Day 278 Kyneton Tuesday 12th March 2013

Greetings

Trentham Falls

This list of daily activities is working well, no reason it shouldn't, it always works for jobs, so why not sightseeing. Today's list Trentham Falls - check, Hanging Rock - check. We also had lunch in the town of Trentham and visited Mount Macedon and the war memorial. We had wanted to lunch at Redbeard's Bakery after reading a review in the Macedon Tourist magazine, the place was full with midweek tourists so we went to another bakery down the road.

Clematis

On to Trentham Falls, the track to the base of the falls was closed, we were advised by the ranger, who by coincidence was also at the bakery when we were there, that there has not been any track maintenance. The track was barricaded, it would have been easy to walk down if we wanted, and the ranger would have turned a blind eye. The ranger had come down to enquire if we were tourists or locals, we then had a chat about travelling in general, he had been to Tassie and WA. On return to the car we spied an attractive plant off the track Simon investigated and concluded it was a Clematis variety.

Rock "people"

We stopped briefly at the town of Woodend on our way to Hanging Rock, which is about 10kms further down the road toward Mount Macedon. Entry to Hanging Rock is free but it costs to exit, they use one of those airport type ticketing machines, with a boom gates. The walks noticeboard advised the summit walk is strenuous and could result in injury and was not recommended for persons with medical conditions. Actually it was a little strenuous, some of the ramp sections were steep,  There have obviously been many thousands of tourists here judging by the evidence on the rocks - smooth and slippery from all the feet climbing over them. On a wet day they would be treacherous.

More "rock people"

Having watched the famous Picnic at Hanging Rock movie, I was expecting an aura of malfeasance or foreboding,  but I didn't encounter any. Perhaps this would be different if it was a grey day rather than a glorious bright sunny day. I did note that visitor accounts in the interpretive centre talked about eerie, scary etc, could be "marketing" though. Hanging Rock was a notable place for Aboriginal people before white settlement, if anything I could imagine life forms in the rock features, not that I read anything about the significance of the site for Aboriginals.

The actual "Hanging Rock" is a large boulder supported as a lintel across other rocks.

"Help I can't hold it up much longer"

"Simon Attenborough"

As we were leaving Simon suggested we travel another 10kms to Mount Macedon, which turned out to be a great suggestion. The site was officially proclaimed a war memorial in 1996, although it has been a memorial to the fallen in war since 1933. The original cross was damaged by lightning in the 1970's and fire in 1986 and was rebuilt in 1995. The view is magnificent a 180 degree view, even smoggy Melbourne can be seen to the south east.

The Cross

Gardens and cross

Cheers

Susan