Daylesford roadtrip & getaway

So this trip had been on the cards for awhile, and it was a lovely way to spend my dear friend Raja's 26th birthday. I flew home from Perth on the Thursday night to rendezvous with the girls on Friday. Every good road trip begins with snacks – we picked up honeycomb malteasers and Doritos, which hardly lasted the duration of the 1.5hr drive from Werribee to Daylesford. Stef was super excited to look for a fork in the road, a turn-off where her godparents owned property. Raja thought we were looking for a legitimate fork... haha

We found our accommodation through DayGet - https://www.dayget.com.au/. We stayed at the Oblique property - https://www.dayget.com.au/oblique. After settling in, and unloading our bags - we went for a shop at the local Coles. Stef cooked up some ravioli with a creamy sundried tomato sauce, and some garlic bread. We topped this off by singing 'Happy Birthday' to Raja with a Vienetta ice-cream cake.
As the two bedrooms had two king singles made up together to create king sized doubles, we took apart the mattresses and laid them out on the floor in the living room. It was the best idea ever! We began to watch Space Jam - with Stef exclaiming that she hadn't seen it in years and Raja crashing out.

In the morning Raja cooked up some scrambled eggs, complete with capsicum and feta. As an after deck work-out feed. We began our day of touring by heading off to Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock is known for being a sacred place for local indigenous people and the locality for Joan Lindsay’s book Picnic at Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock also hosts an array of music concerts, markets and popular horse races. Hanging Rock, or Mount Diogenes as it’s also known, is a rare volcanic formation near the townships of Woodend and Mount Macedon. One of the best examples of a volcanic plug or mamelon in the world, it has been exposed to considerable weathering and erosion, resulting in a conglomeration of unusual rock formations. We took loads of snaps, and Stef learnt not to run down hills.

Located on the summit of Mt Macedon, the Memorial cross is an important site for ANZAC veterans and Australians alike. The giant cross stands 21 metres high and commemorates all those who served in wars and conflicts. The Top of the Range tea house is also located at the summit of Mount Macedon, at the end of Cameron Drv. The café is open for morning, and afternoon teas as well as amazing lunches and great coffee! We all got the home-made pumpkin soup with ciabatta toast - was amazing! Oh, and don't forget that the café has the best views semi-panoramic views in the entire Macedon Ranges!

Sanatorium Lake is a man-made lake, famous for its intense reflections, was built to provide a water supply for a proposed 'Sanatorium' for tuberculosis patients.
The lake remains as a tranquil place and as a reminder of advances made in medical science over the years. Sanatorium Lake can be accessed via Lions Head Road which is almost opposite the entrance to Cameron Drive (the main road accessing the Memorial Cross and the Top of the Range Café). The drive down is along a gravel road which passes through the Days Picnic Ground and then to the car park at Sanatorium Lake. A short walk from the car park along the Eco-Tourism Walking Trail takes visitors to an information shelter and the adjacent lake.

Trentham Falls is one of the longest single drop waterfalls in Victoria, plunging some 32 metres over picturesque columnar basalt. Trentham Falls was formed roughly five million years ago (a young formation geologically speaking) from molten lava rapidly cooling as it flowed along the old Coliban River valley. At the base of the Falls, quartz gravel and the former river bed can be seen. The Falls reserve protects one of the best remnants of original vegetation in the area, with stands of manna gum, messmate, stringybark and narrow-leaved peppermint.

We had dinner out at Jimmy's Bar and Dining, we all had Pizza or Pasta. I had the home-made potato gnocchi with a tomato sugo sauce. To top off the night, we all had a hot tub session complete with all the usual girly chats and curled up in bed to watch 'Straight Outta Compton'

On our final morning we visited Lake Daylesford. We had breakfast at the Boathouse Restaurant, which is situated on the banks of the Lake. There was a variety of goodies to pick from, I had the smashed avo and there was the usual big breakfast, scrambled eggs and bagels.
After breakfast we had a look through an Apothecary, and the local Antique dealer before finally stopping to get some of Stef's families baked goods from the Pastry King