Be a tourist at home

As I am planning a trip overseas, I thought I’d apply the same research to my home town of Geelong.

Being tourists in our own city should be a mandatory item on our monthly to-do lists. I’ve mentioned this to a number of people in the last couple of weeks and the response has always been the same – yes, we should! We have so much on offer to enjoy and explore. A confession often ensues of “I’ve never been to/visited/explored…”

I often find the amount of information on the internet overwhelming, causing me to go into meltdown, preferring rather to read printed travel guides.

However, that said, one very handy hint given to me a while ago was to seek out Wikitravel, entering the name of any village, town or hamlet you are planning to visit into its search bar. May I share with you what I discovered it has to say about Geelong?

“Geelong is more than just a country town – it is a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city. It has a diverse range of activities for all the family from nearby wineries to an antique carousel for the kids on the magnificent waterfront. Its close proximity, and good transport links, to both the Great Ocean Road (including Torquay, Twelve Apostles etc) and nearness to the state’s capital Melbourne, makes Geelong an ideal city to spend a few days. Whether you want to indulge in Australian History at the award winning National Wool Museum or spend you day at an Adventure Park – Geelong has it.”

Is that it? I feel Geelong’s profile has been short-changed! There were links to more specific information on the Bellarine Peninsula, and the Great Ocean Road, but even though I was seeking succinct information as the “pretending tourist”, I felt the articles barely scratched the surface of the surfeit of amazing attractions we have here on our doorstep.

If you put on your tourist hat for just a moment, and think about all that our region has to offer, it almost takes your breath away.

I believe we should all promote our region, with its bounty of wineries, food producers, fine cafes and restaurants, amazing art galleries that offer exciting and ever-changing exhibitions, craft and farmers markets on weekends, concerts and performances be it a play, ballet or musical – honestly you could easily do something different every day.

So, while we shrug off that ol’ sleepy hollow overcoat, let’s all be tourists in both sampling all our region has to offer, and telling others about it, for surely tourism does help to cultivate the future health and prosperity of our region.

A trip to Lorne at the weekend was a case in point. We stopped in Torquay and harvested some delectable picnic fare, enjoyed the drive along the coast-hugging road and pulled into a favourite spot near Urquhart Bluff to sit and eat lunch while enjoying the sea, all the colour and movement of people, some learning to surf, others attempting to catch their supper off the rocks.

We were soon joined by a couple of “real” overseas tourists who asked could they share our picnic table. Of course they could!

They were from Tel Aviv, their first trip to Australia, and repeated several times how lucky we are to have all this on our doorstep. Of course, we agreed, shared some (hopefully) helpful travel trips with them – as they were heading ultimately to Adelaide, with a detour to Kangaroo Island. Maits Rest, just out of Apollo Bay, is one place we always like to draw attention to.

They too had decided to have a simple picnic that day for lunch – more often they said they dine at local cafes or restaurants. A tub of hummus, some cherry tomatoes, bread and grapes became a feast by the ocean for this charming couple (who had left their four daughters at home on this trip overseas) – a picnic I am sure that will feature strongly in their holiday tales once home again.

So with a nod to them, here is a simple recipe for hummus for your next picnic at your favourite tourist spot in our region. And another of my favourite picnic foods for you to try.