Monday 5 March. Queenscliff. Rest Day.

Weather today was sunny most of the time with scattered clouds and a fresh SW wind off the Southern Ocean keeping temperatures down to 21C.

After some shopping and getting on the Internet at the Tourist Office next door I decided on a short ride to explore the local area. The area is called the Bellarine Peninsula which is the land bounding Port Philip Bay on the SW.

We had seen the eastern part of this area when cycling from Torquay to Geelong and it was pan flat. I was expecting the same of the rest of the peninsula but was pleasantly surprised to find some good cycling territory with rolling hills getting to 200ft, good views and a network of back roads.

I started the day by heading out to Point Lonsdale again and watching a few big cargo vessels making their way through the straits known as The Rip giving entrance to the Harbour

Then on a back road near the coast to the town of Ocean Grove. The sea is behind 50ft dunes and I took the bike up a path to a spot overlooking the great Southern Ocean waves breaking on the shore and stopped for a picnic lunch.

Then more backroads north into the middle of the peninsula before finding a backroad that headed east and intersected the Geelong to Queenscliff rail trail. This is a gravelled trail going alongside for part of the way a steam railway. I took this back to Queenscliff.

I find Queenscliff a pleasant place to stay as it is full of old houses built on gently rolling hills at the end of a narrow spit of land at the end of the peninsula. It reminds me more of a bush town than a town not far from Melbourne.

I had dinner at "The Vic" hotel down the road and then took pictures of the sunset over Swan Bay which runs next to Queenscliff.

29 miles for the day and 777ft of climb.

Edwin