About Apollo Bay
Sitting in the shadows of the Otway Ranges, Apollo Bay is a picturesque holiday and fishing village about 112 km South West of Geelong and the sitting centre of the Great Ocean Road and the next major town heading South West from Lorne. The town is home to about 1800 people and is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River.
Best known for it’s annual music festival which is held mid Autumn with an amazing assortment of artists from all over the world entertaining thousands over the three day event. The event has been running since 1993 and is that renowned even Australia Post produced a special postage stamp featuring one of its posters a few years back. Other major events include the Great Ocean Sports Festival held in early February where there a a whole range of water based races including swims, kayak, canoe and paddle races. The event is a whole lot of fun and attracts a pretty big entrant plus huge crowds cheering on.
Being a fishing town there is a large boat harbor for the fishing fleet and offers great views of the Southern Ocean and surrounding rolling hills of the Otways. A favorite for photographers is the scenic Mariners Lookout which is located at the northern end of the township. The town is ideal for families with plenty locally and within a short distance. The beautiful crescent shaped beach is a relatively safe place for swimming or taking a horse ride, a must at sunset on a warm summers evening. Good surfing can also be found in the area. The foreshore is also the place for a market when the weather is fine on Saturdays offering some great local produce and plenty of arts and crafts.
Only minutes from the centre of town is the dense rainforests of the Great Otways National Park where giant tree ferns, tall eucalypts co exist amongst the streams waterfalls and amazing flora and fauna. One recent attraction to the Otways is the Otway Fly where visitors can walk amongst the tree tops for an incredible perspective of the forest. The Apollo Bay area and Otways are a major catchment of water for much of the Geelong region and one of the most important dairy regions in Australia.
The town has a vibrant shopping area for a town of this size and there is no better place to get fresh seafood, many of the local restaurants, cafes and pub offer the local catch and there is nothing like fresh Apollo Bay seafood, and don’t leave with out trying the magnificent crayfish a local specialty.
The Cape Otway lighthouse is another attraction which is well worth a visit and only minutes from the town centre, it is daily for visitors. The lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse on the mainland of Australia and was in continuous operation since 1848 until its decommission decommissioned in January 1994. The lighthouse has saved many a vessel from the treacherous seas which have claimed so many ships and lives in this part of the world.