• Tweet

• Tweet

Portsea back beach

Although slightly off the theme of healthy living in regards to nutrition and food science, I feel relaxation time in our amazingly busy lives is imperative for ongoing good health. So with that in mind, I thought I would share with you a little about my findings from my weekend away down the mornington peninsula coast. Hopefully this will  inspire some of you to set out on your own little weekends away to see what you can discover about this amazing country of ours.

Unfortunately this year the weather has been playing up on many of our south eastern coast states, and down here in Melbourne, we have hardly seen a summer; So when the weather forcast said 30 degrees and sunny on Saturday, I jumped on it and decided it was time to head off.

Being based in Mt Martha, a little beach town just over an hour from Melbourne, I thought we would go just a little further for some quiet time in Portsea on Saturday, however to our suprise, after 15 minutes of sitting on the sand enjoying the solitude, hundreds of people flocked to the beach for the annual Pier to Perignon. Little did we know that this was going to attract helicopters, band pipes, camera crews and hundreds of supporters and swimmers making their way to the very small stretch of sand we had placed ourselves on.

Lesson 1 learnt: never expect to have quiet time at a beach unless you have done your homework prior regarding upcoming events that may take place!

Shortly after people began to flock we decided it was time to move on, making our way to the Portsea back beach which is known for it surf waves and scenic views. Although picturesque, somehow this did not win us over for too long.

So the search continued for our next perching spot (which by this point, we realised we were not going to be having quite as quiet a day as we had hoped for!).

Whilst driving back towards Mt Martha, we passed a small town called McRae, and I happened to notice a very trendy looking restaurant which was definitely going to be our next stop off. The venue was called McRae Pavilion and seemed to attract a lot of adults of all different ages. There was a nice decking, inside finer dining area, bar area and even a cute little picnic rug (which of course we chose to sit on) out the front on the grass near a water fountain which made for an ideal meeting spot for day or night time.

I have posted some pictures of the venue so that you can get a feel for the scene and see if it appeals to you. We happily spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the picnic rug, with the service being second to none, and the menu being extensive enough to make me think that most people would be able to find something to select off it!

As the day was drawing closer to an end, I found myself explaining to a family friend the benefits of resistant starch and how the fibre boost sprinkles were a great addition for her son to add to his cereal if he wasn’t one for trying new cereals (does anyone else find that their work creeps into their time off? The plan really was to have some rest time!)

So as you can see, weekends away do not always go to plan (does anything ever go exactly to plan?!), however thats not to say that the ultimate goal of coming home feeling more relaxed then when we left on Friday night was not achieved. It just might mean that we have to venture away next weekend again and try again to have things go to plan…

Has anyone else found hidden gems around the country, even if totally unplanned?  Would love to hear about others findings!

McRae PavilionMcRae Pavilion EnteranceMcRae Pavilion

Related posts: