If I were a rich man (Mornington Peninsula)

The discovery of last evening? We have a resident possum in the roof. He/she leaves around 9:30 pm and returns 4 and 5:30 am. Better than an alarm clock and quite a bit louder on a tin roof. So after possum came thumping home, like a teenager from a party, I got up to prepare for a ride.

Melbourne across the bay

And so my day begins, with 25km ride along the Esplanade. I rode around the 'road closed' sign and almost got through to Dromana except the road is really blocked for road work another km or so further down, so it was turn around and head for home. It is really fresh here of a morning and it takes about 15 minutes to warm up. After that it's all good, except it is such a beautiful ride it is difficult to focus on the pace. The Espie is Mornington's own version of the Great Ocean Road. OK, not as long or as grand maybe but just as beautiful.

After returning home it was Jayne's turn for exercise - after coffee, of course. We walked down to main street and selected a cafe from the many that line the street and had a very pleasant breakfast in the sun. Then it was time for a walk, just over 5 km down the Esplanade and back again averaging 5.2km per hour (I love Strava).

Then it was time for more sight-seeing. We thought culture should be the order of the day and headed off to the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. It's only a small gallery but it had an interesting selection of works on display. The main display focused on works of local interest by well known artists: Boyd, Blackman, Williams, to name a few. Then there was the special exhibition. It had a science focus and had works from John Gould, Neville Cayley and several other significant art/scientists. As an aviculturalist is was particularly interesting, although there were plenty of drawings and works that weren't birds. There were also interactive displays, like the one of photographed butterfly eggs. When you touched the picture of the egg it enlarged to show a photo of the butterfly that would emerge.

Enough brain food, it was off to look at old things. We headed for the antique section of the peninsula: Tyabb. There is a village behind a fence next to the Tyabb railway station that houses several buildings full of antiques, books, bric-a-brac, garden ornaments and the like. Sadly for us, not everything was open, but the stores that were certainly led us down memory lane. One shop keeper asked us how we were - I replied, feeling old because I could remember so many of the things that were up for sale. It's well worth a visit, but save it for the weekend.

Stonier Estate

Stonier Estate

As the afternoon dwindled away we decided it was time to visit ... a winery! How did you guess? Today's lucky winner was Stonier. Awesome. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a Sparkling made the traditional way. Yum, yum and yum. We had a most wonderful hour there discussing wine, Australian and French and our experiences overseas. So, we purchased some to take home.

The area down here is very reminiscent of the Margaret River region in Western Australia. Lots of hills and views to the coast. Fields dotted with grape vines interspersed with well fed cattle. I know it gets cold in winter, but the weather so far has been delightful. Beautiful blue skies and temperatures no higher than 26°.

And the blog title? There is a lot money in this area. The mansions overlooking the bay are worth a small fortune. But, more about that later.