Mornington
Peninsula Online
Business and Tourism Directory
PLACES
OF INTEREST
Point Nepean National Park
Closed to the public
for over 100 years, Point Nepean National Park is now a popular
tourist destination. Besides spectacular ocean scenery, the park
is home to Fort Nepean, established in 1882, and the historic
Quarantine Station first established in 1852.
A transporter service
operates daily from the Point Nepean Visitor Centre to Point Nepean
with three stops along the way.
The park closes at 5pm except during January when it is open until
dusk.
Transport & Entry Fee: Adults $13.00 Child/Conc $8.00 Family
$34.00 Bike. Bookings are essential for groups. Call the Point
Nepean Park Office on (03) 5984 4276 to book.
A one-way walk/ride fare is also available.
Cycling at
Point Nepean
Visitors can enjoy cycling through the park on any day of the
year. You can bring your own bicycle or hire one from the Visitor
Centre. Cycling is permitted on roads, which are available for
public vehicles, including the sealed roadway from the Point
Nepean
Visitor Centre to Fort Pearce. After purchasing a ticket from
the Visitor Centre, cyclists may continue along the scenic five
kilometres to Fort Pearce, which is located one kilometre from
Fort Nepean. Cycling is not permitted beyond Fort Pearce as
the
roadway is not suitable for bicycles. All bicycles must be left
at the cycle rack provided. It is only a short walk to Fort
Nepean.
The five kilometre
roadway is shared with different road users including management
vehicles, the park transporter and by park visitors driving to
Gunners car park or the former Quarantine Station. Please
prepare
your bicycle before visiting and carry a suitable repair kit
and a bicycle lock. To allow adequate time to fully explore
the fortifications,
cyclists must commence their ride two hours prior to closure
of Point Nepean. All bicycle and road regulations apply within
Point
Nepean. Please wear your helmet and remain on the left-hand side
of the road at all times. Cycling is only permitted on defence
Road as all interpretative trails and tracks are not suited for
bicycles. When either being approached or passed by the transporter,
please stop and wait for it to pass. Do not overtake the transporter
unless it is stationary. Point Nepean is not suitable for
inexperienced
or learner cyclists due to several hills, sharp bends and management
vehicles using the roadway. All young cyclists must be over
five
years old and escorted by an experienced adult cyclist. Please
check with the Visitor Centre for up-to-date opening times,
entrance
fees and road conditions.
Fees for walkers
and cyclists visiting the park (does not include use of transporter):
Adults $7.20 Child/ Conc $3.60 Family $18.00 .
Facilities
A wide range of hotels, motels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts
and camping and caravan parks are available in and around the
townships of Dromana, Rosebud, Rye, Sorrento, Portsea, and Flinders.
You can also stay in the lighthouse keeper's quarters at the Cape
Schanck Lighthouse.
Camping is not permitted in the park.
Heritage
Aboriginal people gathered shellfish and other foods along this
coastline for many thousands of years. Extensive shell middens
are reminders of their presence. Most sites are in remote places
and are protected by the Archaeological and Aboriginal Relics
Preservation Act 1972.
An early Ocean Beach Reserve was established at Sorrento last
century and walking tracks and shelters were built. Cape Schanck
Coastal Park was established in 1975; it became Point Nepean National
Park in 1988, when part of the historic Point Nepean area, previously
closed to the public for more than 100 years, was transferred
from the Commonwealth to the State. The park was renamed Mornington
Peninsula National Park in 1995.
Over these years,
including the last 40,000 years during Aboriginal occupation,
the area known as Point Nepean has become enriched with environmental
and cultural history. The Quarantine Station was established on
the shores of Port Phillip Bay in 1852. It was used to protect
the colony of Melbourne from ship borne diseases.
The Point Nepean
Cemetery contains burials from the 1850's and are historically
linked to early European settlement, quarantine, shipwrecks and
defence.
Fort Nepean contains
an extensive system of fortifications built from the 1880's through
to the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Interpretive displays and audiovisuals
are located in several areas and tell the story of defence.
The Australian Heritage
Commission has listed the historic values on Point Nepean on the
Register of National Estate. The area is also classified by the
National Trust for its landscape values, including the western
extremity of the Nepean Peninsula.
Fauna
The park is home to 32 mammal species, 167 birds, 22 reptiles,
7 amphibians and 2 freshwater fish species.
Greens Bush supports the largest population of Eastern Grey Kangaroos
on the Mornington Peninsula. Highfield is a good area for viewing
kangaroos.
A remote and protected
location, Point Nepean is a home to animals including bandicoots
and the New Holland Mouse, and its intertidal zone is a habitat
for a wide variety of shellfish and marine invertebrates.
Regionally important
species include the White-footed Dunnart, Long-nosed Bandicoot,
Black Wallaby, Singing Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Blue-winged
Parrot and Hooded Plover.
Vegetation
Mornington Peninsula National Park and Arthur's Seat State Park
contain the largest and most important areas of native vegetation
remaining on the Mornington Peninsula.
Native vegetation communities include coastal dune scrub and grassy
forests, banksia woodlands, coastal heathlands, heathy woodlands,
riparian forests, and swamps.
A number of vegetation
communities, particularly coastal grassy forests, banksia woodlands
and sand heathlands, have been greatly depleted since European
settlement and are of particular conservation significance.
Looking After the Park
To protect soils and vegetation, please keep to walking tracks.
Firearms, and dogs and other pets, are not permitted, except for
dogs at limited times on some ocean beaches.
No motorised cycles are permitted. A bicycle lock is recommended
when leaving your bicycle for a walk. Parks Victoria and the Licensed
Operator take no responsibility for loss, theft or damage to bicycles.
Fires and camping are not permitted.
Please take all rubbish away with you for recycling or disposal.
Don't disturb or remove any plants or animals.
Precautions
Some cliffs are unstable. Observe warning signs.
Ocean beaches can have dangerous undertows and unexpected large
waves. Swim only at patrolled beaches.
There may still be unexploded ordnance in the Point Nepean area.
Keep to roads and tracks and observe signs.
How to Get There
The 90 km drive from Melbourne via the Nepean Highway and Peninsula
Freeway takes about two hours. Alternatively, go by train from
Melbourne to Frankston, then by bus to Portsea. Ferry services
operating between Queenscliff and Sorrento cater for car, bicycle
and personal transport. Melway maps 166, 253 and 254 give additional
detail.
