Bushrangers Bay - Cape Schanck, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. A family day trip from Melbourne

27 January 2019

Bushrangers Bay - Cape Schanck, Mornington Peninsula

In this one I eat a fly and Georgia doesn't eat poisonous berries. We all have chips and walk to a beach. This was a year ago, as I write this, so I've grown up heaps since then. We didn't have to wear masks back then either. Maybe I we should've though seeing as it was Bushrangers Bay.

Cape Schanck is at the very tip of Mornington Peninsula about one and half hours drive from Melbourne. It is easy to find. Just drive south down the Mornington Peninsula until you get to the end of it. If you see water you've probably gone too far. When you see the lighthouse you've arrived. The Mornington Peninsula separates Port Phillip Bay and Westernport Bay.

We stopped for hot chips straight from the farm about 5 minutes from Cape Schanck, Hawkes Farm on Boneo Road, for a pre-hike snack.

Cape Schanck, and the historic Cape Schanck lighthouse, are in the Mornington Peninsula National Park. The lighthouse reserve car park has public toilets. Because it is also a National Park dogs are not allowed.

Cape Schanck was named in 1800 for Captain John Schank. Yes, the spelling of Schanck is different. Bushrangers Bay is so called after couple of escaped convicts took up bushranging in the area.

There are basically two walks to Bushrangers Bay Beach. We walked the Bushrangers Track from lighthouse reserve car park. There is another car park a couple of kilometres further along Boneo road which is the starting point for the other walking track to Bushrangers Bay. Both tracks meet a couple of hundred metres from the beach. Both tracks are about two and half to three kilometres long. If you mosey along it takes about an hour to walk to the beach.

There are some spectacular cliff views looking out over Bass Strait on the walk. On the other side of the track is farm land. You'll probably see cows and, occasionally, kangaroos. The walk is quite easy. It undulates a little and there is a steep section going down to a creek and back up again. There are some more stairs near the beach. But nothing to write home about unless you have a habit of writing loved ones about semi-challenging stairways you encounter on bush walks.

The beach is spectacular, beautiful and wild. There are signs up warning that the beach is not patrolled and that you should avoid swimming because of the steep drop off and heavy surf. Although it was a warmish day the day we visited, we arrived late in the afternoon so the temperature had dropped so we only splashed around thigh deep in the surf.

Please note, a couple of people have drowned after being washed off rocks at the beach in January 2021. The rocks and surf here are extremely dangerous.

On one visit, not this one, we even saw a fox on the beach. I know foxes are vermin but it is the first time we've seen a fox at the beach so it was pretty cute. On another occasion we saw couple of kangaroos on the track. If you do make the mistake of staying too long like we did, the night sky is truly a sight to behold, even this close to Melbourne.

Allow for about three hours for the return trip to the beach. Longer if you want to stay at the beach for a while. Closer to the lighthouse are couple of other walks including a boardwalk out to the the point and Pulpit Rock. We didn't visit there this time. That will be in another video.

Cape Schanck is an easy trip for a family day trip from Melbourne. Dog's aren't allowed so we had to leave Cassie home. We've been a few times now and each time has been more fun than the last. Even if it does take 45 minutes to an hour to walk to the beach.

And we did stop for ice creams at Maccas on the way home.

Check out Bushrangers Bay on Visit Mornington Peninsula

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