Day 2 Geelong to Sorrento - 70km - Almost around the bay in three days

November 6, 2011

Day 2 Geelong to Sorrento - 70km

We were packed, breakfasted and on the road shortly before 8AM and the first landmark was Kardinia Park aka Skilled Stadium as per naming rights agreement with the major sponsor of the Geelong Football Club, 2011 winners of the Australian Football League competition. Go Cats! Ford Motor company has a manufacturing plant in Geelong and has sponsored the Cats from time to time so naturally they play in blue and white. Another interesting fact is that all the buildings in the plant have saw tooth roof profiles with quite steep pitches. The story goes that Henry Ford had instructed that all plants around the world were to be built to the same design for cost saving purposes notwithstanding the fact that the steeply pitched roofs were designed to shed heavy snowfalls, weather conditions that have never been experienced in Geelong!

Just along from the footy ground we noticed a motor car sales outlet which had been built around an old dwelling, perhaps it had a preservation order on it?

Unfortunately this was against the rising sun which is why it is in shadow.

As opposed to our long haul through the suburbs yesterday we were out of Geelong within four km heading along the south side of Port Philip past the Point Henry aluminium smelter and the salt works. First point of interest on the Portarlington road is Drysdale which is the terminus of the heritage railway from Queenscliff. This was originally a branch line from Geelong to Queenscliff which opened up Queenscliff as a holiday destination for Melbournians. For some reason, possibly cost saving this line was built on three foot six inch gauge rather the the common Victorian broad gauge of five foot three inches. Gauge disparity between the states was a big problem but now the capital cities are linked on standard gauge which enables through running of passengers and freight.

At Drysdale we stopped at the supermarket and purchased a banana each at a cost of AUD 0.95 per banana - refer to previous forum discussion on banana prices in OZ! After eating our bananas we continued towards Portarlington and this 10km stretch included about five swithcbacks where the technique was to pedal as fast as possible on the downhill to get a decent run up the next uphill. All good things come to an end at last and we arrived eventually at Portarlington, another holiday resort which was served in the old days by a paddle steamer from Melbourne.

Portarlington main street from deck of coffee shop.

After a well earned coffee we continued along the coast to Indented head and St Leonards before the road turned inland again.

At the intersection of Murradoc Rd and Queenscliff Portarlington Rd Phil had a problem with toe overlap and his front mudguard and we stopped to adjust the mudguard stays.

Eventually the road neared the water again, this part called Swan Bay, most of which is a Marine Park - no fishing allowed.

Looking across Swan Bay towards Queenscliff. The tower with the spiral staircase at the left of the picture is at the ferry terminal.

The next waypoint was the railway crossing where we decided to take the rail trail into Queenscliff.

Queenscliff was and still is a holiday resort and there were a number of hotels in the main street.

It now being lunch time Phil guided us to a cafe that he had patronised on a previous visit to Queenscliff where we both had chicken baguettes and a pot of special blend black tea, the the name of which escapes me.

After lunch we headed to the coast again which is dominated by Fort Queenscliff, which was built to protect the colony of Victoria from invasion by the Russians during a conflict at the end of the nineteenth century. In any event they never got within coo-ee of Victoria so the Fort never fired a shot in anger. It is still the property of the Australian Army and entrance is restricted. However on the cliff top inside the fort grounds is a lighthouse which was never painted the traditional white, but left at the natural blue stone colour. I understand that there a few lighthouses around the world which are unpainted but this is the only one in Oz.

Continuing towards the ferry terminal there is a jetty which has two sheds on the end of it. The one on the extreme right was the lifeboat shed which was how crew on ships in distress were rescued before helicopters came on the scene. The volunteer lifeboatmen were usually local fishermen and highly skilled sailors being able to take the lifeboats in extreme weather conditions. The Queenscliff lifeboat is on display in a museum near the water's edge.

There was a road bike rider waiting for the ferry who told us that he had spent three months cycle touring round Europe. Today he had ridden 160km from Melbourne and had a further 120 km before he arrived home, a case of different horses for different courses!

The ferry took about 40 minutes for the crossing and within another ten minutes we were at our destination for the day, the Sorrento YHA Hostel, Dormitory rates $30 per person.

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 136 km (84 miles)

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