Our Outback Adventure, Day 1

We rose early, packed the car and headed off on the start of our Outback Adventure, we were not meeting the others in the group for two days, but we had decided to slowly make our way to the meeting point and stop off throughout Gold Country on our way up; making our trip a 9 day adventure.

Our first stop was Macedon, as there are several lovely gardens to visit as well as Hanging Rock, it is only about one hour from Melbourne. I didn’t realise it was also ‘Run the Rock’ marathon weekend and the whole area was packed, making parking and photography quite difficult. Also the leaves have not started to turn colour as yet…..so we thought we may come back in a few weeks, it is only an hour or so from Melbourne. Our next stop was Woodend and it was Market Day, a rather large event as it turns out……the town was so packed we could not move here either; our week was not off to a great start! We had no real plans, so it was not a major issue and we continued onto to Mount Macedon. This is snow country and the day we visited was 7C and the wind blowing fiercely making it seem even colder. We visited the Memorial Cross at the summit, this imposing structure stands 21 metres high and commemorates all those who served in wars. We also wandered the gardens, grabbed a hot coffee and then continued on our way.

There were a few old wheat Mills and old Farm yards to visit between Kyneton and Carlsruhe and we got very lucky that Windmill Farm; which is a private property and was having an open day, due to it being sold. This Farm has used in a few films and can usually only be seen from the road. I got cheeky and asked if we could take photos, the real estate agents thought it was OK…..so we did! We also shot around the old bridge, such a fabulous area.

We then went looking for old viaducts and train bridges around the Taradale and Malmsbury area. We found an abandoned house in Malmsbury which was a delight to shoot, opposite the Juvenile Detention Centre.

Eventually as the sun was getting low, we headed off to Maldon, where we had booked a B&B for the night. After check in we headed into the town (or what is left of it) for a lovely dinner at the Spotted Cow Restaurant.

After dinner we drove out to Mount Tarrengower Tower to see if it was open and a good spot for Sunrise. We dodged kangaroos all the way up and down the mountain, it was quite scary in spots. Eventually made our way back to the B&B for bed……we planned an early morning.

I will leave Day 1 here and continue Day 2 in another post.

~Julz

Day 2