Matthew Flinders, mapping Port Phillip in 1802, came ashore near Indented Head, a few kilometres up the coast from here, and climbed the hills to look over the bay. St Leonards is a quiet seaside town at the eastern tip of the Bellarine Peninsula, with a long pier, a sheltered beach and views across the water to the Mornington Peninsula and the distant towers of Melbourne.
The pier is the classic photo spot. At sunrise, the light comes across the bay and catches the old timber posts, and on clear days you can see the You Yangs to the north-west and Arthurs Seat across the water. The beach is calm and shallow, ideal for a paddle or a swim on a hot day.
The Bellarine is a pleasant landscape of rolling farmland, vineyards and coastal villages. Portarlington, up the coast, is famous for its mussels, grown on ropes in the bay, and has a festival in their honour. Queenscliff, at the tip of the peninsula, is a historic town with a fort, old hotels and a ferry across the Rip to Sorrento.
The riding on the Bellarine is gentle, with roads winding through farmland and along the coast. Traffic can be heavy on summer weekends, and the roads into Geelong are busy. The wind off the bay can be strong.
There is a store and a café or two in town, enough for a quick coffee; for a full tank and more choice, Drysdale and Clifton Springs are a short ride inland. If the timing suits, keep the mussels for Portarlington, where they come out of the bay a few hundred metres from the plate.