Hanging Rock and more of Melbourne

Two more days of touring and we are still holding up.  The pace we are going is much more  relaxed than my typical sightseeing trips (where Susan compares my approach to planning a military campaign), but we are definitely doing enough to feel ready to sit a while at the end of the day.
On Tuesday we headed northwest for a picnic at Hanging Rock.

Our picnic

For those not familiar with it, there is a book (and movie) of that title about the disappearance of some school girls at the turn of the last century.  We had read the book many years ago and watched the film as a refresher after returning to Melbourne on Tues eve,  The site itself is a lovely setting with picnic grounds spread out at the base of a volcanic formation plus a horse racing course, playing fields, etc.  The outcropping is a volcanic remnant in which the softer, surrounding rocks have been eroded away, leafing a rocky promintory above the surrounding plain.  The geologic history is akin to the formation of Devil's Tower in Wyoming, but Hanging Rock is quite accessible to casual hikers.  There are numerous nooks, crannies and crags to explore and the views over the surrounding countryside (mostly agricultural land) are very scenic.  The book/film evoke a sinister mood, but on a beautiful, sunny day, it is very inviting and cheerful with lots folks enjoying a day with families and friends.

Near the top of Hanging Rock

View from the top with Beth.

On the way down, we saw our first koalas in the wild!

Two koalas high in a gum tree.

Coming home, we drove through some country that I could easily mistake for some areas in northern CA--golden hills with the occasional green tree--were it not for the cars all driving on the "wrong" side.
Wednesday was spent locally exploring a bit more of Melbourne.  We  started by taking the train to Flinders St Station and then wandered a bit through the central business district.  Downtown Melbourne generally alternates broad principal streets with narrower streets.  Coming off of these are numerous, narrow laneways, originally designed for rear access to buildings.  It gives a bit of the feel of a maze or perhaps narrow streets in very old European or Middle Eastern cities.  In addition, there are numerous covered arcades with an amazing variety of shops and restaurants in a very up-scale setting.  The laneways today are often converted to restaurants with outdoor as well as indoor seating.  It's a very nice place to simply explore and wanderig.

One of the interior arcades.

At lunch in Melbourne.  This is our "eat your heart out" photo for all of you still enjoying a northern winter!

In our wanderings, we also went into a few interesting, restored buildings including the old stock exchange, the ANZ gothic bank, the former bank at 333 Collins St., the old shot tower, etc.

The shot tower enclosed in a glass, conical skylight.  Melbourne has several examples of old structures that are completely engulfed within new structures.

We spent all afternoon at the Victoria State Library.  In addition to simply being a beautiful building, it included a couple of levels of displays focusing primarily on the history of Victoria.

Main gallery at Victoria State Library.  Historic displays encircle this space on several levels.

However, there were also fascinating displays relating to various library holdings, such as 16th century editions of books (Dante, Luther, etc.), original books by early Australian explorers and interesting collections of specialty publications.  There was a rather extensive display on the infamous Victorian bushranger, Ned Kelly, which included the armor he was wearing when captured.  He has achieved somewhat mythic status in Australia with numerous books, songs, films, rock operas, etc., telling his story.  We stayed at the library until they shooed us out and then returned home by tram.  Trams are almost ubiquitous in Melbourne and it was a nice way to see a bit more than from the train.