Cowes to Melbourne

A leisurely drive from Phillip Island via the picturesque Mornington Peninsula seemed the perfect way to progress to Melbourne. We drove down the rugged east coast of the Peninsula stopping to look at Flinders. This was the point where the first telegraph cable linking Tasmania to Australia come onshore in 1842. From there we drove onto Cape Schanck the southern most point of the Peninsula, with an imposing 1859 lighthouse on the headland, facing the Bass Strait. As we left here we spotted a group of Kangaroos in a field by the road, silhouetted against the sky.

Onward across the headland to the strangely named town of Rosebud which is a busy town with a great beach.
We then drove all the way up the west coast of the peninsula, through a succession of pretty bay beaches and villages, to Frankston, the largest of the seaside towns on the peninsula. Here, every year, the foreshore is home to enormous sand sculptures in the annual sand sculpting Australia exhibition which we stopped to look at. It was very impressive and this year the theme is Story Land, with sculptures all based on children's stories from Postman Pat to Pippa Longstocking via Peter Rabbit.

On arriving in Melbourne we checked in to our hotel and then went for a drive around the city centre and made our plans for tomorrows sight seeing.