Picnic at Hanging Rock

On one of the weekends, we took a day trip to Hanging Rock National Park, which is just an hours drive from Melbourne. It's near Mt Macedon and the town of the same name. In fact, you'll drive through Mt Macedon to get to Hanging Rock. Alternatively there is a way around it as well.

Entry fee is $10. You enter a large carpark and at the end is a cafe, gift shop and a small museum describing the history of Hanging Rock as well as the story about the missing girls that was popularized by the movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock".

There are several trails but only one that goes up the hill. Its not that high actually, and thus the walk is quite short. Return trip of 1 hour is usually sufficient. The rock was created by volcanic activity long ago and has the appearance of many tall pillars of rock clustered close together.

There is a concrete path that brings you near the summit. Midway the path splits and you have an option to take the rocky steps up. The 2 paths converge anyway, but the rocky path leads you past interesting rock formations including the "Hanging Rock" rock. You would only take the well defined concrete path if you have a wheelchair or pram, or are on your way down and had seen everything already.

At the summit is a nice view of the surrounding plains. Everything is flat except for neighbouring Mt Macedon, which is several km away. We had some tea and nuts at the summit to enjoy and take in the view. It was a bit cold and windy and took shelter behind a rock, but didn't stay long before descending.

At the end of the climb, we retreated to the cafe, which was quite cosy. It was heated with a central fireplace. Had some coffee and scones. Not bad.

Grampians - Dunkeld and Halls Gap

Autumn is here. Weather is getting colder - around 8-18C. Parents were in town and decided to make a trip to Grampians (again). This is probably my fourth time there, but there is always something new there to see.

The Grampians is a mountain range 3.5 hours west of Melbourne. Popular with holiday makers for hiking and rock climbing. Halls Gap is the usual destination and the so-called gateway to the Gramps, but we decided to take the southern route via Dunkeld, spending one night at the Royal Mail Hotel. Stayed at the 2 storey apartment, which was OK. They also have cottages which are 5km away but in a better setting, right in front of Mt Sturgeon. Probably recommend the cottages the next time around.

There are a few walking trails around the small sleepy town. It was very foggy so most of the majestic towering mountains could not be seen (hidden by clouds). Its not that high, probably < 1000m.

Next day we drove up north to Halls Gap and stayed at Grampians Getaway cottages. Shaped like a pyramid, the 2 storey building was quite cosy. Central was the fireplace which kept the place warm, so long as you kept feeding it wood. Wood ran out at around 4am, so it started to get cold around then, but everyone was too sleepy to re-fuel it. It was not so bad as long as you are under the covers. Just outside, there were 20+ kangaroos grazing. They would all jump away in a stampede when approached. Matthew was very amused by them and the other animals on the compound, which was a several hectare farm estate.

We also walked up Mt William (1167m). You can drive up to the carpark and walk the remaining 1.8km (one way). It is a STEEP sealed road all the way to the top. We pushed a pram up, and it was tiring, but achievable. Because of the low-clouds, the view from the summit was absolutely NIL, but we had a good time sipping on tea and eating nuts anyway.