Yellow is one of the colours that make up the uniform of Aussie surf lifesavers. These are some of the bollards in Geelong on the bollards walk.
I love the soft shade of yellow in this rose.
http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-yellow/
One of the reasons we went to Geelong was to try the restaurant 360Q but when we got there we found it was closed. We didn’t know it was only open at night on Saturdays. Disappointed, we looked to find somewhere else to eat. Luckily there are several other restaurants and cafes. We decided to try Q Seafood Provedore. It was a beautiful afternoon so we sat outside. We chose one of the specials, a Borek filled with salmon, spinach and feta. Börek is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo. In fact there was LOT of spinach. It was served with a spinach salad. I think the chef needs to rethink the salad. There was far too much spinach in the whole dish. Popeye would have been proud of the amount of spinach we ate. Neither of us had heard of a Borek before but it sounded delicious. As you may know if you’ve read my other posts, I love salmon.
The Q Tower. Part of the redevelopment of the marina where the ferry leaves for Sorrento on the Queenscliff-Sorrento ferry.
Looking from the tower through the heads of Port Phillip Bay.
The ferry terminal.
Looking down to where we had lunch.
There are so many restaurants I want to visit that I rarely get time to revisit ones I love. It must be good for me to go back. Waterfront Seafood is one of the few I’ve been able to revisit. I love their food and service and the fact they serve Chandon wines is a definite reason for me to come back. This was the third time I’ve eaten there this year which, considering it is nearly 100km from my home, is pretty good. It is one of about four (from memory) such eateries on the street level of the Edgewater building.
After reading the menu I had decided what I wanted to eat. The waiter brought our water over and mentioned the specials. One of them was Salmon Wellington. I’ve never heard of Salmon Wellington let alone eaten it. I’m used to seeing Beef Wellington on menus. Being a sucker for anything that has salmon in it I decided to try that. I’m so glad I did. There was no skimping on the size of the salmon fillet either. It was a very generous size. I loved it. I was told I had ordered the last one too so I was really lucky.
This is what the Salmon Wellington looked like inside. As you can see it was a generous piece of salmon.
My friend ordered Snapper.
Staying at the Vue Apartments entitled us to a 25% discount at three different restaurants in Geelong. We chose the one that was nearest our hotel. In fact it was diagonally opposite and was called Fishbowl.
I love being able to view menus online. It saves so much trouble wondering if the menu will be suitable. We had a table in the window, overlooking Corio Bay in the near distance. I loved being able to gaze at the water while the sun was setting.
King George Whiting- Tempura King George whiting fillets, home-style style chunky fries, chefs green salad. I love King George Whiting. It’s one of my favourite varieties of fish. It’s not the cheapest and can have a lot of bones but it is beautiful.
Seared Scallops – Pan seared scallops with roasted almond and capsicum oil served with aoli and saffron bur blanc. This was my friend’s meal.
We ordered dessert but really didn’t enjoy that. I ordered the Organic Apple and Date Strudel. There were so many things wrong with it I sent it back and the waitress had it taken off our bill. My friend ordered Creme Brulee. She didn’t enjoy it much but decided not to return it because I’d returned my strudel.
I started the night with my favourite Toblerone cocktail. So nice on a warm day.
This old, derelict building sits opposite the Vue Apartments in Geelong. I can visualise the building as it would have been in its prime. It must have been very striking in those days. It was built in the late 1880’s as a hotel but was converted to the Ritz Flats at some point. Apparently it has been empty and decaying for about 30 years. It’s such a shame it has been let go to the point that it should be bulldozed.
One of my favourite tv shows of the past was Seachange. It was filmed in Barwon Heads and St Leonards on the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong in the late 1990s. Part of the plot was about demolishing/saving the bridge in the picture below. Many famous Aussie actors featured in the show which also launched the career of David Wenham who has gone on to appear in international movies.
This building is now a restaurant named ‘At the Heads’. We didn’t go inside but it looks like a nice place to eat. The view over the river mouth is very pretty, especially on one of the few nice days we’ve had lately.
The town of Barwon Heads is very pretty. I’ve heard it’s a great place for a relaxing holiday. There are craft shops, cafes and restaurants.
Last weekend a friend and I went to Geelong for a couple of nights. Each year we like to have a foodie weekend away and check out a different region in Victoria.
We needed a two bedroom apartment which can be quite expensive. I came across a voucher deal for Vue Apartments which provided excellent value. Although we weren’t supposed to have a view of Corio Bay, we could see the water if we looked out of the bedroom windows. It was just a few minutes walk to the beach and restaurants. Very handy when you want to have a drink or two with dinner.
The view of Corio Bay from my friend’s bedroom.
The apartment was compact but well-designed. It had a kitchen with full cooking facilities and a washing machine and dryer. I love being able to be self-sufficient when I’m away.
You may have noticed the mural on the outside of the building is the same as the painting on the lounge room wall. I assume all apartments have the same painting. I didn’t realise it was the same until I was taking the photos of the exterior.
The theme for this weeks Weekly Photo Challenge is Focus. We are encouraged to take a photo that demonstrates the concept of focus. I chose to use a photo I took at Geelong earlier this year. These little statues are miniature but I got down to their level and focused on them, ensuring the background was out of focus.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/weekly-photo-challenge-focus/
Eastern Beach is a beautiful spot on the southern end of Corio Bay. After our walk we stopped off for a cuppa and a bite to eat before walking back to the car. We got told off by the waitress for moving the table numbers but we had no choice so weren’t really impressed by the service. Who would think to tell their customers off?
The giant wheel in the background is based in Melbourne in winter and Geelong in Summer.
A large part of the bay is enclosed to create an open air pool. There are pontoons to allow for diving and it’s great to see lots of families having fun.
A few days after this photo was taken this plane crashed into the bay just before a member of the Jackass team was going to board it. The plane landed upside down but luckily there were no serious injuries.
I love the way they have recycled this old ship into a restaurant.
On it’s website, Queenscliff Marina is described as a ‘destination in itself, a dynamic retail precinct includes tourism, marine, leisure, fashion & giftware and hospitality businesses. Foodies are not forgotten. From fine dining to fish & chips, coffee, cake, icecream and the best local produce and seafood will be available in surroundings offering incomparable bay views.’ As well as being an important harbour, just inside the heads of Port Phillip Bay (the gateway to Melbourne), it’s the home of charter businesses for dolphin swims, diving and fishing.’
Queenscliff is also the home of the Queenscliff-Sorrento ferry, a car and passenger ferry that takes you from the Mornington Peninsula to the Bellarine Peninsula on the other side of Port Phillip Bay. There is so much to do on either side of the bay and the ferry ride is only 40 minutes compared to more than two hours drive through Melbourne and Geelong.
The tower is a lighthouse, the first built in 94 years. An interesting fact is it was constructed using a single concrete pour over three days.
Looking out to Bass Strait through the heads of Port Phillip Bay. Next destination south is Tasmania.
Looking over the marina from the tower.
Looking for somewhere nice for lunch when people have different tastes and there’s so much to choose from. After walking around looking at the various cafe and restaurant menus we ended up at Waterfront Seafood on Eastern Beach Rd. It’s in the retail section of the Edgewater apartmment building, a luxury apartment building overlooking Corio Bay. Mum had been there before and liked it. I really liked their menu and noticed they serve non-seafood dishes as well for those that don’t like seafood. Although I can’t imagine not like seafood.
Mum and I both chose the Salt and Pepper Calamari which once again didn’t have as much pepper as I would have liked. Restaurants don’t seem to serve this dish with much pepper at all these days which is a shame for me. It was served with delicious fries (although I didn’t want to eat all of them) and salad. It was hard to choose what to have so we decided to come back for tea before heading home. That way we could eat two dishes from their menu.
Dinner turned out to be a lot later than planned and we tried these yummy wagyu burgers that we had initially thought of eating for lunch but decided against it. We did have a lot of walking ahead of us after all.
The waitresses were fantastic. One of them was from Melbourne and had a friend who lived in my suburb so we chatted about the area and Geelong. It’s so nice to have friendly waiters and waitresses. It makes the meal more memorable in my opinion. She remembered us when we went back fo dinner which was a nice touch. They meet so many people during their day.
Artist Jan Mitchell was commissioned by Geelong Council to transform recycled bollards into these works of art. The characters are based on people that have had an impact on Geelong and it’s history.
Geelong is only about 1.5 hours from my house. It’s a nice easy drive along freeways. We set off early in the morning and arrived in Geelong before it started to warm up. We parked the car at the beginning although you can park anywhere along the route and still see all the bollards. It warmed up very quickly and I realised I hadn’t taken any suntan lotion but it was comfortable to walk in the heat. I have wanted to do the complete walk for such a long time. It was another thing I was able to cross off my list of things to do.
Years ago I went to Geelong and saw some of these wonderful bollards along the waterfront in Geelong. Since then the number has grown to over 100 at 47 different sites (the brochures state 48 but the last one seems to have been removed). The walk begins at the Geelong Botanic Gardens and ends approximately 4kms further around Corio Bay at Rippleside Park.
The fountain was commissioned by the City of Greater Geelong to incorporate a barcode from an original and surviving Geelong iconic product: Noddy’s Soft Drink. The barcode is produced on many stainless steel panels that terrace toward the road which gives it a waterfall effect.
I read about it in a brochure so wanted to see it. I was looking for a tall fountain but Mum saw it and asked me to go over and look at it. Not realising that it was what I was searching for. It was very clever but also peaceful to watch the water gently falling towards the road.
These cute little bronze Peruvian creatures were made by Jenda Bucek and are based on Robert Ingpen’s book Voyage of the Poppykettle, a Geelong-based fable about sea-faring Hairy Peruvians who landed at Limeburner’s Point.
The last photo shows how small the little creatures actually are.
Leanne's delicious food and travel adventures 