Bellarine Peninsula

We had a guided tour of the Bellarine Peninsula today. First stop was the iconic Bells Beach, on the Great Ocean Road near Torquay. Although this picture makes it look pretty deserted there were actually hundreds of surfers here and the carparks were full of people chasing some of the best surfing waves in Australia (or people like us looking at the beautiful lines of even wave breaks from afar).

We then drove back along the coast through Torquay and on to Barwon Heads, where we just had to check out Diver Dan's place from our fave "Sea Change" series from all those years ago. It's a very crowded waterfront cafe these days.... way too crowded for us to tackle this morning!

 More very familiar scenes from "Sea Change" (Pearl Bay) ................

 Next stop was the historic village of Queenscliff - time for great coffee from Saltbush Fine Foods and a chance to check out the ferry terminal for tomorrow's trip to the Mornington Peninsula.

The Bellarine Peninsula produces great wines too (cool climate maritime) and Ros had booked us lunch with Erin, John, Sam and Lili, at one of the best wineries of the region : Jack Rabbit Vineyard

 The vineyard cafe and restaurant overlook the bay across to Geelong, the You Yangs and Melbourne - an absolutely stunning outlook ........

 Lili has a birthday later this month so it was a great opportunity to deliver her presents in person this year!

 But it wasn't fair to leave Sammy out of the birthday fun - so we made sure he had deliveries too.

  

 Sam (and Lili) got almost as much fun out of playing with the gift's box as he did out of the gift itself!

These two gorgeous kids coped really well with our three hour long leisurely lunch, keeping us all entertained with their games and endless energy.

We saw such a range of stunning landscapes today in this beautiful part of our country. We can really see how lucky Ros and Pete are to have chosen it as their new home.

Geelong

We've travelled all over the world - but never been to the bayside city of Geelong before.  We drove most of yesterday, an easy (but long) drive on the Hume Highway, skirting Melbourne city until Ms Google found our way to Ros and Pete's new home in the riverside suburb of Highton.

We've loved what we've seen so far of Geelong: hilly, upmarket Highton, gorgeous river walks, character filled Pakington Street in Newtown and glorious Corio Bay ...........

 It was windy and very cool today. We didn't come prepared for this weather after weeks and weeks of over 35oC in Canberra. But that's Victoria.. if you don't like the weather you only have to wait 5 minutes and it will most likely change - but it's stayed windy and very cool ALL DAY today.

 Fresh mussels have been everywhere on the menu today!

 I thought these camels were a very exotic sight on Eastern Beach today!

 We worked hard to avoid thinking these were a team of Tony Abbotts..... but he's rarely seen in Victoria these days (thank goodness).

 This pair make wonderful hosts. It is so good to see they have really landed on their feet in Geelong Victoria!

 The "ocean pool" at Eastern Beach - pretty deserted today in these very cool windy conditions...........

 We ate well today: lunch at The Sailors' Rest - opposite the Geelong Pier and then an afternoon beer at the big, bold and buzzy Little Creatures Brewery in Swanston Street.