Howdy all! Today I am so happy to write about my most recent holiday, which happened not that long ago in fact, back in early November. In fact, it was the first night I spent away from my place bar a sleepover I did for work earlier in the year. With the state being in lockdown for so much of the year, stretching back to mid-March really, and from August to early November having very harsh stage four lockdown, it was such a relief to be able to go anywhere, even if my destination was not that far from my home.

The Mornington Peninsula is really a beautiful part of Melbourne, and the ‘just beyond’ Melbourne too – it’s at times hard to know exactly where the city stops! My wife and I headed down there after I picked her up from work at 1pm on the Monday, just with the one night staying a the Peppers Moonah Resort (review coming on Wednesday!), spend some of the Tuesday at the Peninsula Hot Springs before returning home. The total drive was around 90 minutes, and from my place I guess it was around 80 kilometres (Google tells me around 78km). And the fact is that in and around Melbourne there are many interesting, beautiful places to explore.

The Mornington Peninsula is the east side of Port Philip Bay, the bay Melbourne sits on top of and the suburbs surround it. It’s got some okay beaches (better ones on the other side of the Mornington Peninsula – the Western Port Bay Side), wineries, a chairlift, cliffs, places to camp, plenty of eating options and hotels and other places to stay and when the warm weather kicks in, people flock along it.

I’d chosen the time frame for this little jaunt a few months earlier as you have to do when applying for leave. I had the week off, wasn’t sure if I could get away because when taking leave we were still in the depths of lockdown with little hope in sight for release. As November approached restrictions were slowly lifted. We had a 5km limit which we had to keep inside, that became a 25km. Regional Victoria was cut off from Melbourne. On the 8^th of November, it was all released and we were able to travel regionally again. And so that night I booked my accommodation.

I was lucky in a sense because as it was a Monday and Tuesday, it wouldn’t be mega-busy regardless. Still, there was a fair bit of traffic on the road on both days. We stopped in Mornington on the way for lunch.  I caught up with some colleagues as well and it was great to be able to sit down and have a meal with people again after so long. We ate at Kirk’s on the Esplanade, and weren’t overly impressed to be honest – there will be an upcoming review for that one too.

We headed to the Peninsula Hot Springs to see if we needed to book and to see what they had to offer. We were advised to make an online booking. I was hoping to get a remedial massage but it wasn’t offered (only a relaxation) and no massages at the hotel, so we booked in for a four hour session at the hot springs. We then checked in to the hotel, where the room was spacious and comfortable.

The next day we enjoyed our time at the Hot Springs. They have so many car parks, and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like on a normal summer day. There are pools at different levels in a beautiful environment. It’s sort of on the side of one hill, the views are amazing and there is a small pool at the very top. The pools were rather hot – usually around 38-40 degrees, with a couple of cold ones and one that was around 36-38 degrees as well. I’ll give a full review of the Hot Springs too in the next week or three. But in short, it was nice and relaxing, and a blessing that it wasn’t flooded with tourists.

And then we headed back home. So you see, a very short getaway indeed, but nice to just sample something and have a relaxing experience away from work and home. Hopefully something we can do more of as the months progress. Take care – and May the Journey Never End!