Right up the You Yangs

On Friday Iris and I set out for one last drive in the country before she departs, alas, for another country. We set off over the Westgate, and some time after Werribee, got off the freeway and started exploring. After rumbling along various obscure roads (some sealed and some unsealed, reminding me why it’s not a good idea to clean the car just before a country drive) we decided that heading to the nearby You Yangs would be a good idea.

After a few detours along some farm roads and through the town of Little River (cue a Greatest Hits Of The 70’s album) we found the entrance to the You Yangs park. From the signs it appeared that they wanted cash to enter, but the gate was up, the coin slot looked well and truly jammed and there was nobody about, so we drove on it. If any representatives of Parks Victoria are reading and would like to collect the fee (I think it was $6) then please drop me a line.

We drove up to the car park, a little way up the mountain, and got out to explore. It was surprisingly foggy, but warm at the same time. The signs indicated a walk up to Flinders Peak and back would take about 60 minutes in total – 40 minutes up, 20 minutes back. And despite the other signs warning of a steep climb, and lots and lots of steps, and scary bug-eyed monsters along the way (no, not really), we decided to do it.

It was certainly good exercise, and there were some spectacular views along the way. There were also an alarming number of blackened former-trees which had obviously been struck by lightning, and I was pretty pleased when most of the dark grey cloud that loomed over the mountain decided to blow away to somewhere else.

Making a nuisance of myself in the You Yangs

By the time we reached the top, and climbed the lookout tower to ummm look… out…, we were stuffed, but the view was worth it. We coasted down the mountain, and just as the signs predicted, it seemed to take half as long to get down, at least if you don’t count the few minutes we spent looking at an echidna that appeared along the way. It seemed to be nervous, and hid head-first under a rock.

We got back to the car and headed onwards to Geelong, where we got moderately lost on the way to meeting up with Geoff, Karen and family, some locals, for a bit of a barbecue in his backyard. It was very relaxing, and we spent a good few hours having a good few snags and a good few laughs as well, before heading along the freeway back to Melbourne.