Great place for greatness

This week, a good friend of mine told me that he was thinking of moving to Geelong.

He has spent his whole life living in NSW, but now he has a young family, and he is considering his options.

He said he wanted to get into a piece of property somewhere near a beach, and he could not see that happening unless he moved south. His family loves the water, and he is a fitness professional, so he is thinking Geelong “could be the go”.

He told me he had “narrowed it down to the stretch between Ocean Grove and Lorne”. As we know, that is actually a pretty long stretch.

I gently informed him that Lorne was not really Geelong, but Ocean Grove was kind of close.

The next day he sent me a text and bluntly asked “Is moving to Geelong a good idea or not?”

Of course, my short answer was “yes, it is”.

He followed up with the monosyllabic “why?”

I gave him the obvious answers – the area is a great place for a young family. If you’re into the beach and fitness, this is an awesome region to settle down. It’s close to Melbourne (and Lorne) and then I started to think about this fast-approaching long weekend.

For my mate, Easter in this area is the perfect advertorial. The air is getting cooler, the mornings are getting darker and the last reminders of daylight saving, tell us autumn is falling upon us.

But this is the time when the region is in habited by giants. Legends can be spotted in the cafes and supermarkets.

The Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach is the longest-running professional surfing event in the world, and 52-year-old Kelly Slater is suiting up one more time.

Meanwhile at the other end of the weekend, the Geelong v Hawthorn contest at the MCG is going to witness local boy Tom Hawkins living the dream.

The Hawk is running out for his 350th game for Geelong.

These two are elite athletes who just seem to get better with age.

They have a calm concentration of experience that youth cannot replicate.

Hawkins will write his name into the history books, at the same ground where his career was cemented.

The 2011 grand final against Collingwood was when he demonstrated his full potential.

He marked everything that came near him, like his father was “Jumping” Jack Hawkins.

Tom has taken his family’s legacy to new heights. An era of sustained on-field success and positive community engagement.

It’s been 30 years since Kelly Slater first paddled out at Bells Beach. He is almost sure that this will be his final competition here … unless he wins.

Hawkins may be in the same boat. They are in the autumn of their careers.

Geelong is a special place to be at this time of the year.

I texted all that back to my mate, and he replied, “send me some pictures”. It’s a done deal.