The Magic of Mornington Peninsula National Park

With Tasmania on the brain, Justin and I didn’t have much planned for our two days back in Melbourne after our 3 day visit with his family in Ballarat. We arrived back in Melbourne late morning and ran some last minuet errands. We camped that night near Brighton Beach and woke up refreshed early the next morning. It was cooler and a little gloomy, but with not much planned for the day we decided to drive down the coastline towards Mornington Peninsula National Park. This was something we had originally planned to do when we got back from Tassie, but we decided to take advantage of our last free day.

Coffee makes even the cloudiest days a little sunny, Rye Foreshore, Mornington Peninsula VIC/ 📷: me

We drove into Rye, an adorable beach town in the Mornington Peninsula where we picked up a couple essentials that we would need for the day. Considering it’s still school holidays, trying to find a spot on the coastline was pretty difficult. Being that most of the good spots were densely populated with campers and caravans, we drove a little further down and found a spot on the Foreshore Reserve. We spent the somewhat grey and rainy morning on the beach catching up on some work in the van. Although a little cloudy it was starting to get warmer, so after breakfast we decided to put our snorkel gear to good use and test out the water.

With the sun starting to peek through, we were excited by the possibility of a real beach day! After packing up the van, we did some research and decided on two of the many incredible beaches the Mornington Peninsula has to offer. The first was the wildly beautiful London Bridge.

The London Bridge is a natural arch that stretches across the beach almost as if you could cross right over it into the ocean. Looking under it you can see the water rushing over the rocks and the seaweed and coral swaying in the waves. The rocks that lie underneath the bridge are almost fully submerged in water, but as they come in closer to the shore they are filled with puddles of sand making it quite a spectacle. We walked through the boulders and rock paths that covered the beach and even climbed into the coves that looked like they’d been cut out of the sandstone cliffs. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones visiting the London Bridge that day and its beauty was slightly obstructed by the number of beach-goers. Hoping we could find our own little spot, we made our way towards a small cave Justin noticed within the rocks.

London Bridge, Mornington Peninsula VIC/ 📷@justybumpstead

Sandstone Cliffs at the London Bridge VIC / 📷: me

The cave opening up to our secret beach, London Bridge VIC/ 📷: me

The view before we started to “skate” down, London Bridge VIC / 📷 me

We approached the cave and saw that there was an opening on the other side. We left our things at the entrance and climbed through the cold rocks onto the other side of the beach, not knowing what we would find there. When we stepped out of the cave, both of us were gobsmacked by what we had found. The water was the perfect shade of blue and as the whitewash came in, it poured into the coral filled rock pools. There was one pool in particular that contained some of the clearest water I have ever seen. I could honestly argue it was the most picturesque place we’ve visited on our travels thus far.

After spending a little time enjoying our newfound private beach, Justin wanted to go back to the van and grab his camera gear so that we could document the magnificence of this extraordinary place. Thinking we could skip the walk all the way back to the car park, we climbed what we thought was path to the lookout point. When we arrived at the top of the cliff we realized that we were mistaken and had just found a path into the bush. We also saw that our once secret beach had been discovered by the crowds. After trying to scope out our options for getting in and around the bush to the parking lot, we decided to take our chances “sand skating” down the cliff. This made for a good laugh and probably a good show for the people watching along the beach. But by the time we got back to the van we were tired and ready to move on to our next destination.

Number Sixteen Beach, Mornington Peninsula VIC / 📷@justybumpstead

Sandstone cliffs and bead-like algae covering the beach, Number Sixteen Beach VIC/ 📷me

We ventured back over to the eastern side of the Mornington Peninsula to check out the acclaimed Number Sixteen Beach. By this point in the day it was well above 30 degrees and we were ready to get in the water. We went down to explore the beach and brought down our snorkel gear in hopes that it wasn’t too rough to go for a swim. The sandy beach only lasted about 30 meters until the entire beach was covered in a kind of algae that looked like a strands of beads! Remind me next time to wear my Tevas because under the algae is coral and rocks, not pleasant for the old tootsies!

Channeling my inner mermaid, Number Sixteen Beach VIC / 📷@justybumpstead

We walked along the beach to a huge rock pool that sits in the centre of the shoreline. Turns out its not only a rock pool, but a beautiful reef! So after we amped each other up, we took a plunge into the cold water and even saw a couple reef dwellers! After spending a little bit of the afternoon snorkeling through the brisk but refreshing water and we decided to check out the rest of this glorious beach. We explored around and found an alcove that led us to yet another private beach. This time we brought everything down and because we were so fortunate with finding this spot, we spent the rest of the evening gawking at the perfect turquoise water, towering sandstone cliffs and crystal clear rock pools.

Blowholes at Number Sixteen Beach, Mornington Peninsula VIC / 📷@justybumpstead

It was one magical day and maybe one of our favourites on the trip so far. We’ve found that the some of our most incredible days have also been our most spontaneous ones. I guess that’s just one of the many joy’s of van life, we really can just go where we please.