Hanging Rock - 24th May 2014

We awoke to a grey day in Melbourne, I was pretty keen to go for a bit of a stroll to test out my ankle though, so we decided to head up to Hanging Rock near Woodend. According to my doctor I'd developed a stress fracture on my walk up in Carnarvon National Park that I did over Easter, and this was the weekend he said that I could start to exercise again. Hanging Rock would be a nice easy walk to test it out on.

Lunch in Woodend.

As is becoming usual for me we stopped at a cafe for lunch on the way, this time we chose a small cafe in Woodend called The Chocolate ..... yeah, that's right I've forgotten the name. The little cafe was populated by grumpy older women, not sure what that was all about but there weren't to many smiles to be shared, the staff however were charming. So after reading The Saturday Paper and polishing off a couple of ham, cheese and tomato toasties along with a couple of coffees, we eventually decided to leave the little cafe and head over to Hanging Rock.

Walking around the western end of Hanging Rock.

A ten minute drive later and we were there. Pulling on my boots I was a little apprehensive, I was a little bit over my ankle injury and I was anxious that it would be OK. The photos today are pretty average, the overcast sky meant that the polariser couldn't work its magic and I always have trouble getting a good shot in forests. First up we circumnavigated the rock, heading around in a clock wise direction, every now and again there would be a nice view to our right of the rocky ramparts towering above. 

We had a little blue sky to begin with.

Rocky turrets.

On reaching the east side of the rock we went down to check out the horse racecourse, there were plenty of Kangaroo's grazing on the in field, including one descent sized buck that I was a little wary of. The big roo seemed fairly unconcerned about me though, and continued his grazing. Leaving the racecourse we completed the loop at the visitor centre and started the climb to the summit, passing a sign that warned us about all the risks to life and limb that we would encounter on the 100 metre climb.

Hanging Rock racecourse, the rocky outcrop is The Camels Hump on Mount Macedon.

The big buck wasn't really too concerned about me.

The good news for me was that my ankle still felt good, heading up the track we took the steps option which took us under the Vampire Cliff before climbing steeply up some steps towards the Central Forest passing The Hanging Rock on the way.  We now rejoined the ramped path and followed it to The Saddle, from here the track got a little rougher as it made its way to the summit, following the route of least restrictions through the rock, near the top we had some more steps which I christened the Miranda Steps (Picnic at Hanging Rock anyone?). Soon after conquering the Hillary Miranda Steps we reached the summit, sharing the experience with some scouts, a birthday party, a glamour shoot, and some hardcore Japanese girls in four inch high heeled boots. 

How many ways to die?

Sam under The Vampire Cliff.

Heading up towards The Central Forest.

A Snow Gum near the summit.

There has been a local campaign to spare Hanging Rock from over development.

After jumping around the rocks for a few minutes to get a couple of photos we decided to head back down. The path on the way down was actually quite slippery and it would be easy to go arse up but we managed to make it down without incident. We paid our ten dollars at the cafe so we could get out the gate, chucked the boots in the back of the ute, and headed off on the drive home. All in all a good day, we were home before dark and my ankle survived unscathed.

Sam, heading down the Miranda Steps.

The path through the Central Forest.

The Dirt.

Hanging Rock is actually called Mount Diogenes, its about ten minutes from Woodend, which is less than an hour north of Melbourne. The route we did came out at 4.4 kilometres and 160 metres climbing on my GPS, not really hardcore, more of a family walk. We stopped for lunch in Woodend where there is a choice of restaurants, there is also a cafe in the grounds of Hanging Rock. There is a $10 per car entry fee which goes towards the facilities. We used the notes from the Tyrone Thomas and Andrew Close book 150 Walks in Victoria, its walk # 12, I think that the book is out of print but you should be able to pick up a copy online.