It's a long way to the top

A couple of days before Christmas, it was my sister's 21st birthday. Instead of having a big party, she organised a trip for my family and I to go to Sydney back in October. It was so fun, I wish I had've thought of that for my 21st!

On her actual birthday, we went off for a day trip to Hanging Rock. It's a large geological formation, basically a giant rock and you can walk to the top of it.

This curly tree greeted us on the way in.

It was made famous by the Australian novel and later movie called Picnic at Hanging Rock. I've never read the book or watched the movie, but after learning a bit about the history of it, I'm intrigued. I wish I had've dressed up in something white and flowy, like the actresses did in the recent TV series:

Source

I love dressing up, so wasn't too thrilled about dressing down for the day. My sister recommended wearing runners for the steep walk, but I'm much more of a boots girl, so I stuck on my trusty leopard fake Doc Martins, jeans and a bright t-shirt. I was going to wear my usual block heeled boots but I'm glad I didn't because I wouldn't have made it to the top of Hanging Rock and would've slipped a bunch of times!

I'm not unfit, but the steep walk up was hard and the hot sun was beating down on us. We got to the top and this was the view: 

In total, it took us an hour to get up and then all the way back down Hanging Rock. We found a grass area near the Hanging Rock Racecourse and laid down for a bit, it was relaxing. This was the view from beneath the tree.

In the middle of the racecourse, there was a large lake and we spotted some nearby kangaroos hopping about. This is Australia! 

Afterwards, we ate lunch in a nearby small town called Woodend. I don't know what I loved more- the vegetable salad or the orange walls!

On the way home, we stopped off at the Organ Pipes in Keilor. I went there for an excursion in primary school. It was a long walk to get there and we felt like we were melting in 40°C sun. 

The information plaque stated that: 

About a million years, molten lava flowed over the Keilor Plains from Mount Holden and other nearby volcanic hills. It filled the depressions and valleys of the former land surface, the cooled and solidified into basalt.

After the long walk up the hill, we've never been so glad to hop in the car and head back home.

We ended my sister's birthday with some chocolate ripple cake, which she loves me to make every year, and a viewing of the 2004 movie Thunderstruck. It's a great Australian, rock 'n' roll movie which I wrote about here. We've now declared that we'll watch the movie every year around Christmas time, it's so much better than any Christmas TV movie.

See you next week (and have a fab new year)!

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Title: It's a Long Way to the Top by AC/DC