We always like to get away on Australia Day Weekend. This year, we decided to drive down Geelong/Torquay way. There is a free camping spot en route at the BP Service Centre on the Geelong Highway, so we made our way there for the Friday night before driving further on to the coast and Torquay. The Service Centre was busy but not too noisey for a highway free camp.
There is a great by-pass road around Geelong now and so it didn’t take too long to get to Torquay. The temperature wasn’t really ‘beach’ warmth but we ventured out to get some tanning done. Fortunately with having the motor home, we are able to come back and have lunch with all our normal facilities and to have a rest from the sun during the high part of the day. Lunch was salad wraps and ginger beer.
Around 5pm, we tried to get into the Torquay Coast Camp ground but it was ‘full as’, so we made our way to Anglesea Beachside camp ground a little further around the Great Ocean Road. Being Australia Day Weekend means that site fees are above normal and availability was as squeezing point. For $73 for the night, we were given a spot which was not a normal site with access to water in one direction and power in another. A neighbour when helping us set up a ‘level’ spot mentioned ‘they’ve given you a prick of a site’. We thought so too, but thought that the clear reception for the Ladies Australian Open tennis grand final was some consolation for the ‘prick of a site’. Apart from going to the amenities block, we didn’t venture out towards the ocean at all, before moving out right on the set 10am departure time in the morning.
Saturday, we found a spot to park the motor home not too far from the beach, but at the eastern end of the Torquay township. We rode our bikes back toward the town on the coastal tracks which provided us with some great views. There was plenty of activity happening on the foreshore as it was Australia Day. Yacht racing and a Junior Surf Carnival brought many to the town for the day. We found a giant sundial made in a mosaic form featuring sea creatures and the foreshore. By standing in the right spot, you can tell the time from the shadow your body casts on the dial.
After returning to the motor home around 2:30pm, we had some lunch and headed for the beach for some more tanning. We thought that the $73 for the night was quite steep, so later in the day, we looked further and found a much cheaper campground for $48 for the night at Breamlea Holiday Park. This is a quiet campground and the beach is fit for fishermen, not beach walkers. We were given a site which with a bit of manoeuvring, we became quite level – but without reception of Channel 7, the Australian Open Broadcasters, and so we could only listen to the men’s tennis final commentary on ABC Radio.
Soon after 6:30pm, we received a Facebook message that our friend’s daughter had passed away after a long struggle with melanoma and so started making plans for going to the funeral in Canberra the following Friday.
After a good sleep and our normal motor home Sunday breakfast of fruit salad and yoghurt over pancakes, we ventured down a corrugated road to Point Impossible. This is a great spot to enjoy fantastic views of the Victorian coastline towards the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. We took a beach walk and found a spot to enjoy the cool waters of the ocean and some more tanning. We returned to the motor home around 2:30pm to have lunch at the best dinning room one could wish for – the temperature was great, the sky was blue, the sea was calm and blue, and the view was majestic.
Another great weekend away came to an end, and the 2 and a half hour return to home went very quickly with no traffic hold ups.
great life - got nothing on 