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.
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