Geelong & Apollo bay

Weather forecast: Possible showers.............not good

After picking up the car from budget depot in South Yarra (quite convenient) we packed everything up and hit the road, it didn't take us long to get to the West Gate freeway and soon we were on our way to Geelong.

Geelong is located 1 hours drive from Melbourne, there is the option to take the ring road to continue towards the Ocean Road but we wanted to go to the water front and have a look at the famous bollards.

We drove along the esplanade until we got to the Cunningham Pier, from there we walked to have a look at the bollards when all of the sudden the rain started.......great. We had to run to hide in the carousel and its restored "carousel" originally build in the 19th century. Few minutes later the skies cleared up a bit, time to explore the bollards.............lots of them everywhere, several opportunities for photos.

After having some of our pre-packed lunches we left Geelong, not before passing by the Skilled Stadium home of the then soon to be premiers Geelong Cats and 20 minutes later we arrived to Torquay, small town lined up with surf stores with all the most popular brands including Billabong, Quicksilver etc etc. This was supposed to be the start of the Great Ocean Road however we didn't get to see the sea until we got to Anglesea, this is where the fun really starts. After stretching the legs and getting some photos we were on the road again,

10 Minutes from Anglesea we arrived in Aireys Inlet and through a road off the main highway to the split point light house. Good place for photos, no fee charged (unless taking an inside tour of the light house) and time to have some snacks at the cafe (great place to gather for a cup of coffee) the car park is located 200m from the light house but if one can get closer parking if using the cafe.

Leaving Aireys inlet we arrived at the GOR Memorial Arch, more photos and then no far from there we stopped at Cinema Pt look out, perfect for photos.

From there the road reminds me off the highway connecting Fox Glacier & Franz Joseph in NZ, bends here and there going up and down so my Sis and Ximena got a little bit dizzy, great views all the time though. I actually enjoyed the drive, I didn't have any problem other that the odd car driving too slow in the same direction than us, no many opportunities to overtake, maybe an overtaking lane from time to time could help.

We passed Lorne and other small towns before arriving in Apollo Bay, we were going to stay here for the night. I had booked the Water Front Motor inn, great place it was quite cheap, had the visitor centre across the road and the supermarket was two blocks from there, they also had a TV, DVD player with DVDs for the little one to enjoy.

We arrived here around 4pm. time to have a look around, have dinner and a well deserved rest. Tomorrow was the highlight of the trip, we were going to see the 12 Apostles....good nightRead more