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Autumn is the time when the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs start to take on shades of red, yellow, pink, brown and magenta. These blazing colours make it a perfect time to take a drive through the Mornington Peninsula and discover the many beautiful gardens that abound. It won’t take you long before you will find yourself marvelling at maples, liquid ambers, beech and pin oaks in transformation. If you dabble in photography you’ll want to pack the camera to capture the beauty, especially when the light is just right.

The Mornington Peninsula boasts some of Victoria’s most spectacular walking landscapes, and the 100km Mornington Peninsula Walk is a worthy challenge. Along the way you can explore our beautiful bushlands, spot kangaroos and birds, gaze over deserted ocean beaches of our national, marine and state parks, discover early history at Point Nepean, Cape Schanck and Collins Settlement Site and enjoy popular bay beaches as you trek the southern Peninsula. You can complete the whole walk over several days, or enjoy it over several visits.

So you are in love… but rather than give into the overwhelming pressure to say how you feel with stuffed teddy bears and long stem roses, do something both original and memorable and get your romance happening with a bit of Mornington Peninsula style! 

Way back in 1797 Western Port was named by the 26-year-old explorer - surgeon George Bass when he piloted an expedition from Sydney in an open whale boat (can you imagine it!) into this extensive tidal bay - the second largest bay in Victoria. His good friend and explorer Matthew Flinders later named the sea between the mainland and Tasmania after him, calling it Bass Strait. It pays to have friends in high places! Fast forward fifty years and the site of Flinders (yes, named after Matthew Flinders) was established as a fishing settlement and sits at the point where Bass Strait meets Western Port. 

Western Port lies to the east of Port Phillip and in the eastern half of the state of Victoria, but in 1798 it was the most western section of coastline explored by George Bass and his crew travelling from Sydney in a whaleboat, no less. The drive today along the main Frankston-Flinders Road travels through several small villages and past hidden swimming beaches and surf breaks, rolling rural landscapes with pockets of bush, farmland and vineyards.