Castlemaine to Gisborne

Monday 1st April 2013

I set off from Castlemaine around 1000, not very early but I was only intending to go to Woodend, around 60kms away, to see Hanging Rock, the setting of the well-known book and film.

After about 10kms, outside the small village of Chewton, there was an interesting monument to another large uprising against the mining tax back in the 1850s gold rush days:

The area is so quiet now, it's strange to imagine a crowd of 14000 people gathering here.

A few kms further on, I met up with 2 other cyclists who were also heading to Hanging Rock, They were on racing bikes and averaging 30kph but I managed to keep up with them and so arrived at the rock around 1230.

It's a volcanic outcrop, rising just over 100m above the surrounding plain. High soda content in the lava, which has been eroded by the action of rainwater, has created many unusual rock formations. It's been a very popular tourist spot for many years and of course notorious for the unexplained disappearance of a group of schoolgirls back in 1901, which became the subject of "Picnic at Hanging Rock"

It was very busy today, being Easter. The climb to the top doesn't take long but does involve a bit of clambering over slippery rocks:

This is the actual "hanging rock" which gives its name to the whole mountain:

 There were great views to be had from the summit:

Here's a view of the rock from the approach road:

I'd intended to stay in nearby Woodend but there was no accommodation to be had there, so I rode on towards Melbourne, taking a scenic detour over Mt Macedon, on the advice of someone in the tourist office. It turned out to be a 12km hard uphill slog to the summit, which took over an hour, but well worth it to see the huge Remembrance Cross there, a memorial to those killed during WW1.

 

 

 

This is nearly 1000m above sea level, and from here Melbourne and Port Philip Bay were clearly visible despite being 60kms away:

 

 



 

Close by is another lookout point, named after Major Mitchell, the first European to climb Mt Macedon:

 

 

About 4 kms back from the Memorial Cross is the access to the Camel's Hump, actually the highest point on the mountain, reached by a 10 minute steep climb. From here there are views to the east, including Mt Tarrengower which I climbed a few days ago:

 

  

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, the descent from there was long, fast, and very enjoyable, reaching 65kph. I arrived in Gisborne around 1800 and found accommodation in a decent motel there.

 

Distance today 109 fairly hilly kms, total so far 1880kms.