We were due to visit our friends in Wombat Bend, but Bill was sick and we couldn't go. Instead, Robin suggested that we drive to Hanging Rock near Mount Macedon. Some of you might remember the famous Aussie film, Picnic at Hanging Rock.
It's such a pleasure to drive through rural Victoria. Immediately after winter, the grass is usually still green and the wattle has flowered.
We gradually climbed up the road to the top of Mount Macedon.
Wattle in bloom. It is Australia's national flower.
Notice how the table has been set up for people in wheel chairs.
Entrance to a walk to a Memorial Cross where you get a great view.
It gets cold enough to snow in winter and hot enough in summer to have very bad bushfires.
The person who first officially surveyed this area.
The Cross was destroyed in a very bad bushfire and was replaced in 1995.
Melbourne in the far distance.
More about the plane crash here.
We drove down the other side of the mountain and proceeded to Hanging Rock. Entry is free but you have to pay $10 per car to leave.
We decided to climb the Rock instead of taking the path around it. Initially all you see are trees and bush.
Then eventually you see the rock which is the remains of an old volcano.
The initial climb is easy with a flight of stairs. You have a choice between the stairs and a ramp and we chose the stairs.
It is school holidays in Victoria so there were more people than I expected.
Towards the top the path becomes much more rocky. Marianne had stopped about half way up when we came to a long steep climb.
It's not particularly high but there are good views from the top,
I saw this ramp so I thought it was a good way to go down instead of clambering over rocks.
However it petered out just beyond this section. Robin had chosen to go down the way we came up but both of us initially got lost. By chance we met up and discovered the way to go down. Like the girls in the film, we almost disappeared. We did not see Miranda.
We went down and I saw this bright blue little bird.
We reached the bottom of the rock and here was the local racecourse.
The cafe had an additional customer.
We then drove a few miles to nearby Woodend for lunch.
It is a very pleasant town and since it is not very far from Melbourne, housing prices are high. Most of the shops were occupied.
We had lunch at the local bakery and Robin had a beef sandwich.
And I had an excellent sausage roll along with a milk-shake. Australian comfort food.
Robin bought some more goodies from the bakery as we left. It was doing a roaring trade.
The bakehouse.
So for those of you who remember Miranda from the film, here is an article about what happened to her over the past 40+ years. We all get older.
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