Geelong is also a livable city

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The following is adapted from a handout promoting Geelong. I left out stuff such as about investment though because that's not my scene. I took out a lot of the fancy adjectives praising Geelong too much and added a few bits as well.

Why Geelong is a good city to live in1. LifestyleGeelong has the modern amenities of a larger city, including world-class health and community services, education facilities, a clean and healthy environment. It has a beautiful waterfront, cultural events such as Pako Festa, churches and social amenities, and a pleasant natural landscape. Everything is within easy reach, including surf beaches, access to Melbourne less than an hour by freeway, and also Geelong is not far from forests in the Otways and Youyangs.

2. HousingHousing is considered affordable compared with Melbourne with a population of more than 190,000 with some 70% living in the urban areas. It is assumed that most people own their own home. Urban growth has centred on suburbs such as Highton, Grovedale, Wandana Heights, and Waurn Ponds. The outlying areas include Lara, Leopold, Clifton Springs and Ocean Grove.

3. Attractions
Geelong offers numerous recreational facilities, hotels, restaurants and cafes, and an calendar of cultural and sporting events, golf courses and other sporting facilities such as Geelong Football Club's Shell Stadium and the sports Arena in North Geelong, the Geelong Performing Arts Centre (GPAC), the 1500-seat Costa Concert Hall, and the Geelong Art Gallery, National Wool Museum, the Botanic Gardens, and two multiplex movie theatres.

4. Education
Geelong's mix of public and private schools provide education to more that 40,000 primary and secondary students annually. Another 27,000 students a year are enrolled in tertiary and further education courses at Deakin University, the Gordon Insitute of TAFE and Marcus Oldham Agricultural College. Geelong's private schools - including the Geelong Grammar School, The Geelong College, and Kardinia International College - enjoy international recognition.

5. Health
The Geelong Hospital is one of Victoria's major regional hospitals, offering advanced cardiac facilities, plus other surgical, medical and specialist services. There are two major private hospitals. Geelong is well served by general practitioners and specialists, with more than 200 in the region. Other facilities include six community health centres and 33 maternal and child health centres. There are also 34 aged accommodation centres, facilities for mental health and people with disabilities.

6. Work opportunities
Though this changing in the current recession, in Geelong more than 10,000 businesses employ over 80,000 people in the region. Manufacturing and processing industries provide around 15,000 jobs, followed by retail (13,000) and health and community services (8,000). Tourism, hospitality, education, health and business services are among the fastest-growing sectors. Many people who live in the Geelong region commute to Melbourne each day.

7. Shopping
Geelong has at least three large shopping complexes, numerous supermarkets, department stores, suburban shopping strips, and a variety of specialty stores, galleries, restaurants, fast-food outlets and plenty of opportunity shops.

8. Transport
Geelong has a large inexpensive bus network, railway links to Melbourne and the West Coast, an airport at nearby Avalon. Roads are very good in the suburbs with a freeway to Melbourne.

9. The people
A mix of Aboriginal, migrant British and European from the 1830s and a boom in migration after 1945 and now a small number of recent arrivals from places such as Sudan and Burma make up the diversity that is Geelong and people get along well together. Also, many rural people from country Victoria move down to the Geelong region to retire. Geelong is relatively safe - people don't put bars on their windows, and groups like Neighbourhood Watch give tips to people on getting along. When you go shopping you will surely bump into people you know, so it's like a large country town.

Patterns in suburbia in Geelong

from w
While waiting for a bus with two recycled bags of shopping from 'Not Quite Right' and the veggie shop, ($30 plus $16) I noticed a house with many decorative surfaces - Spanish tiles, orange bricks, two cement birds, trimmed bushes, and a fancy fence. This is rather typical of our suburb of Newcomb - houses built in the 30s to 60s. I usually walk home - about 20 minutes away - but the bags were too heavy this time.

Barwon River on Easter Day

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About 5.30 p.m. yesterday we drove to near Landy Field Athletics track, parked the car and walked east along the bike/walking track - a place we had never explored previously. A nature reserve between factories and the Barwon River. I did two sketches in half an hour. I found an open space where families were resting or taking off in boats, some water-skiing. Afterwards we went to the Great Western pub for a fish dinner - Peceli had won a $20 voucher from playing golf a few weeks ago. Of course it cost more than $20 but was it was very pleasant.

Happy Easter Day

May you and your family have a happy and blessed day.
The sun rises behind Alcoa and most Easter Sundays we drive to a good vantage in Eastern Park to watch the sun rise, this time from the boat ramps of the fishermen. I drew this quick pastel sketch when we returned home for breakfast.

Buckley's Falls before the drought

from w
This small painting I made today - A4 size - based on two photos I once used in a writing workshop on 'place'. Buckley's Falls is about 4 k from the centre of Geelong, a waterfall near an old paper mill. I reckoned the frog belonged there. Today though there is little water running because of the drought. The name Buckley comes from an escaped convict who lived with the local Aboriginal tribes for thirty years in the 19th century.