Geelong (Victoria Australia)

Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay (Victoria Australia) with population around 190,000. The city is located approx 75 km (47 mi) southwest of state's capital city Melbourne.

Port Geelong (locode AUGEX) is ranked Australia's 6th-largest cargo port by annually-handled freight tonnage. The Port's major commodities include petroleum products, crude oil, woodchips, export grain, alumina imports, fertilizers.

Positioned among Australia's leading non-capital cities, Geelong City is Victoria state's 2nd largest. It is also called the "Gateway City" because of its central location among major regional centers - Melbourne (to the northeast), Great Ocean Road, Warrnambool and Torquay (to the southwest), Colac, Hamilton and Winchelsea (to the west), Ballarat (to the northwest).

Currently, the city is an emerging educational, health and manufacturing hub. Its economy is shifting quickly, with the drawbacks of losing much of its heavy-manufacturing industry. Since 1987, both peninsulas (Bellarine and Mornington) are connected via "Searoad Ferries" -  an Australian car-and-passenger shipping company operating the route between Queenscliff (Bellarine Peninsula) and Sorrento (Mornington Peninsula). The service is regularly daily scheduled (running every hour) and operated by two Ro-Pax (roll-on-roll-off passenger) ferries - MV Queenscliff (1992-built) and MV Sorrento (2001-built). Each of the sisterships has passenger capacity and cargo capacity 80 cars.

Since 2024, the Geelong-Devonport Tasmania route is served by two new ferries (Spirit of Tasmania IV and Spirit of Tasmania V) with a crossing time of ~10-11 hours. Between 2002-2024, on the Geelong-Devonport route were deployed TT Line Company's 1998-built/smaller sisterships Spirit of Tasmania I and Spirit of Tasmania II.

The city, along with the countryside and surrounding coastline offer many attractions. Most travelers swarm the region during summer months and early-Autumn. Major tourist destinations include Art Gallery, Botanic Gardens, Library and Heritage Centre, Waterfront and Eastern Beach, Adventure Park, Dog Rocks Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, Buckley Falls, Mill Markets, Narana (Aboriginal Centre), Kardinia Park and Simonds Stadium, National Wool Museum, Queenscliff Maritime Museum, Point Lonsdale Lighthouse, Rippleside Park, You Yangs Park, The Ozone (shipwreck).