After our stay at Mornington Peninsula our next stop was Barwon Heads, which is either:
- 194km driving around Port Philip Bay; or
- 80km driving plus a 45 minute ferry ride across Port Phillip Bay.
SeaRoad Ferries operate an hourly ferry service between Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula side and Queenscliff on the western side. The voyage takes around 45 minutes with a 15 minute drive-on/drive-off turnaround. It was pricey at $184 for us but that was easily offset by the time, convenience and fuel saving. Not to mention the added stress of towing through parts of Melbourne.
We booked on the 11:00am ferry to give us plenty of time to hitch up and drive to the ferry terminal. We actually arrived at 9:45 and were pleased to be offered a spot on the 10:00am ferry, which was just docking as we got there. Driving on and off the ferry was a breeze, like a smaller version of the Spirit of Tasmania. After parking the cruiser and van, it was up two flights of stairs to the very spacious and clean passenger cabin area. We settled into some comfortable window seats to enjoy the crossing, which was very smooth. Now you expect ferry services like this to offer hugely over-priced coffee that tastes like the heated up dregs of a vegemite jar that’s been swished out with swamp water. We were utterly surpised to receive two really good coffees at normal prices. We really can’t fault the SeaRoad Ferry service.
Ironically… we never watched the ABC tv series Sea Change back in the late 1990’s. We did however binge it a couple of months before we headed off on this trip… So when we were looking for place to stay after the Mornington Peninsula it was a simple choice to stop in at Pearl Bay, known in the real word as Barwon Heads. Primarily we chose it because it was only a short drive from the Sorrento/Queenscliff SeaRoad Ferry that we used to avoid having to drive all the way up and around Melbourne and Geelong.
The town has obviously moved on a bit since the tv series but the icons are still there. Divers Dans Shack is now a trendy cafe/kiosk, the caravan park is much larger than it looks on the tv series, and you can still see the bar from the Pearl Bay hotel although it has been refurbished.
Barwon Heads is still seems to be relatively sleepy although the main street, which is back a bit from the bridge does have a number of trendy shops including a ‘provedore’ and some of those ‘exclusive’ boutiques; the type that sell cheescloth shirts for $200+. Aside from that it’s still a beachy village where you can fish from Diver Dan’s wharf or wobble around on a stand-up paddle board beneath the bridge…
We drove through Queenscliff after disemabarking the ferry and driving to Barwon Heads. It looked quite nice so decided to go back for a better look since the weather wasn’t brilliant while we were at Barwon Heads.
Larger than Barwon Heads, Queenscliff is is the Entrance to Port Phillip bay and has a Victorian feel about it. The most noticeable feature is Fort Queenscliff, now a museum and active Defense site that operates as the Army’s Soldier Career Management Agency. It’s quite an impressive piece of history in blocky miltary compound sort of way.
Queenscliff also has its ubiquitous Lighthouse, in fact two. A smaller green one as part of Fort Queenscliff and the white Lighthouse, which is quite close to the fort as well. The lighthouse also provided an opportunity to walk a coastal track and enjoy the natural cliff faces and rock ledges where the land meets Bass Strait.
The coast around the lighthouse consists of the cliff face down to beaches and rock ledges that are that pock-marked with rock pools and naturally sculpted erosion features. The rock pools are fascinating but, as usual, we didn’t come across and exotic or charismatic sea critters; just the usual limpets, snails and periwinkles…
One of the lesser know facts about Queenscliff is that this is where the escaped convict William Buckley (of the saying “Buckley’s and none”) settled after he escaped from the penal colony. He lived, while on the run, with indigenous aboriginals in a cave at Point Lonsdale where the lighthouse stands.