Encountering place : tripping to the point

The Nepean Peninsula, a tiny sliver of land at the end of the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, has lured humans over eons. Together with the Bellarine Peninsula it forms the gateway to Port Philip Bay at the Heads. It shields the Bay from the tumultuous forces of Bass Strait. Here  generations have been drawn to the seaside, to an inspirational coastal landscape. Today hurtling at 100 km per hour down the Mornington Peninsula Freeway one reaches decision point in less than an hour: the coast road or the inland road? Next looms the junction of the Old Melbourne Road and the Nepean Highway. Another decision: which road will be quicker? Where will the traffic snarl be this time? One is oblivious to the remnant moonah woodland which once covered the land; unaware of the seascape to either side; no longer in tune with the rhythm of the tides. And yet people today still feel that sense of relief and freedom of escape from the metropolis with their first 'sniff of the briny'. Through contemporary accounts and visual material this paper explores the roads that have been travelled to get to the Nepean Peninsula: by land and sea.