We’d never heard of The Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria.
Which is surprising considering it’s only one hour south of Melbourne and very close to the starting line for the Great Ocean Road.
When our good friend Kim, from Working Women Australia, gives us a recommendation on a place to stay we listen. She’s the one who introduced us to one of our favourite Australian towns, Bright.
Back in March this year we were looking for a place to hang low for awhile, catch up on work and rest. We needed a destination that didn’t overwhelm us with things to do so we felt like we had to go out and explore, but a place with enough to do to entertain the girls.
As the Bellarine Peninsula had never been on our radar, we had no plans to visit as part of our trip around Victoria, but we trusted her and went. Kim has two young kids of her own, and we love getting personal recommendations from friends who understand your needs.
We ended up staying three weeks. It was the perfect place for what we needed and perfect for families.
It’s evident by the number of families that return there year after year, and the number of kids racing around on bikes, swimming in the pools and playing in the games room.
The owner, Lorraine, goes all out to make the caravan park enjoyable for everyone.
Kids Club is open daily!
Usually, this is a luxury reserved for school holidays. The girls loved it. They made puffer fish, masks, jewellery, and sand art, interacted with kids their own age, and met the visiting Olly the Octopus.
It was a great bribery opportunity for us to get Kalyra to do her school work!
The Big 4 Beacon Resort also has a great indoor playground for the kids, with trampolines, slides and climbing frames. Next door was the ping pong table, which Savannah was champion of and a really fun dancing game all of us enjoyed playing.
These were attached to the camp kitchen, which was perfect for us when it came time to cooking our meals or getting work done. The girls were happy playing while we did what we had to do.
The caravan park also has an indoor heated swimming pool (you need that in Victoria), a jumping pillow and go-karts for hire. Kalyra and Savannah loved their explorations around the campsite on those. It also gave me a good hour of exercise time as I power walked behind them.
The Beacon Resort also has a lot to keep the parents happy.
7am yoga of a Saturday morning for free. This was my most treasured hour of the week – just me, a cobra, and some space to breathe. The instructor, Tara was one of the best I’ve ever had and Kalyra and I snuck down to Barwon Heads for a Mummy Daughter class on a Sunday morning. She loved it!
Proving Lorraine goes all out to create the perfect camping experience for kids and parents, on site, is the Mud Day Spa.
“Oh wow, they have a spa here!” was the first thing I said as we drove into the park.
I’ve never seen that in a caravan park before. I enjoyed a 3 hour Aboriginal Ocean Dreaming Spa treatment. Totally memorable, soul and body nourishing, and worth doing.
We camped for two weeks before growing sick of the tent so transferred ourselves to a villa for a few nights.
It was exactly what we needed, and as many commented on Facebook, it was one fancy villa. Our veranda overlooked the playground, so we could easily keep an eye on the kids while cooking our barbie on the Weber (with cold drink in hand).
Coming from our tent it was difficult at times for us to get the girls out of bed (they just wanted to lie there all day and watch TV). And Secret Confession time, Mummy got to catch up on episodes of Home and Away – which I’d not seen since last year. Love me a River Boy!
It was great to have our own space again, our own kitchen and bathroom, and a comfy bed.
The Beacon Resort is in the town of Queenscliff, a lovely little town in its own right and the historic heart of the Bellarine. Check out the RAW Ingredients Cafe, still the best chai latte we’ve had in Australia.
Other nice towns on the Bellarine include Orange Grove, Barwon Heads and Point Lonsdale.
We left exactly as we wanted: refreshed, relaxed, happy and caught up on a ton of work.
It cemented our decision to buy our camper trailer as we know this caravan camping lifestyle suits us, but a tent was just not going to cut it for the long haul.
So if you find yourself in Melbourne heading south towards the Geelong and Great Ocean Road areas, consider exploring the Bellarine Peninsula. It was one of the many surprises we found in Victoria.
Getting there
Queenscliff is 104km from Melbourne and takes approx 90 minutes to drive. You can also do what we did and catch the car ferry over from Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.
such amazing place, thanks for sharing.