweed leading up to the Flinders Golf Course. |
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| Air temp 9C, water surface temp 12C. Still heading out for a surf. |
Leaving Flinders, I headed out another 25km on the Mornington Pensisula to Cape Shanck. As the southernmost tip of the Peninsula, Cape Shanck separates the rough waters of the Bass Strait and the calm waters of the Western Port. And boy can water conditions change quickly.
It's a beautiful, short, little hike out onto the small peninsula which is Cape Shanck, made easier by a boardwalk which heads right down to two small bays. Pretty breathtaking and easy enough, but I like to explore. So I see a wall of rock on the far side of the furthest bay and I climb it. On the other side is a great view of Pulpit Rock and a pretty wide plateau of rock interspersed with water pools circling around the huge cliffs overhead just above water level. As I circled the peninsula and approached Pulpit Rock, the water level was such that I considered hopping the rocks across the turbulent water flowing between the peninsula and the island it sat on. Camera, wallet, and phone still on my person, I decided against it and continued around the peninsula and found a portion of rock up against the cliff which made for a comfortable seat. The seclusion, solitude, flow of water through the rip, opportunity to see fur seals and/or albatrosses ... I probably could have sat there quite content for several hours. Ten minutes later, waves were crashing harder and water was encroaching nearly to my feet. I waited about 30 seconds to see if it was just a string of big waves or perhaps the tide. With the water not abating, I headed back and it was probably a good thing. The path I had previously taken about 25 meters out from the cliffs was now completely underwater and I retreated hugging the cliffside.
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| Path out to Cape Shanck |
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| Cape Shanck Lighthouse. Built in 1859. |
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| Cape Shanck |
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| Warning noted. Might want to mention the tide as well. |
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| Pulpit Rock |
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| My path disappearing. |
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| Lots of color and life in the pools surrounding the point of the peninsula |
