A Picnic Lunch at Apollo Bay

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Apollo Bay is a picturesque seafood village along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Tranquil beaches with great surfing options are the highlights of this coastal town.

Though quieter and smaller than nearby Lorne, Apollo Bay is now a popular tourist place as most Great Ocean Road tour buses, like ours, stop here for lunch. This was our fourth stop after Anglesea, Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch, and Kennet River.

Our bus stopped in front of the main shopping strip at Collingwood Street, which is also Apollo Bay’s commercial centre. There are several nice restaurants and cafes, all overlooking a green grassy front that separates the commercial center from the beach.

Our driver guide recommended the scallop pies at the Apollo Bay Bakery. So we went straight to the bakery, which is famous for its scallop pies and sourdough bread.

A huge stuffed koala sitting on a wooden bench outside The Apollo Bay Bakery displayed the day’s attractions on a board next to it. The bakery offered an assortment of pies, sandwiches and desserts. We got some sandwiches and scallop pies packed so that we could enjoy them at the beach.

We then crossed the grass front and made our way to the Apollo Bay beach. There were several sandy pathways leading to the beach.

**Path leading to the main swimming beach**

The beach was relatively quite, though there were a few swimmers around. Green rolling hills near the beach provided a scenic backdrop.

We chose a spot in the sand and sat down to enjoy our picnic lunch. The sandwiches were great. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite like the famous scallop pie. We had as much as we could and then fed the rest to the birds who had been hovering around us. They seemed to enjoy the pies much more than us!

After our lunch, we strolled around the beach for a while and then returned to the town centre.

Travellers to this region can enjoy the Great Ocean Walk, which is a long distance walk between Apollo Bay and the iconic Twelve Apostles. The Walk extends along the rugged coastline for more than 100 km and is one way (from East to West). The walk is supposed to be spectacular, weaving its way through tall forests, rocky shores, and windswept cliff tops. We would have loved to undertake this walk but couldn’t as we were part of the bus tour and anyway didn’t have time for a 100km hike. We satisfied ourselves with pictures of the starting point.

Soon enough, it was time to return to our bus to continue our Great Ocean Road adventure.

Published by Leena T Pandey

I have been reading voraciously since the age of five when I first discovered the joys of reading. I would lap up anything in print. Unrolling an emptied newspaper cone with one hand, stuffing roasted peanuts in my mouth with the other, all the while devouring the printed content on the cone with my eyes, was one of my first experiences in hedonistic pleasure. In fact, sometimes I feel that I am on an adventurous journey through the secret dreamworld of other people's imaginations, interspersed with occasional visits to my own life to attend events like graduation, first job, marriage, and so on. As a true-blue reader, I think I am uniquely qualified to comment on and critique other people's works of labour. I can tell exactly what puts the average reader to sleep, what sets their pulse racing, and what has them salivating for more. Write to me at leenatpandey@gmail.com. View more posts