apollo campervan hire Geelong, without the first-day wobble

Geelong works brilliantly for campervan and motorhome trips because you can be on the Bellarine, Surf Coast or Princes Highway within 20 to 40 minutes. Just do not assume every Apollo paperwork address means a waterfront handover beside Cunningham Pier. Depot arrangements can change, and some Apollo motorhome hire Geelong bookings may be served from a Geelong-area address or a Melbourne-west collection point.

Before pickup, check the exact Apollo Geelong depot address, opening window and after-hours rules in your booking. If you are arriving by train, Geelong Station is about 75 km from Melbourne Southern Cross by rail; if you are arriving through Melbourne Airport, allow 75–95 minutes to Geelong in clean traffic and much longer when the M1 turns feral.

• Do: check height, length and fuel type before leaving the yard; many 2-berth vans are around 2.6–3.0 m high, while larger motorhomes can be 3.2 m-plus.
• Do: photograph existing marks, tyre condition, gas bottle, awning and windscreen before rolling out.
• Don't: plan a 250 km first afternoon. A pickup, groceries, water fill and induction can eat 2 hours without even trying.

The good news: Geelong is easier than central Melbourne. The bad news: it still has tight supermarket car parks, low branches in older streets and weekend traffic pouring towards Torquay. A camper feels much wider when a tradie ute is sitting on your back bumper at the Moorabool Street lights.

For the Surf Coast, use the B100 via Torquay Road/Surf Coast Highway and avoid ducking through small beach streets until you know the vehicle. For the Bellarine, the B110 Bellarine Highway is the clean run to Queenscliff and Portarlington. For inland loops, the Geelong Ring Road and Princes Freeway keep you away from the fiddly CBD turns.

• First servo stop: Waurn Ponds, Corio, Grovedale and North Geelong all have large-format fuel stops where a motorhome can swing in without a 14-point turn.
• Fuel range: keep a 150 km buffer once you head west; Geelong to Apollo Bay is only about 115 km, but detours, hills and headwinds chew diesel.
• Parking: pick the far edge of supermarket car parks, use two bays only where permitted, and never trust underground clearance signs by memory.

The first night is for finding the grey-water hose, discovering which cupboard rattles, and working out whether the fridge needs 240 V, gas or patience. It is not for threading a rented campervan around the Great Ocean Road after sunset with wallabies treating the verge like a buffet.

A powered site within 30–90 minutes of pickup is worth more than a heroic free camp on day one. Expect powered sites on the coast to cost more on weekends, school holidays and summer; book ahead from late December through January, Easter and long weekends.

• Best easy move: Torquay or Barwon Heads for a beach walk, shops and a simple morning start.
• Quieter option: Meredith Park near Lake Colac if you are heading west and your van is genuinely self-contained.
• Don't: camp in a beach car park because there are other vans there. Councils know that trick. They wrote the signs for it.

Free camping around Geelong is possible, but it is not a free-for-all. In the City of Greater Geelong and many Surf Coast towns, sleeping in a vehicle is generally restricted to signed camping areas or booked holiday parks. A sea view at 10 pm can become a ranger conversation at 6 am.

In Victorian national parks, including Great Otway National Park and the You Yangs Regional Park area, camp only in designated campgrounds and book where Parks Victoria requires it. Some sites have drop toilets but no drinking water, no bins and no dump point. Generators are often restricted or banned, and dogs are usually not allowed in national parks.

• Self-contained means: onboard toilet or cassette, grey-water managed correctly, rubbish carried out and no dishwater dumped under a tea-tree.
• Fire rules: Total Fire Ban days are serious in Victoria; in hot northerlies above 35°C, your cosy campfire idea is finished.
• Do: read the sign at the actual camp, not a two-year-old app comment from someone called BigGaz.

Apollo campervan Geelong trips go smoother when you sort the boring stuff early. Fill fresh water before the coast, empty the cassette before it becomes a personality issue, and check whether your vehicle uses swap-and-go LPG bottles or an inbuilt tank. Ask at handover; returning gas and fuel incorrectly can be an expensive little souvenir.

Public dump points are commonly found in larger towns and showground or visitor-centre areas around Geelong, Colac, Winchelsea, Torquay and Queenscliff, but access and maintenance change. Use the dump-point directory/app on the day, and carry a 10–15 m drinking-water hose plus fittings. Do not use the dump-point rinse hose to fill your fresh tank unless you enjoy living dangerously.

• Water: top up every 1–2 days in warm weather; two people can burn through 80–100 L quickly with showers and dishes.
• LPG: servos and hardware stores in bigger centres are the safest bet; small coastal towns can run out during January.
• Groceries: Geelong, Waurn Ponds and Colac are cheaper and easier than buying every meal in beach towns.

Geelong is one of those rare pickup cities where the first 200 km can be genuinely varied: surf beaches, ferry towns, rainforest gullies, gold-rush streets and volcanic plains. The trick is not trying to do all of Victoria in four days. That is how you end up eating servo pies for dinner and calling it culture.

These loops are friendly to 2WD rental campers in normal conditions. Avoid unsealed shortcuts unless your hire agreement allows them, especially after rain in the Otways or on back roads near the Grampians. Road trains are less common here than the Nullarbor or north-west, but B-doubles on the Princes Highway still deserve room and respect.

• Bellarine loop: short, civilised, good for first-timers and ferry watchers.
• Great Ocean Road loop: classic but slow; 50 km can take 90 minutes with lookouts and bends.
• Goldfields and Grampians loop: bigger distances, darker skies, more wildlife at dusk.