Mount Martha is a bayside town on the Mornington Peninsula, a leafy cluster of beaches, coastal scrub and big houses that rises on the slopes of a low hill between Mornington and Dromana. For a ride described as easy and scenic, it is a fitting place to end: the road runs close to the water, and the sea is rarely out of view.
The peninsula has been a holiday destination for Melburnians since the nineteenth century, when families made the trip by paddle steamer to Sorrento and Portsea. Today it is an affluent area with vineyards, orchards, and cellar doors, and the cool climate produces particularly good pinot noir and chardonnay. The Moorooduc and Tuerong roads inland wind through the wine country, with farm stands selling strawberries in summer and apples in autumn. In Mornington itself, the main street is lively, with good cafés and a weekend market.
The coast is lined with colourful bathing boxes at Mount Martha and Dromana beaches, and the Balcombe Estuary and Mount Martha Park offer short walks through coastal tea tree and banksia. Kangaroos survive in pockets of bush on the peninsula, and koalas are sometimes seen in the manna gums, particularly around Mount Eliza and Arthurs Seat. Arthurs Seat, the highest point on the peninsula, is a short ride away and offers a wide view over the bay and the city skyline, plus a chairlift for those who want it.
Riding conditions are pleasant but busy. On sunny weekends the peninsula's roads fill with cars and cyclists, and the pace is slow, with frequent roundabouts and limits that are enforced by cameras and police. Early mornings and weekdays are best. The Nepean Highway can back up badly on summer Sunday afternoons, so allow for it if you are going back to the city.
With more than seventeen thousand people in Mount Martha, there is no shortage of fuel, food or coffee, and the Mornington township is bigger still. Sunset from the foreshore is often lovely, with the bay going pink and the skyline of Melbourne a faint line in the distance.