Cliff Jumping at Mornington Peninsula, VIC

Mornington Peninsula is famous about the hot spring, but this time I go with my friends to explore mornington’s beaches and do the cliff jumping! Wohoooo~~

If you don't have a car, don't worry, it's not a problem at all, because I just went to Mornington Peninsula with my friends by a public transportation but it's took longer than driving of course! You can just spend about 1- 1 1/2 hours if you drive your own car, but with public transportation at least you have to spend 2-2,5 hours to reach Mornington. And yeah... back and forth its took at least 6 hours.

Bring some clothes for change if you wanna play with water, sunscreen and slippers ~ don’t forget some snacks :) Yummmm....

• How to get there? Train to Franskton then 788 bus to portsea.

Our meeting point is at Flinders Station platform 8 on 7:10am. From there we gonna take 7:25am train to Frankston station and then take a bus number 788 directly toward Portsea. With that schedule we are supposedly arrive at Frankston station at 8:30am and take 788 bus that depart from Frankston Station at 08:35am. But you know Melbourne’s train always delay always late. So we missed our bus, then have to wait for the next one at 09:25am. Waiting almost 1 hour, so find nearby stores that sell coffee and have a quick breakfast. Yeah the bus operates almost every hour, so if you miss the bus, you just need to wait for next one.

• How much transportation cost for the trip? 15,60 $ (not incl meals).

Basically Frankston Station is still on zone 1+2 metropolitan area, so it cost you 8,60$ for daily fare metropolitan area, with that you can take unlimited ride on tram/train/bus on zone 1+2 for a day. But for the busses on Mornington, it’s count as a regional bus, the maximum fare is 7$ for a day, with that you can take unlimited ride on bus in Mornington Area for a day.

• What to visit? Sullivan Bay, Jubilee Point, Diamond bay, Rosebud Pier, Mount Martha, The Pillars (cliff jumping).

My trip is start from Sullivan Bay, it was our first stop and we feel amaze for the view already, but in fact it’s just the beginning. The view is getting better and better.

Sullivan bay with white sand, clear sea water, and rock cliff as a background.

The Sullivan Bay Settlement History
- Feb 1802, John Murray with tiny ship named Lady Nelson (first ship that enter the treacherous Port Philip) sailed into Port Philip and saw almost noble sheet of water.
- Apr 1802, Matthew Flinders anchored off Sullivan Bay and began six days exploration of the bay then report had been made suggesting that a settlement be made because of its strategic location and because British Government worry that French might try to establish colonies there.
- Apr 1803, Lieutenant Colonel David Collins was appointed to be in charge of Sullivan Bay settlement. HMS Calcutta and transport ship named Ocean that carried convicts, free settlers, wives, marines officers and kids which are 384 men 38 women 20 boy 16 girls sailed from England and arrived on 10 October 1803. That the first British colony that established 32 years before Melbourne was founded.
- The settlers worked from sunrise to sunset, a half hour break at 8am for breakfast and an hour break for lunch. The settlers tried to grow crops at the other side of the road and tend their animals, but the soil is poor and very shortage of water. Womens preparing food. Convicts helped clear the land, built some buildings, cut some timber, some become servants of marines officer or become public servants.
- The convicts did not like work, their unfamiliar surroundings or lack of freedom, but fear of Aborigines and the bush were barriers which discouraged them to escape. Nevertheless, about 27 tried to escape, 20 returned and 6 perished in the bush or at the hand of Aborigines. Only one William Buckley escaped and survived.
- Jan 1804, Collins asked Governor King for permission to abandon the site, because of three reasons (first because lack of drinking water, secondly due security reason possibility of an attack by the Aboriginal people, and then another reason because he deeply concerned by the threat posed to his leadership by disgruntled marines). And got permission to do so. The settlement transferred to Hobart Town, Tasmania.

Then we back to the main road and wait for the next 788 bus toward portsea, about 3-5 minutes ride and stop at Russel Crescent bus stop. We are going to somewhere more beautiful. Jubilee Point and Diamond bay. It's a hot hot day.

First Jubilee Point, you have to walk about 20minutes from Russel Crescent bus stop. And you will experienced a famous Aussie activity called bush walk before reach the point. Walk to the top of the hill and OMG! The view is so spectacular!

Jubilee Point

And there is a street sign that will lead you how to reach Diamond bay, about another 10 minutes bush walk and you will find more private and nice clear water than Sullivan Bay. 

The sun is hot but the water is cool, during the hot day its feel refreshing. I wish i bring some cold beer, lol, but to be honest, you can’t drink beer at public area such as beaches or park. Well, some parks in Australia allowed you to bring beer, but some don’t. So be careful or you will get fine!

Diamond Bay, Mornington Peninsula, VIC

The yellowy rock cliff just next to you (so Australia), beautiful and unique just a good background for taking picture with.

But basically, everybody just try to hide from the sunlight, because even the wind is cold but the sun shining so bright and hot. But it is really nice weather to spend a day at the beach.

It’s around 2pm already, everybody is starving. And we are not bring anything to eat, so reminder guys, if you are planning to visit Mornington’s beaches, don’t forget to always bring snack with you. From Diamond Bay, we just walked back to the main road (with google maps as our tour leader) and find a nearest bus stop. Then we go to Rosebud Central. Here is like a small city, they have small arcade, some restaurants, kfc, domino pizza and maccas (McDonalds). We decided to have cheap lunch at kfc, and Tuesday is a chicken bucket day, 9 pcs of original chicken just only $9.95 (this is not an advertisement , lol).

After a quick lunch, I remembered to check the bus timetable and found out that the bus will come about another 1 hour. So instead of waiting idly, we decided to have a slow walk at the Rosebud Pier. It’s just a beach, long beach. 

Found a nice playground park just at the end of the beach, take a short rest and find a water tap to refill all the bottles. Here, if you bring some food or meat to eat, you can always use the public barbecue machine, and most park or playground in Australia have public barbecue machine for free use.

This playground just finished built on October 2016, that cost a Victorian Government around $3.1M.

Final stop is The Pillars. We took bus no 887 from Rosebud Pier directly toward Mount Martha, about 20 minutes ride. They called it Mount Martha Esplanade, since it’s called Esplanade I think this place is the main destination if you visit Mornington. More people gather here, and they also have Australia famous painted bathing house similar with Brighton Beach bathing house. 

Bathing Boxes Mornington Peninsula

Bay Rd bus stop is the nearest bus stop from The Pillars, from here you gotta walk about 1,8KM (30 minutes walk). We were tired, we still have a long way to go home and back to the city, everyone have to work tomorrow, if we visit there, we have to walk back to this bus stop to get home, it’s mean 1 hour walk back and forth. BUT we already here! The pillars is a must visit place, and we want to do a cliff jumping!!!! This is the one that we are waiting for. So, everyone together decided to keep walking to see the pillars.

So many people there, not to crowded, just perfect. Most of them are to afraid to jump and try to take a peek and try getting a courage to have one jump, some people just laying around sunbathing, but people mostly come here to have own guts test. Me? I am exited to jump!

Safe? It is, as long as do not be like a fool, jump into an area that have coral on it. Is it deep? It’s just fine, when you jump, you just touch the bottom of the sea with your feet. I think the water just around 2,5-3 meters deep. But then you have to know how to swim, swim to the nearby cliff after jump so you can climb back the cliff. The water is cold, soothing my entire skin, after a whole day receiving heat from the sun. But soon after I go out from the water, all my face start feel sore, ahh~ the sunburn.

View from The Pillars, Mornington Peninsula

No public toilet or store around The Pillars, and i have to change my clothes just behind the bushes.  Hahaha.... Finally it’s time to go home, tired but not exhausted since we were so happy, satisfied, and all the objectives are achieved.