City Escapes - Apollo Bay

The Age

Wednesday April 23, 2008

Lucinda Schmidt

The views and the food are still highlights at this Great Ocean Road favourite.

Apollo Bay, for Melburnians, presents a dilemma. Should you take the faster "back way" through the flat grazing land near Colac, or risk the picturesque Great Ocean Road, where one slow Winnebago can add an hour to the trip? Those who suffer from car sickness will be miserable on either route, as the back way swoops down from the Princes Highway to Bass Strait through the steep hills of the Otways, while the Great Ocean Road is famous for its cliff-hugging curves and alarming hairpin bends.

On a balmy Friday in autumn, well ahead of the weekend traffic, we choose beauty over speed and are rewarded with the sort of vistas one sighs over in Italy's Cinque Terre. Well, maybe not quite that good, but still one of the world's great drives. Past Lorne, the road flattens out, and the approach to Apollo Bay signals a town that has shed much of its fishing village past for the greater certainty of the tourist dollar. Motels and bed-and-breakfast places are dotted along the road, well before the township. A little way inland, the region's dairy farming and logging industries chug on, but these days it's the seachangers and holidaymakers who are slowly taking over.

Six kilometres before Apollo Bay, we turn right and head up into the hills, past the white triangular shipping beacon to Chris's. It's been there, perched high in the Otways, in various forms since 1979; first as a converted pine kiosk, which gradually expanded higgledy-piggledy into a 120?seat restaurant and half-a-dozen two-bedroom split-level villas. After a fire in May 2003, the restaurant has been rebuilt as a schmick corrugated iron and glass affair, and two one?bedroom studios have been added.

Our studio is "stylish but simple" - polished wooden floorboards, a king-sized bed with lots of white pillows and a pale blue throw, and white walls, bare of pictures. There's a small deck at one end, fenced by a steel-rimmed glass balustrade, and a kitchenette at the other, complete with microwave, cooktop and sink. It's a puzzle: why travel to a place known for its food, then heat up a tin of baked beans in the room? And does anyone really stay long enough to need the washing machine? We ignore both unwelcome reminders of domestic drudgery, open a bottle of champagne and lap up the glorious view through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Ferns and scrubby bushes on a steep hill below give way to gently sloping cleared hills where sheep graze in the late afternoon shadows, oblivious to the tall gum trees and blue-grey ocean below them. Surfers take advantage of the warm evening to catch a few waves where Skenes Creek opens on to a wide crescent of sand flanked at either end by rock pools.

We resist the temptation to join them for a dip, and climb the steep wooden stairs to the restaurant. Apart from the generally excellent Greek food, the main focus, unsurprisingly, is again the view, white-clothed tables hugging the perimeter of an angular, stepped glass wall. Old-timers suggest that Chris's has lost some of its pre-fire magic, and there is perhaps a slight conferency feel to the split-level carpeted dining room, all putty-coloured and pale wood. But my garlicky wedges of calamari are some of the best I've had, and the walnut baklava is a perfect contrast to the bitter Greek coffee.

The next morning we leave our eyrie for the real world. At the busy Saturday morning community market on Apollo Bay's wide foreshore, we buy organic tomatoes and home-baked yo-yo biscuits, but bypass the cheap glass baubles, potted succulents, herbal creams and chunky pottery. Across the road, the main shopping strip is full of cafes, gift shops and day spas. But a couple of old-style fish and chip joints and surf shops remain, as well as a terrific non-franchised bakery (where the queue stretches to the door at lunchtime).

And, really, Apollo Bay is not about the shops, or the fairly suburban streets behind. We spent three days on its long, wide beach fringed with a magnificent stretch of old pines. When we tired of boogie-boarding in the smallish waves (perfect for kids), we walked to the harbour at the western end, where battered old fishing trawlers are protected on two sides by a stone breakwater. A pile of crayfish pots and the adjacent Fishermen's Co-operative, selling zingingly fresh flathead and snapper to the public, emphasise that this is a working fishing harbour, not a marina for millionaire's yachts - yet.

If the beach doesn't appeal, there are plenty of hikes and bike rides through old-growth forest in the Otways, horseriding on the beach, helicopter rides over the nearby 12 (or is it now eight?) Apostles, tours to see shipwrecks, glow-worms or the Cape Otway lighthouse, and the Otway Fly treetop walk along a platform 25 metres high. But Apollo Bay is not the sort of place to get too active. Unlike some coastal towns that now resemble South Yarra by the sea, Apollo Bay is far enough from Melbourne to maintain a fairly relaxed pace. Yes, you can get a very good coffee and buy upmarket homewares - if you choose. Or you can simply walk along the gorgeous beach.

Where it is

Chris's Beacon Point, 280 Skenes Creek Road, Apollo Bay

How to book

Phone 5237 6411 or email chrisbeaconpoint@bemail.com.au Two-bedroom villas and one-bedroom studios $265-$320 per night. See www.chriss.com.au

Where to eat and drink

Chris's Beacon Point, where the average main costs $34. On Apollo Bay's main strip, relax on the balcony of La Bimba and sip a bowl of coffee. There's home-made ice-cream at the Icecream Tub and good fish and chips at the Blue Bird Cafe.

What to do

Swim, surf, fish, hike, play golf, horseride.

Any reservations?

Fluffy bathrobes and a mini-bar would be more useful than the washing machine and cooktop.

Why we'd go back

Great food, stylish villas and even better views.

© 2008 The Age

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