Things To Do in The Bellarine Peninsula

Geelong is a waterfront city, set on a north-facing bay with lots of restaurants, cafes, landscaped gardens, and walking paths set against the backdrop of Corio Bay. The foreshore is dotted with colorful sculptured bollards representing characters from the city's past and present -- 1930s lifesavers, fishermen, a town band, young ladies in neck-to-knee bathing costumes, and of course, a Geelong footballer. Nearby Eastern Beach has an Art Deco-style pool and a restored bathing pavilion that is now a cafe. The city also has about 100 heritage-listed colonial buildings.

Queenscliff started as a fishing village, then became a fashionable holiday destination for Melbourne's elite. It has remained trendy in recent years, and there's a plethora of art galleries, shops, and restaurants, but you can get away from it all on the beach or the tree-lined foreshore. Fort Queenscliff, on King Street (tel. 03/5258 1488; www.fortqueenscliff.com.au), is Australia's largest and best-preserved military fortress. You can tour the complex on weekends and public holidays, with its historic buildings, including gun positions and ammunition vaults. There is a large collection of war memorabilia in the museum, as well as World War I and World War II guns. Tours run at 1pm and 3pm, and at 11am during September and December through January school holidays.

From Barwon Heads, cross Victoria's longest wooden bridge, built in 1927, to reach Ocean Grove. From the heads at nearby Point Lonsdale, unbroken sands stretch to the mouth of the Barwon River, providing one of Victoria's most popular ocean beaches.