Tiki Touring Australia Travel

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Tiki Touring Australia offers you the best ideas on where to stay and what to do while touring Australia.

BASIC TRAVEL
INFORMATION

Map of Australia
Map of Victoria
Currency Converter
Customs, Quarantine
Distances Between Cities
Hotels in Australia
Weather Forecast
Car Hire
 
VICTORIA
MELBOURNE
Marvellous Melbourne
Where to Stay
City & Street Maps
Car Hire
Things to Do in Victoria
Where to Eat Guide
Australian Rules Football
Sports Mad
City & Street Maps
Transport Journey Planner
(Bus and train timetables)
Tullamarine Airport
Flight information

GEELONG
Geelong
The Great Ocean Road
Geelong Hotels

BALLARAT
Ballarat
Ballarat Hotels

BENDIGO
Bendigo
Bendigo Hotels

ECHUCA
Echuca
Echuca Hotels

GIPPSLAND LAKES
Lakes Entrance
Lakes Entrance Hotels

WARRNAMBOOL
Warrnambool
Warrnambool Hotels

YARRA VALLEY
Yarra Valley
Yarra Glen Hotels


OTHER PLACES TO
STAY IN VICTORIA

Hotels in Victoria
Anglesea
Apollo Bay
Ararat
Arthur's Seat
Bairnsdale
Cape Otway
Colac
Hamilton
Halls Gap
Horsham
Lorne
Maryborough
Mansfield
Merrijig
Metung
Mildura
Ocean Grove
Point Lonsdale
Port Fairy
Portland
Portsea
Queenscliff
Rutherglen
Shepparton
Sorrento
Swan Hill
Torquay
Yarra Junction
 


Tiki Touring Victoria

Tourism and Travel information

 

South West of Melbourne
Gateway to the Great Ocean Road

 

THINGS TO DO
GREAT OCEAN ROAD
Great Ocean Road Day Trip
Full-Day Great Ocean Road Sunset Tour
Private Tour: Great Ocean Road Helicopter Tour
3-Day Great Ocean Road and Grampians Tour
2-Day Great Ocean Road and the Grampians
3-Day Tour: Road Trip Between Melbourne and Adelaide Including Great Ocean Road and the Grampians
Private Tour: Great Ocean Road
Great Ocean Road 2-Day Adventure Tour
Melbourne Super Saver: Great Ocean Road plus Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne Attraction Pass
 
Melbourne Super Saver: Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island plus Melbourne Attraction Pass
 

By Richard Moore

Bellarine Peninsula Touring Map

Accommodation:
Geelong
Ocean Grove
Point Lonsdale
Queenscliff
Anglesea
Apollo Bay
Cape Otway
Lorne
Torquay

Victoria, AusatraliaAs you leave Melbourne heading down the highway to Geelong many people must wonder what all the fuss is about.

The landscape is flat, usually dry, with little on the horizon other than the diminishing skyline of the big city in the rear-vision mirror and the small outline of the You Yang mountains on the horizon.

The only highlight would be a visit to the Werribee Open Range Zoo, about 32km from Melbourne, which is an excellent parkland zoo featuring gorillas, giraffes, cheetahs, hippos, zebra, rhinos and lions.

But those of us who know the area are excited by what is ahead - the port city of Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula, pretty and historic Queenscliff, the western side of Port Phillip Bay, the Rip and the Point Lonsdale lighthouse.

The area freshens up your eyes before you pass through the gateway to the magnificent Great Ocean Rd that runs more than 300km to Portland.

Geelong is a lovely city built upon the waters of Corio Bay and the Barwon River and is about the right size for a place to live in - about 200,000 people.

Geelong, Victoria, AusatraliaGeelong is the second biggest city in Victoria and for most of its history has been an industrial centre for the state.

You can see the many fine brick buildings in the city courtesy of the wool trade, shipping and being an access port to the goldfields of Bendigo and Ballarat.

There are plenty of good spots to eat in Geelong and when we were there we had a really nice fish and chip lunch on the roof of the Geelong Boat House floating restaurant.

The weather was perfect, so was the food, and the outlook over the bay was brilliant.

From Geelong we motored on down to Queenscliff, which is a delightful town near the mouth of Port Phillip Bay - a nasty stretch of water known as The Rip.

Victoria, AusatraliaQueenscliff is quite lovely - lots of beautiful old buildings - and you can catch a ferry to Sorrento on the other side of Port Phillip Bay.

If you are campervanning or caravanning there is a very nice place to stay at the Queenscliff Tourist Parks, which is near Fort Queenscliff a brick strongpoint overlooking the town.

It is centred on a picturesque football/cricket oval and - if you are lucky - you can hop over the low fence and have a bit of kick-to-kick footy while you are there!

After an overnight stay at the Tourist Parks were ventured down to Point Lonsdale where there is an impressive lighthouse.

Near the Point Lonsdale lighthouse is a nice little pier where people were fishing from the end or just strolling its length. You get excellent views of the lighthouse from the pier and also get to see The Rip up close.

Victoria, AusatraliaWe were there on a resonably calm day and yet you could see the wash from Port Phillip Bay meeting the Southern Ocean in such a small area of sea. I wouldn't like to be crossing it in bad weather.

From Point Lonsdale we TikiToured through small beach communities until we got to Barwon Heads and then sought out the Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary.

The two hectare sanctuary is in Taits Rd and provides a home for animals injured in the wild. Jirrahlinga was born out of the fires of Ash Wednesday back in 1983 where the forest blazes destroyed huge areas of Victoria and South Australia.

Jirrahlinga is a pretty special place where you can get up close to Australian native animals.

There are wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, tortoises, snakes, rosellas, kookaburras, lizards, emus, a very fine looking hawk and the stars of the show - koalas.

Jirrahlinga is a really nice place to stop and explore.

When back in the campervan we buckled up the safety belts and started on the next stage of the journey ... down the Great Ocean Road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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