Tasmania has been replaced in my affections by Geelong!  The second largest city in Victoria, Geelong has its own bay/harbor at the mouth of the bay Melbourne (the largest city) is on.  The economy used to be based on wool—they produce the best merino wool in the world—as well as Alcoa aluminum (or aluminium) and other manufacturing.  Now they are transitioning—and expanding tourism.  I wanted to give an indication of how to pronounce ‘Geelong’, but I don’t know the proper marks to use so I’ll just say, pretend it has only one ‘e’ and put the stress on the second syllable.

The lovely waterfront is populated with painted bollards.  These were carved from the piles holding up the old pier, painted by an artist, and repositioned.  Someone heard there was a problem because they weren’t being maintained; another that they are so popular a tourist draw that many more are planned.  Whatever the reality, they are great fun and I share with you photos of several. Note the rabbit at the bottom of the back of the clown and the cigarette dangling from the mouth of the female bus conductor (though you may not be able to see such detail.)

Geelong doesn’t have a pier for cruise ships so we were tendered in to the Geelong Yacht Club, greeted by volunteers armed with bags, maps, and guidebooks for us, including a 4×6” card with a map of the immediate area on a lanyard, and sent on tour or let lose in the city. 

Since we arrived right in the heart of the city, it was easy to walk around and I set out to visit the new public library (of course.)  Wow!  I want one just like it!  Called the Geelong Library and Heritage Center (the Dome), it defied my poor attempts at photographing it so I swiped a photo from its website for the blog.

We missed the Wool Museum, unfortunately, but did get a bus tour of the region, nicely situateded on a peninsula between the ocean and the bay.