Geelong

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This marked my second trip outside of Melbourne since I arrived here in Nov. last year. I thought it was just a small town just outside of Melbourne but Geelong is Victoria's second largest city with 200000 people. Since I've seen almost everything there is inside the Melbourne city proper, the idea was to do day trips to the surrounding areas to get a better feel of the state of Victoria. The train is pretty cheap too being only $15 for a round trip out to Geelong and back which is roughly an hour from the city.

I arrived in Geelong around 10:30 and just started wandering aimlessly around the town. As luck would have it I stumbled across the main tourist office in town and was able to get a city map and found out about some of the walking trails that take you around town and past all the main areas. I was meeting up with Seonna for lunch so just spent some time wandering the waterfront until she came down from work. Seonna was one of the Aussies I met while touring through Europe a couple years ago so it was nice to catch up after so long. Unfortunately, the luch hour was over all to soon and she had to be getting back to work. I decided to tackle the longest walking tour which went by everything worth seeing as far as arts and culture in Geelong was concerned.

The estimated walking time was around 3.5 hours but that's for the average person and I am anything but average! 😊 I spent about 3 hours doing the walk but I went into a lot of the buildings and added in a couple other "walks" too. All along the water are bollards, which are short vertical post, that have been carved and painted to represent various aspects from Geelongs history. Everything from prominent figures of the day to regular people doing everyday activities. I will let the pictures I took of the buildings and sites around Geelong speak for themselves since there really isn't much else to add to what I put in the captions.

One interesting tidbit that I heard about Geelong is that is was originally going to be Victoria's capital but they decided that whatever city would be the capital would need to have a suitable port and the bay around geelong wasn't deep enough to allow that. Since then though, the bay has been deepend so it can handle all types of ships.

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Photos

Geelong
Unfortunately the day was extremely hazy due to the forest fires so can't see much of this shot over the bay.

Geelong
I spent the day walking all over town and this shot is from the opposite side of the bay from the first shot.

City Hall
Yet another building in Victoria designed by Joseph Reed in 1855, though the city hall wasn't fully completed until 1917. Oldest town hall in Victoria.

Glad this Bylaw is gone!
Found this sign while walking along the waterfront.

Geelong Club Building
Established in 1888/9 as a place for wealthy pastoralists, wool-brokers, and prominent citzens to dine and socialize with men of similar stature.

Barcode Fountain & The Carousel
The fountain was made in 2000 and the barcode is that of an original and surviving Geelong product: Noddy's Soft Drink.
In the background is the Carousel which is on the waterfront and is 1 of 200 hand carvel wooden carousels in operation around the world. The pavillion houses the fully restored 1892 Armitage Herschell Carousel, a Herschell Spillman steam engine and replica of an 1898 Gavioli and Co Band Organ.

Rhythms of Life
This geoglyph is one of 12 around the world and was constructed in 2006 of hard limestone in celebration of Festival Melbourne 2006.

Rhythms of Life
This is a picture from the book so you can see what the whole sculpture looks like.

Botanical Gardens
There is an estimated 6000 different species of native and exotic plants cultivated at the gardens. This is a picture of the 21st Century Garden which opened in 2002. The original gardens are behind them.

Botanical Gardens
About the only place you'll see flowers with the drought they are having here. Geelong is one of the worst areas and is at stage 4 water restrictions which regulates how much water a house uses and if they go over a couple times, they basically kill their water pressure to force them to comply.

Botanical Gardens
Here is a picture of the original gardens.

Eastern Beach Bathing Complex
Constructed between 1928 and 1939, it is representative of the transition from segregated and private bathing in the 19th century to mixed public bathing in the early 20th century.

Corio Villa
This gorgeous iron house was prefabricated in Scotland in 1855. The originating foundary burned down soon after completing it so this villa's style is unique world wide.

Jesmond and Benton
These very distinct house pair was erected in 1880 for the owner of the Geelong iron foundry and reflect the foundry's products.

Walbaringa Flats Building
Built in 1928, this building is an example of the interwar Spanish Mission style.

Old Geelong Gaol
Constructed between 1849 and 1864, the building is built from bluestone and is designed in the Pentonville style.

St. Mary of the Angels Basilica
One of the first provincial churches in Victoria, this church was built in 1854 for the Catholic community in Geelong.

Birth place of Willem Baa Niip
It is estimated the the banks of the lagoon where Willem Baa Niip, aka William Gore or King Billy [thought of you mom :)], was born in 1836 was at this street in the center of town. He was thought to be the last of local indigenous people from the area. The site is marked with bronze pavings which depict the Geelong Treaty.

Old Geelong Post Office and Telegraph Station
Built in 1890, with the clock being added in 1911, this was the location of the first automatic telephone exchange in Australia established in 1912.

Drive Thru Bottle Shop!
I had to take a picture of the 2 lane drive thru liquor store, I'm told they are all over but this was the first one I've seen...and there we are in Canada, suckers having to walk into the stores ourselves!! :)