We reluctantly left our fabulous Torquay accommodation on 23 March and set off for Warrnambool. We drove straight through to Lorne, our end point the previous day, stopped briefly at Apollo Bay (a pleasant place) and on to Cape Otway, the second most southerly point in mainland Australia (Wilsons Promontory, in eastern Victoria, is the most southerly point.)  Cape Otway is where the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean meet. Cape Otway has Australia's most s...

The next day, 21 March, we again woke to rain. We checked out of our hotel and had breakfast in Sorrento which was the first mainland European settlement in Victoria (1803). It's a pretty place with some lovely limestone heritage buildings. We boarded the car ferry which took us across Port Phillip Bay from Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula to Queenscliffe on the Bellarine Peninsula. The trip took 40 minutes and was very smooth. Unfortunately, we couldn...

We left Melbourne in rain which, we thought, would spoil our plans for sightseeing around the Mornington Peninsula. We were lucky! As we went further south, the weather improved - as did the traffic! It was very heavy getting out of the city which, coupled with the rain, made for a difficult drive at first.   We drove through Frankston to Mornington and then left the main road (Nepean Highway) to drive down the Port Phillip Bay coast road as far as Rosebud. ...

Our first day in Melbourne was something of a culture shock after 11 days in relatively quiet places. The streets were packed with city workers and tourists and the traffic (cars and trams) very heavy. We battled the crowds and went to the National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square which is devoted to Australian art. (There is another NGV building which houses its international collection.) The Australian collection dates from the 1800s to today and is...

Next day (10 March), we drove from Bendigo to Ballarat which wasn't far - 120km. We stopped en route at Malden which is a lovely well-preserved town from the gold rush days. It has some attractive buildings made from local stone and is very quaint. The remains of the Beehive Mining Company have been preserved as an open air museum which we walked around.  We carried on to Castlemaine which is a bigger town with a mix of lovely Victorian buildings a...