Crowne Plaza Torquay, Torquay review: Beach break with a surprise

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This was published 15 years ago

Crowne Plaza Torquay, Torquay review: Beach break with a surprise

Crowne Plaza Torquay ... the central pool.

Crowne Plaza Torquay ... the central pool.

Glenn Mulcaster surrenders to the lure of a busy coastal town and is sent running.

I am confronted by a strange collection of about a dozen joggers who look as if they are in a race, or perhaps a fun-run on the Torquay foreshore.

The stubbly brown grass is not a particularly comfortable surface for them and they fan out over a wide area, running with some purpose. I move to let them pass but one, amid huffing and puffing, says: "You've got about 20 seconds." Her companions laugh. A drop of rain about the size of a 50-cent piece hits me on the back of the hand. I have not felt raindrops for several weeks and I smile, luxuriating in the surprising contact with rainwater. The storm rumbles closer. Seconds later, I join the runners, passing many of them despite the handicap of open-toed sandals.

I cross the road and return to Crowne Plaza Torquay, a hotel and apartment complex that opened about 12 months ago on the site of a former caravan park. It is a hotel with a confusing outlook. There is no obvious front door, side door or back door. Wings of the hotel wrap around a central swimming pool, landscaped with tall palm trees, boardwalks and artificial grass.

It is at Zeally Bay, about an 800-metre walk north of Torquay's town centre. The sweet-briny tang of salt and seaweed on the Bass Strait shoreline fills the air as a gentle sea breeze cools our room allowing us to escape the summer heat.

In almost a dozen years living in Victoria, I have never knowingly stopped at Torquay, unless you count traffic snarls on the highway - cars moving like tin sheep herded from the Western District in the predictable summer weekend traffic flows with other bleating sightseers and holidaymakers. This time we book as contrarian travellers. We do not leave Melbourne until almost 7pm on a Friday and marvel at the good run down the Princes Freeway and Surf Coast Highway.

The first and second levels of the Torquay property are for hotel guests while the upper levels are for private apartment owners. The hotel rooms are furnished comfortably. We have a ground-floor room with a kitchenette outfitted with an electric stove, oven and bar fridge. The absence of a frying pan means I can't cook eggs and bacon. There is an oven but no oven trays in which to heat or cook anything and the omission of a microwave oven is a little startling.

There are plenty of dining choices in the hotel, which also features conference facilities on the upper floors.

Having spent a morning walking on the beach, jumping waves and swimming in the local pools, we don't feel up to dressing for the SeaSalt restaurant. So we dine in the ground-floor White Water Cafe, where blue eye is the fish of the day for a reasonable $17.

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A lounge bar fronts onto the central swimming pool area and there is also a gymnasium, an indoor lap pool and a day spa centre, which I do not visit.

There is a flat-screen television in the living room connected to a DVD player and another television in the bedroom mounted on the wall. The free channels available are a poverty-pack selection from a pay-TV provider that keep rotating us through the menu of paid movies-on-demand for all day blue movies and Hollywood hits. The selection of free-to-air channels does not include ABC2.

Air conditioning is only for the main living area - not the bedrooms - and while we can open a sliding door on a veranda facing east to let in cooler air, there is no catch to secure or lock the flyscreen door, which is only covered in a flimsy mesh.

Our bathroom has a top-loading washing machine and a tumble dryer. The kitchenette also has a single dish-drawer dishwasher. Electric barbecues are dotted around gardens planted with native flowers and shrubs and there is a children's playground.

Staff are courteous, helpful, knowledgeable and talkative. Valet parking is $10 overnight but you can park in some of the limited hotel spots or join cars parked in a nearby vacant lot.

VISITORS' BOOK

Crowne Plaza Torquay

Address: 100 The Esplanade, Torquay, Victoria 3228.

Bookings: 1800 669 562; hotel phone 138 388.

Getting there: Travel 95 kilometres from Melbourne via the Princes Freeway and Surf Coast Highway, 45 kilometres from Avalon Airport, 23 kilometres from Geelong.

How much: from $250 a night for two people at weekends; 10 per cent discount to RACV members.

Summary: Great location. Well planned. Quiet area. Business-like atmosphere and professional staff. Email: hotel@crowneplazatorquay.com.au.

Verdict 16

The score: 19-20 excellent; 17-18 great; 15-16 good; 13-14 comfortable. All weekends away are conducted anonymously and paid for by Traveller.

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