墨尔本游学日记9~ Mornington Peninsula

here comes the part 2 of my Mornington Peninsula trip~ we had a great time together with Bunyip in the morning over St Paul Beach, Arthurs seat, hot spring as well as Port Sea, so what is our next destinations of the day? And Bunyip surprise us by arranging quite a few point of attractions which is not listed in the initial literary, we are so excited of it, thank you Bunyip for the great tour! 

shall we start with our tour? hehe

After a morning tea in Port Sea in Mornington, we departed to Quarantine Station, in Point Nepean. This is the place to screen people from the ship before they go into Melbourne, to make sure they were free from infectious disease. Now, it has become a historical point of attractions for tourists. There are few tragedies happened here before, from the sea. 

the seaside from Quarantine station is so beautiful~ I captured quite a few photos of Quarantine station when I took the ferry ride from Torquay to Mornington

It looks so relaxing here. Quarantine station is actually a hospital before, used to isolate those people with infectious disease, and treat them well before they go into Melbourne community. 

the outlook of the buildings in the station

Im not very sure what is the purpose of this building, not really pay full concentration on the tour =..=

This is how the old time hospital looks like. There is not much windows and the hospital environment was quite poor in fact in the old days.

they quarantined people according to their social status, for example, if you are a first class passenger in the cruise, you got your own private room for the quarantine. But if you are the third class passenger, you will end up in the crowded hall. 

and there is a lane full with trees aside, perfect spot to take photos.

there is another hospital buildings not far away from the main building.

however, we did not get the chance to visit into the rooms

it looks so classic with the red blocks houses and the chimney

the memorial monument

it states the history of Quarantine station, with the names of people who died in the tragedy before

in the 1850s, there was an emigrant ship with passengers infected with yellow fever, many of them died, and the survivors were quarantine in the hospital in Quarantine station. However, due to lacking of amenities and over crowd, the fever developed in most of the passengers,the death was numerous, and sudden that the coffins were not obtainable, which they had to be buried without the coffin.~ info from wikipedia

this is a beautiful place with some sad stories behind it

well, the scene is still very beautiful over here~ with the beautiful blue sky

the lane with red bricks

lastly, we visited the screening and disinfect section of the Quarantine station.

here is the place where all the luggages will be disinfected before entered the quarantine zone. It looks like the x-ray scanner nowadays in the airport isnt it.

After the visit to Quarantine station, finally it is the time for lunch. We had our lunch in Pig and Whistle restaurant, and some wine tasting session in the backyard after the lunch. Why is it pig and whistle? well pig is a symbol for eating, and whistle for beer drinking. Cute isnt it. 

the outlook of the pig and whistle restaurant~ there is a feeling of country side houses

the lunch is included in the tour fees so im not so sure with the price. 

we were given a few options for the meal, and 3 of these are the favourite most of the time. We made our lunch decision in the morning, so reservation can be made before our arrival. 

the fish and chip

looks quite small in portion but the chips were very filling. 

chicken chop~

I love their rocket salad, with the tasty salad dressing. Too bad it was not mine, but I managed to have a few bite from Deba hehe

My beef pie

I would like to say I love their beef pie over here so much! the beef is about 50% cooked ( not really sure but definitely not fully cooked), so it is not that hard for me to bite it. and the mashed potato really fill up my tummy. This pie is the signature dishes in this restaurant, so don forget to grab a bite if you visit here. 

our group photos with bunyip tour~

thank you so much to our friendly tour guide Phil, and new frens from France and Japan. We had a great time together. 

Small group tour is always better than a big tour as we can have more interaction with each other ^^ 

before we left the restaurant for wine tasting, we saw a big doggie outside the restaurant, and it is so fluffy. One best thing in Australia is the pet owner can bring their pet anywhere here~

cant resist with its fluffiness, although it looks really big in size ( I look so small beside it) Xp

the outdoor open space seats of the restaurant.

but there is no one there at the moment becoz the weather was just too cold, it was about 9 degree celcius nowadays. just imagine malaysia is about 4 times hotter than the current weather X..x

the indoor seats~

it is warm and comfortable dining atmosphere here, with some soft music. 

and here is the wine tasting session! 

not very sure is there any payment for it or not, haha I just enjoy myself too much and forget some of the details 

we had around 6 wines for tasting, and we started with Sauvignon Blanc 2013. some of the wine are juicy, ad some of the wine are too strong to me. 

Pinot Grigio is one of my favorite wine among the wines that I tasted that day. 

we had some red wine and white wine for the wine tasting.

too bad they had locked the door towards the vineyard, otherwise it would be so relaxing to enjoy the wine with the beautiful vineyard scene. 

But if you wish to buy some wine, I will recommend wines in Yarra Valley becoz there is more variety as compared to these. And they tasted better as well

The wines of pig and whistle is only available in their restaurant as they did not sell it in the market. 

Then we departed to our next destination~ the strawberry farm as we were going to pass by it on the way to chocolate factory. however, we did not get the chance to have strawberries picking, which is only available from november to april. 

I still get the chance to enjoy some of the strawberries ^^ 

I don usually take strawberries as they are sour most of the time. The strawberry in Australia are big and juicy, but most of them aren't sweet as well. How to pick a sweet strawberry? pick the one looks odd Xp 

spot something cute on the rack

and here is it~ don forget to get a visit for strawberry picking session from october to april if you are visiting to Mornington Peninsula. I bought a pack of mixed berries jam as souvenir, which costs me about AUD 12.50. 

And next stop is the chocolate factory, which is available from May to October. at first I thought we got the chance to visit the chocolate making process, but actually not, we just get some free chocolate sample from the shop. As compared to yarra Valley chocolate factory, the price over here is a bit expensive and less variety, but the chocolates are much more beautiful than Yarra's

the whole high heel shoes are made of chocolate! 

how should I eat this is I bought it? 

the chocolates over here are so colourful and beautiful

At first I wish to buy a box of 10 as souvenir, which cost about AUD 20, but according to the staff, as they do not add in any preservative into the chocolate, it can only last for 3 weeks duration. So I had to change my decision and luckily I managed to grab some in Yarra's the next day. 

so here is the part 2 of Mornington Peninsula, there will be part 3 of it in the enchanted garden of Mornington, where we lost direction in the maze. 

my previous post about Mornington peninsula is about Arthur seat and St Paul beach, please click HERE for more details 

my tour is with Bunyip tour, 1 day Mornington Peninsula ultimate tour

thank you and enjoy reading ^^