Torquay is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road, a little way south of Geelong, it had surf culture ingrained in it's history and home to the famous Bell Beach. With golden sand beaches spanning kilometers, there's plenty of beach for everyone. This post is just a couple of snapshots of our family trip down to Torquay. 

Bells Beach is known internationally for its surf waves, and the world's longest running surfing competition held each Easter.

Continuing our drive down to Split Point Lighthouse in Aireys Inlet. 

As you enter the main doors, you are greeted with a spacious entranceway, with huge crystal chandelier and expansive marble floors before checking in at concierge. Check in is a very efficient and personalised service, where they explain the details of the services they provide as well as the dining options.

Our Superior Room had neither a view of the Marina Mirage complex, or Sea World Drive. I didn't expect much in terms of view for the conference rate we paid. We looked out onto the exit of the guest carpark and some planter boxes.  

Did the room look like the image on their website? Pretty close, we did not have a little couch or the pool views. however the room was well furnished with all the necessities. The cushions sitting on the bed were silk printed, each with their own design. The room itself had a couple of nicks in the plaster corners, and the bathroom was a very dark marble stone, making the room feel smaller, however it had it's own full size jacuzzi, and separate shower and toilet.

Towels were changed twice daily, and your bed turned down each night with a little "gift" left each night, and aroma therapy signature Versace oils lit so when you returned from dinner your bed was ready and beckoning you to have a lie down. The hallways to the rooms have framed Versace illustrations from some of their collections. 

Mr Curious and I tend to be so busy exploring outside the hotel when we travel, that we never fully make use of the facilities the hotels and resorts provide. We have made it our mission to at least try the pool at each hotel. The Palazzo Versace has a large outdoor pool with mini sand beach, there are beach bean bags with umbrellas, and lounge chairs for guests to use. The cabanas have a daily charge, and can be booked the day before, packages start at $140 for two with sparkling Italian mineral water, chilled sparkling wine and fruit platter. 

Each morning we had full buffet breakfast at the Il Barocco restaurant looking out onto the pool area. The Palazzo Versace uses it's own collection of Versace diningware, with rumours that a cup when broken costs them $50. The buffet is extensive with a range of cuisines to suit its international clientelle, including congee with all the various condiments, your standard western fare of bacon, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, croissants etc. A good selection of cured meats, cheeses and antipasto platters, fresh fruit and salads, and pastries baked daily.  

Would I stay here again? If I wanted pure luxury and relaxing resort vacation, then maybe yes. The service at the Palazzo Versace is impeccable, and staff were always welcoming and helpful at every time we required assistance. Located just across the road from the Marina Mirage shopping complex with many well known shops and restaurants, it is good for those who just want to relax and do nothing on their holiday. 

During our trip to Hervey Bay, Queensland we stayed at the Ramada Hervey Bay Resort along the Charlton Esplanade, a short stroll from the Urangan Harbour. Our two bedroom apartment, consisted of the one bedroom suite, and studio room accessible by dual key hallway. The room is exactly as pictured on their website, with a balcony looking onto the outdoor swimming pool. 

Amenities in the bathroom included Appelles certified organic products, with pool towels available for loan to take to the beach, pool or Fraser Island for the day. The apartments come fully furnished with all the basic cooking utensils required to cook a delicious meal from fresh produce from the area. 

A short walk down the Esplanade will lead you to the long beaches that Hervey Bay holds, the sunset in the evening was an array of colours that touched the calm waters of the bay. Hervey Bay itself during the winter/off peak months is a quiet town with plenty of locals and community areas along the Esplanade. The Esplanade itself is a continuation of several smaller suburbian shops that all meld into one long shop/accomodation area. There is also a main town centre with all the big supermarkets, shops and restaurants. 

A short drive to Point Vernon and Gatakers Bay around the headland of Hervey Bay, the sunset changes yet again with dramatic colours as it sets along the horizon. This area had less beach, but the natural beauty of the coast shines through.

The highlight of our trip was Fraser Island. We unfortunately chose the only day that it rained that entire week in May to go to Fraser Island, and didn't come prepared with wet weather gear or warm clothes at all (rookie mistake). As Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island, you need a 4WD with off road capabilities and a lot of guts to go through all the soft sand tracks. Most standard hire car companies will not cover you if you damage their car once you have taken their car off road or onto the beach, and to hire a 4WD specifically to go to Fraser Island cost more than doing an organised tour. Too much drama for us to take onboard for a holiday. 

We chose the Fraser Explorer Tour after having a look at reviews on Trip Advisor, and booked the day before at the tour booking office near the marina in Hervey Bay. The lady at the booking office suggested that we take the Fraser Explorer Premium Day Tour as it would be a smaller number of guests (max. 18) compared to ~40 on the standard tour. The Premium tour was $170 for off peak, and the standard tour $160 for off peak. 

The tour company will pick you up from the hotel/resort/caravan park at a designated time to arrive at the River Heads barge for the 8:30am crossing. Once we got there we could see the dark grey clouds looming over Fraser Island, and all we could do was hope for the best. We all walked on to the barge, and watched the 4WD reverse onto the barge. There were several other tour companies with smaller sized vans including the private Hummer tour, and the Landcruisers that you could hire and self tour. 

Our tour guide for the day was Simon, and he had plenty of knowledge about Fraser Island to share, as well as lots of information about other destination in the world he had been tour guide at previously. The tour bus is a specially designed truck for offroading with decent suspension to get through the bumps of the sand tracks Fraser Island holds. Our particular tour bus had a camera mount on the front of the bus so you could watch on the tv inside what was ahead. The tour has a lot of bumps and is almost like a combination of bumper cars and roller coasters in one. If you're prone to motion sickness, definitely bring your medication. Below is the map from the brochure of the Fraser Island tour sites you get to see. 

Credit: link

As you can see on the Fraser Island tour map, the barge travels from River Heads to Wanggoolba Creek, where we took a bumpy journey in the tour bus through the various forests of Fraser Island. The bush changes as you move through the island, from a dry forest, to rainforest, to eucalypts and then out to beach. First stop was Central station which is a forest area where they used to live, with a short forest creek walk. There were ferns, different variety of eucalypts and other rainforest vegetation in this area. Unfortunately for us it was raining quite hard at that point, so the walk wasn't as enjoyable as it could be. 

Continuing our journey, we reached Eurong Beach Resort for a quick morning tea and toilet stop. Morning tea is provided by the tour company as are bottled water and juice. Next stop was the Maheno Shipwreck. Along the drive up 75 Mile Beach, there is an option to take a light plane to see Fraser Island from above. For $75pp for a 15 min scenic flight over this gorgeous island, it was well worth it. 

From the sky you have a chance to see all the various lakes that have formed in Fraser Island, and the changing landscape as you go from east to west across the island. The scenic flight also gives you a chance to spot marine life from above, including sting ray, sharks and if it was whale season, potentially whales!

Looking out the window you can see Maheno shipwreck from above, where everyone else on the tour bus continued on to. The scenic flight on Fraser Island is also only one of the few sand/beach run ways left in the world. We landed close to the shipwreck to have a look around, the sun barely came out for us to enjoy it.

We continued on in the bus to The Pinnacles, a sand formation that has been etched away by the wind and rain to reveal the layers of different coloured sands. 

Back down the 75 Mile Beach to Eli Creek that is famed for it's crystal clear waters, that when the weather is a bit warmer is a popular swimming place. 

The waters have a green-blue tint to it that is gorgeous to look at, was a bit cold when I tried to go for a dip.

Continuing down the 75 Mile beach to Eurong Beach Resort for lunch where with the Premium tour package, you have a choice of a la carte from a list of selected dishes. We chose the steak sandwich that arrived in a toasted roll, with a serving of salad and generous portion of chunky cut chips. Also on the menu were stuffed mushrooms with risotto, grilled chicken salad, pasta and fish and chips. The steak sandwich was a definite winner, and we barely finished it. 

After lunch, the tour continued on to the famous Lake McKenzie, the largest lake on Fraser Island. Formed many hundreds of years ago, it formed as sand and other vegetation collected forming a water tight area for rain water to collect. 

Lake McKenzie has pure silica sand, that is amazingly soft and white, and Lake McKenzie is considered a perched freshwater lake, as water only collects from rainfall. The water is stunningly blue, transitioning from a gorgeous turquoise to deep sapphire blue as the lake gets to the deepest point of approximately 5 metres. 

Supposedly due to the pure silica sand and slightly acidic freshwater, there are few creatures that live in Lake McKenzie, however we spotted this little fish swimming around near the shore. 

They say that the fine silica sand is great for exfoliation and is gorgeously soft to relax in.

The transition of Lake McKenzie from various shades of blue is spectacularly amazing.

So the weather caught up to us again, and this time provided us with a sun shower and a beautiful rainbow appeared briefly over this already spectacular lake. Couldn't get any better than this (may some warm sunshine would be nice).

Back on the bus to Rainbow Beach Resort to catch the 5pm ferry back to the mainland.

Fraser Island had it's last chance to shine as the sunset that evening was stunning, with a myriad of hues as we crossed the bay.