Apollo Bay Art Escape

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

Probably the most memorable road trip I went on was the times I went to San Jose at Apollo Bay when I was working for Richmond Fellowship Victoria, now known as Mind.

San Jose was a holiday property belonging to Richmond Fellowship Victoria and was used to take groups of their clients for respite. I was a Consumer consultant at the time and my good friend Michael Fleming who worked for VMIAC ( the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council) came up with the idea of taking a group of Richmond Fellowships clients on an Art Escape. These clients would be immersed in art 🎨 materials, and the art works they produced were to be shown at a state wide art exhibition to be held at the Abbottsford Convent. We worked alongside a couple of Art Therapists that were employed by Richmond Fellowship and the road trip down the Great Ocean Road was amazing, we started the road trip in Willamstown, headed for Geelong and the Great Ocean Road that begins in the surfer 🏄‍♂️ hub of Torquay and goes through Lorne and Anglesea on route to Apollo Bay. This is a beautiful windy stretch of road that is world 🌎 famous. There are signs everywhere reminding motorists that we drive on the left side in Australia. We would laugh at the signs because you would seriously realise we drive on the left long before the Great Ocean Road begins its stretch on Victoria’s west coast.

We had an amazing time producing some really wonderful pieces of art, and walking along the beach was totally awesome. On our final night, we went out to a restaurant in Apollo Bay, and many friendships were made.

I believe that every visitor to Victoria should see the Great Ocean Road, for its beauty and the feat of engineering it is.

I loved my job with Richmond Fellowship Victoria, and this stands out as one of the most truly remarkable things I did in my career working in peer support.