Werribee South and Point Cook lie on the western shore of Port Phillip Bay, at the point where Melbourne's urban sprawl runs out onto the flat, windy plain toward Geelong. It is an unglamorous end to a ride that began in the damp green of the Otway Ranges, but it has its own odd charm. The land here is flat as paper, divided into market gardens that produce much of the lettuce and cauliflower Melburnians eat, and the sky is huge.
Behind you, the Otways are wild country. The forest of mountain ash and myrtle beech grows in some of the wettest parts of Victoria, with tree ferns, moss and lichen along the road, and the light falls in green shafts through the canopy. Cape Otway has a lighthouse dating from 1848, among the oldest on the Australian mainland, and the koalas that sit in the manna gums by the road are rarely in a hurry. The Twelve Apostles, a row of limestone stacks off the coast further west, are the great sight on the Great Ocean Road, though only a handful of the stacks now stand.
Closer to the finish, there is an interesting history lesson. Point Cook is the birthplace of Australian military aviation, as the country's first flying school opened there in 1914, and the RAAF was later formed here. A small museum and old hangars remain beside the shore. At Werribee, there is a handsome pastoral mansion in a park and a large wetland, the Western Treatment Plant, that is paradoxically among the best bird-watching sites in Victoria, with thousands of ducks and waders.
Riding on the plain is straightforward. The roads are straight, the speed limits tight, and the wind can be strong. Cameras are common, and truck traffic is heavy near the Princes Freeway. Evenings are best, when the light is gentle and the market gardens glow.
Fuel is easy here, with plenty of stations and cafes, and the city is only a short run from here along the freeway.