Mornington Peninsula was a new region for us to discover in our caravan travels, so to give it our best shot we booked ourselves in for a 7 day stay at the Big4 Mornington Peninsula Holiday Park, in Frankston south.

A week was still nowhere near enough to truly savour this peninsula, which is a little over 70 kilometres south of Melbourne, but we gave it a good crack and found some absolute highlights along the way. Here’s a few of the best experiences we found.

In Mornington, we took a stroll on the pier near Schnapper Point Kiosk (SPK) where you have to try the potato fritters (or potato cakes to the folks here). The main street of Mornington is a great strip to stroll for lots of tasty places to eat and there are plenty of shops. For an even better stroll, take a walk along Mount Martha Beach south, to see a fabulous array of beach boxes. Technically they are just beach equipment storage sheds, but they are a great spectacle to see, painted in all different colours, patterns and styles.

Another area to visit is Frankston for its picturesque beach and pier, and when there, make sure to take a wander through the streets to find loads of street art. Each year, Frankston hosts a street art festival where local and international artists add to the colour of the streets and laneways with these brilliant large scale art pieces.

Another day we took a drive to the other side of the Peninsula to Somers beach, Crib Point and Hastings, where we found yet another lovely waterfront café, a pier to take a walk on, and yachts to view on another perfect autumns’ day.

Mornington Peninsula has a huge amount of farmgate food providers and wineries and the first winery we visited on recommendation, was Yabby Lake Vineyard. A lovely spot to have a sample tasting of the wines, pick your favourite style and enjoy a glass in the garden overlooking the vines, which were looking glorious in autumn.

Next day we took a drive along the western side coast to see the areas of Portsea, and Sorrento where we had a long lunch at the Sorrento Hotel overlooking the water and watching the ferry that goes between Queenscliff and Sorrento, coming and going into the port. You are really in the monied part of the peninsula with the houses and their views leaving no doubt about it. There is even a ‘millionaires walk’ you can take to see some of the spectacular houses.

On yet another day we took the scenic drive up to Arthurs seat, where you can also take a gondola ride from top to bottom and return, for far reaching views of the peninsula. When you drive up to the peak, you can also stop at a couple of lookout areas to get terrific views.

This was also another day to indulge in more of the well-known food and wine stops where we sampled wines at 10 minutes by tractor, lunched at the Pig and Whistle Hotel, and then strolled through the magnificent Point Leo Estate which has a sculpture park that winds through the estate on a network of paths for around 3 kilometres.  

There are more than 70 large scale sculptures by international and Australian sculptors all set in absolutely stunning, landscaped and manicured garden settings. This is an absolute highlight not to be missed, and then there is the winery with both a restaurant and more casual wine tasting and shared plates to try.  

A destination that we’ve had on our must see list for a long time was the wine bar called ‘Plonk and Stink’. I know,funny name but it’s an irreverent take on wine and cheese that is offered as a tasting flight you can participate in.  Another reason we’ve always wanted to visit is that its owners are Karina and David Reyne. Karina has a wide range of experiences in running and managing cellar doors and David is an actor, musician and television travel show presenter on ‘Getaway’, and we admit it, we are tragic fans of his dry sense of humour and his take on travels on that show. Sadly for us he wasn’t on deck during our visit, so there will have to be a next time.

The wine bar is in the town of Flinders, where  you can also take a short drive out to see the blowhole, a natural feature on the coast with wild surf and rugged coastline to see. While we were out and about we stopped in at the Red Hill Bakery which you’ll need to visit with an empty stomach and a market bag to take home some of their absolutely delicious pies, bread, cakes and readymade meals.

A couple of other wineries we visited in our days were Paringa Estate and Rare Hare, the latter which had more great wines, and a restaurant in a beautiful setting. There is also onsite accommodation here and a have to be seen to be believed, bar with lighting, like I’ve never seen before.

Paringa Estate is positioned overlooking the vineyard and has the added charm of a rowdy, honking, flock of geese wandering amongst the vines. A charcuterie board and a bottle of Riesling will make your day here.

And finally spend a day visiting Main ridge dairy, a venue to relax in the hills of Mornington Peninsula and taste the wonderful goat cheese products, the Croque Monsieur is simply a must, or as it was described to us, death by cheese! You can also feed the friendly and photogenic goats.

 Stonier Wines was our last winery stop on the Peninsula and here you can build your own charcuterie board to enjoy with a glass or two on the spacious lawns. The hospitality here was above and beyond and we felt privileged to have a little behind the scenes look at the wine production and storage, while we tasted the delicious Chardonnay and Pinot Noir varieties.

And with that, our Mornington Peninsula stay has come to an end. We probably crisscrossed the peninsula daily, backtracking and overlapping previous day’s journeys but every day was a delight and an indulgence of food, wine, beaches and piers.

The peninsula is a stunning region that we will have to revisit to cover completely. For more photos of our trip make sure to visit Caravan Correspondent Facebook and Instagram pages.

Cheers

Glenys