Picnic at Hanging Rock

Our excursion today took us about an hour north of Melbourne to Hanging Rock, a mamelon in the Macedon Range.  A mamelon is formed when thick lava vents through a crack, but rather than flowing it just forms peaks because it's so thick.  This range was formed more than 6 million years ago, and the weathering formed the interesting rock formations.

Totally safe . . .

Really, totally safe!

In 1900, some schoolgirls and their teacher went missing from a trip to Hanging Rock and were never found. This led to a best-selling book and movie called "Picnic at Hanging Rock."  After visiting, I can see how one might get lost forever - there are lots of crevasses, and twists and turns amidst the rocks.  Even though Joel and I were keeping close tabs on the kids, they got away from us several times and we lost track of them - totally not scary, given the history of the place, right?   Any boulder available, both kids were wanting to climb on it.  At one point we all lost the trail completely and ended up wandering in a field on the hillside surrounded by wire fence - still not sure how that happened.

The actual Hanging Rock.  You need to duck under it to get to the rest of the path.  Sorry it's blurry - I need to remember to always take two photos.

The climb up was insanely steep.  I was flat out panting by the time we got to the top.  It's only 105 m. above the plain, but there's a 50-60 degree grade during a lot of it.  At the summit, you could wander around to various scenic overlooks.  There were a few people who climbed to super-scary perches high above the ground.  Where the kids got to was scary enough.

Cheers for saving my kid, mate!

A crevasse the kids did not manage to fall down.

Views from the summit

Bottle brush tree

Mystery plant of the day.  Green and yellow fruit, about 3 cm long , with this brilliant purple pre-fruit flower.  Anyone know what this is?

The plain at the bottom - full of gum trees and ferns and other prehistoric plants.

 

Great wildlife sightseeing - we saw a koala sitting in a tree, an echidna, who would have walked over my foot if I hadn't moved, and a few skinks.  We were looking for kookaburras and kangaroos, but they were making themselves scarce today, although kangaroo scat was everywhere.  We hope you enjoy the photos. 

Camera-shy koala.  Look about one-third of the way from the left, in the middle vertically.  You can see his little ear and a paw.

Kangaroo scat.  You know you were wondering.

We think this was a blue tongued skink, but it moved pretty fast.

Least people-phobic echidna ever.