Rosebud, from the foreshore to the hill
Along the bay
Rosebud runs three kilometres along Port Phillip, from Lonsdale Street to Boneo Road, with its shops on the stretch of the Nepean Highway beside the beach. Salt off the water makes bare steel rust faster, and underneath the car is where nobody looks.
Camping season
The foreshore campgrounds fill over summer and stay busy as late as Easter, and plenty of campers arrive towing. RACQ says most makers treat towing as severe use, and that tyres and brakes wear out faster with a load behind.
The road up Arthurs Seat
The winding tourist road from Dromana to the summit opened in 1929 and climbs to gardens 305 metres above the sea. Coming down, a lower gear and short, firm braking beat riding the pedal, which can boil the brake fluid and fade the brakes.
Freeway to the door
The Mornington Peninsula Freeway runs all the way to Rosebud, its southern end finished in 1975, so the drive up to the city is mostly freeway. Long runs at speed are when a weak cooling system or a worn tyre lets you down.
Holiday-house cars and mobile mechanics
A car left at a holiday house all winter often greets you with a flat battery in December, because long spells parked are one of the main causes RACV lists. A mobile mechanic can meet you at the house, test the battery and look over the tyres before the drive home.
For what a mobile visit can and can't handle, see mobile mechanics in Melbourne. Anything that needs the car up on a hoist goes to a workshop.
What we'd do
Before the van comes out for summer, we'd have the tow car serviced with towing in mind, and the van's wheel bearings checked too. At the end of the season we'd hose the salt off underneath: RACV suggests washing the underbody at least once a season, and by the bay we'd do it more often.