Girls Trip

Blossom, Margaret (Graham’s Mum), and I recently returned from a 3-day trip through a couple of the country towns north of Melbourne. Our first stop was Hanging Rock. Before we left for our trip we watched the 1976 Australian classic movie titled “Picnic at Hanging Rock.” Legend has it that on Valentine’s Day 1900 four school girls disappeared while climbing around the rock. Eventually, one of the girls returned without memory of the events that occurred on the rock. The other three girls were never found. As we hiked, Blossom and I looked everywhere for signs of the missing girls, but we didn‘t uncover any clues. Oh well, the views from Hanging Rock were worth both the drive and the hike to the top.

Next, we drove on to Bendigo, a historic mining city. We stayed the night in the historic Shamrock Hotel. In the morning we took a tour of an old gold mine. Since there are no lights in the mine, we were each given hard hats with head lamps to wear throughout the tour. We also had to wear heavy battery packs around our waists, in order to power the lamps. We rode a lift 80 meters underground, where the tour took place. Blossom was selected to aide the tour guide in a couple of demonstrations. After the tour, we hopped on a talking tram tour. The tram took us down the main street and showed us all of the historical buildings and landmarks. It was a great way for us to learn a bit about the city.

Our last stop after Bendigo was Echuca. The main reason we went to Echuca was for the historic paddle steamer boats. We boarded one of the boats and took an hour long tour on the Murray River. Margaret says that this was the highlight of the trip for her. We were lucky enough to get seats at the very front of the boat where we had the best view.