Hotels in Warrnambool, Australia

A little about Warrnambool...

Warrnambool is a regional city with a population of 30,392 people on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia, located in the municipality City of Warrnambool. It is at the western end of the Great Ocean Road, but is more quickly reached along the Princes Highway, 265 kilometres and 3 hours from Melbourne by road or rail.

Features: The Warrnambool Botanic Gardens feature wide curving paths, rare trees, a lily pond with ducks, a fernery, a band rotunda, and was designed by notable landscape architect, William Guilfoyle.

The post office and lighthouse date back to the early days of settlement.

Eleven suburbs surround the CBD of Warrnambool: North, South, East and West Warrnambool, Merrivale, Brierly, Dennington, Sherwood Park, Woodford, Bushfield and Allansford.

Warrnambool's War Memorial is fondly referred to as the "Dirty Angel", due to the fact that, from certain vantage points, the statue appears to be holding an erect penis.

The Warrnambool foreshore is a popular swimming area, and is adjacent to the Lake Pertobe parklands. A number of caravan parks are also located in the area.

Transportation: Warrnambool is linked to the rest of the state by the Princes Highway and the Hopkins Highway

Rail and bus services also operate to Melbourne and Geelong. Trains call at Warrnambool's two stations, Warrnambool in the city and Sherwood Park in the city's outer east at Deakin University operating seven days a week.

Local buses cover Warrnambool's city and suburbs and extend to the nearby towns of Port Fairy and Koroit. V/Line buses connect Warrnambool with Portland, Mount Gambier, Ballarat and Hamilton.

Events & Culture: Warrnambool is home to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, which is arguably the most prestigious race in Australia. Drivers from all over Australia and America come to Warrnambool on the Australia Day long weekend to claim the trophy.

The city is also the finishing point of the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic road bicycle race, one of the world’s second oldest bike races, and the longest one day bicycle endurance races in the world, held every October since 1895.

Warrnambool is also the home of the Grand Annual steeplechase, which has more jumps (33) than any other horse race, and is one of the longest steeplechases in the world. It is held on the first Thursday in May each year as part of a 3 day racing festival, and attracts many people from across Australia. The Wunta festival is held in Warrnambool every February.

The Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum is in Warrnambool. It includes a model of an 1800s port village and collections of material salvaged from some of the shipwrecks in the area, most notably the Minton peacock salvaged from the Loch Ard. This year sees the return of a NYE event with fireworks to the centre of Warrnambool with NYE on the Hill sure to draw big crowds on the 31 December 2007.

Between the 1st-3rd September 2008, the city will host, along with Melbourne, the 2008 Australian Football International Cup, featuring 14 nations from around the world playing Australian rules football. The sport is highly popular in the Warrnambool, the city has a very competitive local league and is the origin of many high profile AFL players.