Travel guide Ocean Grove

TakeABreak Awards 2009
Winner, Budget Accommodation: Ebb Tide

If your idea of ‘budget’ accommodation involves packing sleeping bags and sharing a bathroom with strangers, you’re in for a shock. The 2009 winner of the TakeABreak Budget Accommodation Award is Ebb Tide, a two-bedroom holiday home loaded with extras in Ocean Grove, Victoria. With attractive prices, a fully fenced backyard complete with private playground, plenty of room for a large family, and even a games room, this property offers value beyond belief.

Located just 400 metres from Victoria’s Barwon River, and 1.3km from Main Ocean Grove Beach, Ebb Tide offers families, couples and friends the opportunity to experience a beach holiday with compact accommodation at less than the price of a typical motel. A fully equipped kitchen and laundry allows guests to enjoy the facilities of home without blowing the budget. Unlike hotel rooms, guests can choose to cook their own meals and avoid the expense of eating out each day. Yet special features, like a private games room equipped with a pub-sized pool table, 80s-style arcade game, electric ride-on toys, Nintendo and foosball table means that even rainy days will be filled with fun. When the sun shines, the river is just a short stroll away and the large private backyard playground, nearby golf course, and surfboards in the shed beckon. 

In the evenings, guests can enjoy a sound sleep in a king-size bed in the main bedroom, bunk beds and sofa bed in the rear bedroom, and a full size cot and portacot for tots. Even canine guests are welcomed into cosy sleeping accommodation, with two kennels in the backyard, complete with dog toys and bowls for any four-legged friends.

Each morning, visitors can prepare breakfast in the kitchen to enjoy in one of the two alfresco eating areas on lovely decks. An afternoon snooze in the hammock is a great way to unwind, two televisions and leather couches mean you won’t miss your favourite shows, and parents hoping for an evening on the town can arrange babysitting through the owners.
 
Ocean Grove: Situated on the southern coast of the Bellarine Peninsula, this bustling seaside town offers plenty of activities for visitors throughout the year. In addition to surf and swimming beaches, Ocean Grove boasts a 143-hectare nature reserve with an excellent network of bushwalking tracks for outdoor enthusiasts.

Families in search of a special treat will be thrilled with the nearby Adventure Park, an exciting water theme park filled with waterslides, splash playground, and a lazy river complete with tubes for riding along on the current. More excitement can be found a short drive away, at the incredible Amaze N Games on Bellarine, a fun park boasting one of Australia’s largest timber mazes, various puzzles and an 18-hole mini-golf.

The town itself offers a variety of outdoor cafes and restaurants as well as shopping facilities, including travel needs and specialty items. 

Ebb Tide is only 80km from Melbourne, making it a perfect holiday break for Melbournians, or a convenient base for visitors to Victoria wanting a beach holiday as well as a chance to explore the big city, but without the big city hotel prices. 

The Great Ocean Road  is only a 15-minute drive from Ebb Tide, and boasts some of the most beautiful views in Australia. Be sure to bring a camera and explore some of the seaside towns, pristine beaches, and flora and fauna. Along the way, you’ll encounter Geelong, the second-largest city in Victoria. This historic city offers loads of museums, heritage-listed buildings, and automobile enthusiasts will even find a fascinating Ford Discovery Centre to explore.

Returning to Ebb Tide after a day of touring will be like returning home, but with loads of fun waiting. Children can safely play on the slides and playground equipment in the enclosed backyard until they’re ready for bed, and adults can enjoy a beer on the deck or a quiet game of pool.

A rare find...  Ebb Tide is truly a unique holiday home, with special touches hard to find anywhere else. Be warned – with the lowest holiday home price on the Bellarine Peninsula, and loads of added extras, hopeful visitors need to book quickly as occupancy rates in excess of 90% make this a very popular property and a clear winner for the 2009 TakeABreak Best Places to Stay Awards Budget Accommodation category.

For more information or to make an enquiry, please go to the Ebb Tide listing on TakeABreak to contact the operator direct.

About the Author
Kylie-Jane Degeling is a freelance writer who has lived in Adelaide, Yulara (Uluru), Alice Springs and Canberra, as well as five different countries throughout the world. After backpacking around Australia, she worked as a tour guide in Central Australia, before training for her Commercial Pilot License and working as a flight instructor, scenic flight and charter pilot. She later worked as a travelling IT trainer for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which involved spending time in each of their 16 District Offices around the country on a rotating basis.

Having experienced Australia as a backpacker, tour guide, pilot and business traveller, Kylie now enjoys family holidays with her husband Alex, and children Jezzy and Jordan. She says, “I have been lucky to see Australia from a variety of perspectives, and as a travel writer can use this experience to inspire others to find holidays they would enjoy.”  Kylie currently works as a travel writer in addition to being a government writer and columnist for two parenting magazines.