Another weekend, and another interstate road trip - no holding us back now we've got the green light from our various state premiers - yay! Its done nothing but rain in Canberra for the past month so we were also hoping to see some clear skies for a change.
This time we did the 9 hour road trip down the Hume Motorway all the way to Geelong - for our long awaited catch up with Ros and Pete, who we'd not seen for about 6 months thanks to COVID restrictions.
On all our visits Ros and Pete have planned some wonderful outings so we can get to see more of this beautiful part of the world. On Saturday (a windy blustery day in Geelong) we did lunch at Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula, overlooking Port Phillip Bay, 28 klm from Geelong. Naturally, like most of the towns on the bay there was a pier and foreshore that needed to be checked out first ........
before settling into our lunch reservation at the nearby Pier Street Cafe....
where we were lucky to be joined by Erin and Lili and Sam who kept us entertained over our lunch of Portarlington mussels with their stories about school, favourite pets and plans for Christmas.......
Ros and I both do the Advent gifts in a box thing now for our grandkids. Lili and Sam looked ecstatic to get their Advent boxes all ready for opening on Wednesday (1 December)......
We gave Ella and Abi their boxes on Thursday before our departure for Geelong - much excitement there too... Christmas really is coming isn't it?
24 small gifts for each day of Advent ........
After lunch on Saturday Ros and Pete drove us back to the the Geelong Regional Gallery so we could enjoy the wonderful Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize Exhibition. We thought this was fantastic to see and prompted a lot of discussion between us about the artists represented and the portraits chosen (not all of them winners either!)
We explored a lot further yesterday (Sunday) heading S and then SW from Geelong towards the start of one of Australia's natural wonders, the National Heritage listed Great Ocean Road. We drove through Anglesea and on to Aireys Inlet, with our first stop at its very picturesque Split Point Lighthouse which dates from 1891(It also achieved great fame from being featured in the popular children's television program "Round the Twist").
There were great views out to Bass Strait and the magnificent Table Rock from the lookout ...
We loved the gardens and the beautiful coastal (but classy) style architecture of the houses along the quiet street leading up to the lighthouse - and we vowed to make time for tea at the beautiful Willow Tea House in the nearby grounds of the lighthouse on our next visit.
Then it was back on the road, driving through the Historic Great Ocean Memorial Arch at Eastern View before arriving at our lunch destination, Lorne. First stop was Lorne's award winning pier (rebuilt in 2007) for stunning views of this classy coastal town on the shores of Louttit Bay.
We had time before lunch to walk quite a way along Lorne's foreshore, from the pier .......
past the township and main surfing beach and through the grounds of the Mantra Resort before being turned back by Security protecting the crowds of Schoolies currently in residence there! We were blown away by Lorne: its natural beauty, great beaches and its very classy, arty vibe (very reminiscent of Noosa we thought but much quieter and a lot less brash).
Our (late) lunch booking was at MoVida, a sister restaurant to the famous Melbourne MoVida, and described as "classic Spanish but with a beachside twist".
Here we enjoyed a fabulous set menu consisting of a variety of Tapas, Raciones (rations?) and Postre (dessert). Like everywhere we go in these post lockdown times restaurants are short staffed, and tables are restricted - but it felt so special to be able to experience wonderful food and a restaurant experience like this again - although the wait staff were under the pump they made the meal very relaxed and memorable for us.
Ros and Pete had spent a week in Lorne earlier in the year and knew all the best places. On their advice we took some of Lorne's renowned scallop pies home with us for a late night snack after the drive back to Geelong!
Thanks to Ros and Pete's planning we packed so much into our 3 night visit - but the best part was just being able to spend time together sharing laughs (as well some sad memories too). The only thing that made saying goodbye more bearable was the thought that we'll see each other again in just under 4 weeks in Canberra!!
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