The End of an Area: Our Final Day in the Sticks Before the Big City

Before dropping off our beloved camper Apollo in Melbourne, we swung through some sweet suburbs outside of town.  We got snowed on, ate some tasty pub grub, tried some equally tasty beer at a local brewery, and had a picnic at Hanging Rock.

Picnic at Hanging Rock, for those who don't know, is a creepy film about some school girls that go missing during an outing in the early 1900s.  The film, directed by Peter Weir, is based on a book that may or (more likely) may not be based on actual events.  Annette can remember seeing the film with her mother and brother as well as telling her mom it wasn't scary just before becoming so freaked out that night that she couldn't sleep.  Jeff has never seen the film, so the rocks and the hike didn't hold the same allure.  The scenery was beautiful and even though the weather was fickle, raining on us one minute and sun the next.  At the summit of the rocks there was even some snow mixed with rain!  Our "picnic", which consisted of merely a carrot, was cut short by the weather, but Annette insisted we have a picnic at Hanging Rock!



We followed up our wet hang-time at Hanging Rock with some excellent pub grub at an old, local brewery.  The beer was as good as the food.  We found that it is hard to put a price on warming up with good, hearty food and equally good beer after a few hours in the cold and wet.  Our brewery lunch left us happy, but there is something to be said for a coffee and fresh baked goodies when it is nasty outside.  We soon found ourselves face to face with the best vanilla slice of the whole Oz trip, which was made even better by the blustery weather and the nice little buzz we acquired at lunch.  Indeed, our day outside Melbourne was a success all around -truly a fitting end to a wonderful road trip.