Day 90 - Tuesday 28 March - Back to the coast

Day 90

Tuesday

28 March 2017

Geelong – Queenscliffe – Bellbrae – Torquay

Neither of us had the best night’s sleep last night and we were awake early, so we were up and organising ourselves for the road earlier than usual; not a bad thing. We did everything we could do with in the park and then we shifted the vehicles out to the parking area under the traffic bridge and got the car onto the trailer before making our way to Queenscliffe.

It was an easy 30min drive to our new accommodation. We again stopped in the car park outside and unhitched the getz before checking in and making our way to our camp spot in the corner all on our own. We set ourselves up for our stay and then decided to walk into town, as it was only a kilometre or so out.

We checked out the cool old buildings we have become use to seeing in these towns. We passed the bakery, another one stating it was an award winning bakery and continued on to the wharf where the car ferry leaves from for the Mornington Peninsula. 

On the wharf there was a 360 degree viewing tower that we wandered up. The staircase corkscrewed its way up to the platform where we could take in the views across Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay across to the Mornington Peninsula. We watched a ferry making its way over from Sorrento before returning to the ground and making our way to the ferry office to check on what we have to do to get on it on Thursday. The girl was very helpful and we came away with all the information we required.

We continued our walk along the front, before walking down the pier to check on the fishermen. There were a group of kids out on school camp, we wanted to push them in. Once we had seen what was on offer, we returned to the main centre of town, stopping in at the pie shop for a pie. They weren’t bad, but we were still hungry, so we walked back to the van and made our lunch.

At 2pm we got back in the car and drove out to the Great Ocean Road Chocolateria in Bellbrae. We had seen this building on our travels on Saturday and made comment that it was much like the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. As it turns out, it is owned by a woman who use to be a manager at the WA stores and took all the winning points and started her own version here in Victoria. This is the second factory, the first being in the Yarra Valley. This building has only been open 6 months. 

We walked inside the building and were greeted by the giant chocolate tasting bowls and the many different truffles. Standing back and scanning the space, we could have been mistaken thinking we were at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. The chocolate even tasted the same.

We did a wander around the merchandise, helping ourselves to copious handfuls of chocolate buttons, before ordering a hot chocolate. Again this was just like the WA version, though it did come with a small cup of melted chocolate to add to your drink: yum chocky heaven.

We watched the chocolate fountains, browsed the shelves and checked out the workers in the factory section. I found my favourite nut clusters, so we left with a small bag of goodies, happy days. 

I took some photos inside and then outside in the gardens before we jumped back in the car and drove to Torquay. Instead of driving through, we made our way to the town centre and parked up. Deciding to walk along the beachfront walk enjoying the glorious weather once again, it was just delightful. 

With our skin warmed and pink, we continued our drive back to the van, getting in just after 4pm. We hung around for a bit, happy to take it easy. Paul then gathered his fishing gear and took off to the pier. I opted to walk, so that I could wander the streets and take some photos of the various buildings and the water. I had instructions to drop in for beers at the bottle-o and bring them to him, so I made a brief detour and then met him on the pier. There was nothing biting unfortunately. 

He continued to fish while I took to the beach to take some more photos as the sun was starting to dip away and was turning everything yellow. Some big ships were entering the bay, heading for Melbourne with their cargo. When I returned to Paul, he was all fished out, so we packed up, returned to the car and drove back to the van. 

I sorted dinner, before we ate and I worked on the photos and blog as Paul called Jason at home and then sat down to enjoy his beer and his book. We were in for an early night tonight as we had a big day planned for tomorrow and wanted to be out on the road nice and early.