A Daytrip

To happy places with Mother & Father.

By Thomas Feng

October 4^th, 2015

“How is university going?” asked Dad.
I replied: “It’s going.”

Mum asked me back in June to keep this day free and so we headed off to the Mornington Peninsula (an hours drive from Melbourne) for a family day out with their friends. We’re sitting in a winery named “Ten Minutes by Tractor” pretending to be snobs and I’m being that stereotypical, snarky teenager to my parents because I’m exhausted from a glitter party the night before (11/10 by the way). I don’t even know why we are at a winery because my parents don’t like wine, nor do their friends.

I’m somewhat bored because I’m hanging out with four other fifty year olds and we have a mutual understanding of “our views on all social issues conflict directly with yours so there is no point bothering”. I drink a fair bit of wine and read the latest copy of Oh Comely magazine to pass the time until it’s time to leave.

My parents ask me to recommend a place to visit whilst we’re down here. I recalled a trip a couple years ago with my friend Jaynaya where we somehow ended up eating chocolate fingers and strawberries sitting on a black sand beach. I remember walking to the edge of Elephant Rock and seeing the furious tide break in front of me; a torrential tower of water bursting all over me. It was exhilarating. I knew I had to go back.

Down Mornington-Flinders Rd we go through Red Hill towards Western Port Bay, turning left onto Boneo Rd and then the first left down the gravel road to the spot. Mother walks down to the beach with me and we catch up on life, thoughts and differences. We admire the surprising fineness of the black sand as it sifts through our hands like an hourglass.

I just can’t help but break out into a smile. It’s a gentle reminder of how far my relationship with my parents has come. We climb onto Elephant Rock and I see my parents young and energetic again, as if in that moment they’d let go of their stresses briefly and were free to be themselves.

I walk back up top to the lookout. I’m tired, but the time with my family is reinvigorating me.
Often I feel caught up and lost in all of the things that I’m doing: work, uni, volunteering. But when I look out to the sea, feel the breeze on my face, smell and taste the saltiness in the air, and listen to the thundering roar of Bass Strait, it triggers a sense of humility and staying calm which makes me feel like life is going to be okay.

cape schanck

We detour to Cape Schanck quickly before sunset.
I hadn’t been in over six years since I was in year nine and I could only remember there being a lighthouse because I am a fool.

The walking track down was mesmerising. My jaw dropped when I saw the extensive boardwalk from the top of the track to the bottom where another black sand beach awaited as well as a pebble beach! The volcanic red rock formation to the right of the walk provided an interesting contrast to the usual landscape of green foreshore shrub, golden sand, brown rocks and the clear blue sea. As the sun came down, we returned up the trail and passed the lighthouse before jumping in the car for the drive home.