Red Hot the red Tesla takes us to the Mornington Peninsula

[bPeteb]

A quick two nighter to the Mornington Peninsula where neither of us had ever been before. For our mode of transport I wanted to go electric. I've always wanted to hire a Tesla and decided on booking through evee www.evee.com.au. Just after we booked Sixt advertised the addition of Model 3s to their fleet and even though it would have been more convenient picking a car up from the airport it was also much more expensive.

The price of accommodation on the peninsula surprised us and it seemed all over the place. Without knowing the area we ended up choosing Moonah Links as it seemed pretty central. We read somewhere that you could walk to the brewery at St Andrews Beach. I eventually chose an apartment through Stayz at Moonah Links that was considerably cheaper than booking at Peppers. Moonah Links seemed better located than RACV at Cape Schank.

The security queue was non-existant and the J lounge was quiet but I suppose it was not much after 7am on a Saturday morning when we got there.



The flight to Melbourne was full and a surprising number of people choosing to wear masks, me included. We both actually really liked the brekkie tart. Landed a few minutes early. We took Skybus into town as we were meeting the owner of the Telstra in Market Street. It was about a 10 minute walk from Southern Cross and although we arrived right on the pre-arranged time, T and his Tesla were stuck on the Westgate in traffic. When they arrived we got a full run down on Red Hot the red Tesla and got on our way.

If you haven't ever driven a Tesla I say go out and do it. Just crazy acceleration and this was an early model single motor standard range. The big central screen and nothing in front of you took me some time to get used to



as did the single pedal driving. I was going from accelerator to brake like I do our car and it doesn't work like that. The moment you take your foot off the accelerator the car slows hard, there's no coasting. I learned how to do it very quickly.

Toll roads can be used (toll tag included) as was access to a range of chargers.

We stopped in Rye





for a late lunch (delicious souvlakis), went for drive to the ocean side of the peninsula




and then decided we'd call in to St Andrews Beach Brewery Mornington Peninsula Brewery | Pubs in St Andrews | St Andrews Beach Brewery, Sorrento, Dromana, Fingal for a little look. I was driving so very little. One of teh staff called out as we were parking and told us there were two chargers down next to the netry so we moved the car and plugged it in. Walked through the entry and arghhhhhhhhhh Oktoberfest. It was ok, if a little loud

 

[bPeteb]

It was then off to Moonah Links Mornington Peninsula Accommodation | Peppers Moonah Links and our Stayz apartment that looked out across the practice putting green and pool. I'm retty sure these apartments are just private rentals and not associated to Peppers.

Huge apartment







the dvd collection offered in the room catered for all tastes. I'd imagine Sausage Party might have surprised a few people



we decided we weren't dressed for the white tableclothed fine diner Pebbles Restaurant so had dinner in Spikes Bar. Lovely sunset across the course





As the night progressed clearly there was no dress code - one bloke turned up in weird denim track pants and black single pluggers. They did eventually draw the line when another guy walked in there in thongs and a pair of white shorts that should have been put in a charity bag years before.

Our meals were good and staff super nice.

 

[bPeteb]

Had a very delicious brunch at Limani Limani Cafe Wine Bar Functions and Wedding Venue I feel like there was half a dozen eggs in this spectacular Noisette Croissant



bAl's eggs benedict equally fab. Great coffee in mugs without asking. We then went for a wander out on Portsea Pier and had a look where the other half live






we then drove up into Point Nepean National Park and walked around the super interesting quarantine station Point Nepean National Park




we LOVE rosellas and parrots

 

[bPeteb]

These buildings did my head in. They look bad and I suppose they were bad. People's bags were being 'fumigated' until the 50s. Wtf?







then I took a risk and decided to walk maybe further than I should have but it turned out ok. We drove up to the carpark at Gunners Cottage, walked out to Observatory Point, along Coles Track, walked up to the Holt Memorial, up Cheviot Hill then back via the rifle range.

 

[bPeteb]

More from the walk







some of the private properties at Moonah Links





our apartment with the white shutters. The only issue we had was we couldn't charge the car here. If we'd been in ground floor end T had given us a long extension cord. RACV Cape Schank has free charging.



another nice sunset.



We asked about walking back to St Andrews because they had PORK KNUCKLE!! but there was no way through the gated community. If we could have that would have taken us less than 20 minutes to walk. The alternative was a 40 minute walk along the side of an 80kmh road.

So we chose the Sunday buffet. At $45 it was good value but it was a buffet and it was def not amazing and not worth any photos. Sunday night and it was very, very quiet.

 

[bPeteb]

We'd bought some brekkie supplies at Woolies in Rye on Sunday arvo so no need to go in search food on Monday morning then headed off for Cape Schanck lighthouse. I'm glad I didn't book at RACV. We thought Moonah was isolated but Cape Schanck is a whole different thing although the views would have been spectacular.

 

[bPeteb]

More at Cape Schanck lighthouse


with an eye on the charge of the car we then drove to Heronswood and the Diggers Club at Dromana Heronswood. This visit had been recommended by a friend. Gorgeous garden and a beautiful home.

 

[bPeteb]

More at Heronswood



Sadly we ran out of time to look inside any of the home as lunch took a while to come out and we still had to get to Mornignton to charge the car and get back into the city.

 

[bPeteb]

I'd calculated the return journey to pretty much the minute. Preconditioning started as soon aswe chose the supersharger as our first destination




The supercharger didn't charge as super as I thought it would



so I didn't get the car 90% charged, but we still pulled up at 40 Market St exactly the time I'd calculated that we would.

T dropped us back at Southern Cross for our return SkyBus journey. The queue at security at Melb was surprisingly short and the J lounge not that busy. Flight was again full.

And that was our first trip to the Mornington Peninsula. If the weather had been cough maybe we'd have a different opinion but we loved it. We'll be back. And bAl wants an electric car. Model Y's are so ugly but the driving and seating position would suit us much better than a 3.