Mt Macedon, the peak, as opposed to the village on its slopes, is just over an hour’s drive from Ballarat — less from Melbourne — and has become a rather handy day trip.

Highlights so far:

Mr. This cafe is in the town of Macedon. I pulled in the first time because of the sign saying ‘all day breakfast’, and went back the second because the food was excellent and the staff friendly. (The only blooper so far, a failure to deliver a juice.) They have a beetroot fritter that is to die for, serve pancakes with fresh berries and honey comb, and have some of the best coffee.

Cross Memorial at Mt Macedon

Camels Hump. This short but steep walk leads to a viewing platform atop granite cliffs that looks across Hanging Rock. On the most recent visit, we saw an echidna, a koala and two wild goats.

Top of the Range cafe and gallery. This cafe, near the Memorial Cross, is open 10am till 4pm seven days a week and has a veranda with a wide view. It has a resident peacock called Kenneth, as yet unseen by me. It also has friendly staff, delicious scones and a very tasty iced coffee, as well as handcrafts and souvenirs. The memorial itself is a large (rebuilt) cross, 21m tall, commemorating the dead of World War I, with other campaigns acknowledged at the start of the path. Melbourne is visible from the site, if the haze and smog allow. It is surrounded by dense eucalypt forest and manicured flower garden. There is also a memorial to a 1948 aircraft crash nearby, the Kurana memorial,in which the crew of an ANA DC-3 were killed and the air hostess honoured for her bravery. On one visit, visitors paused to allow a brown snake to cross the path.

Sanatorium Lake. The parking area closest to the lake is at the end of an attractive dirt road bordered by huge pine and gum trees. The small lake was built to service a tuberculosis sanatorium — one had already been established nearby in a former hospital, since destroyed by fire, but plans to build a newer, bigger one were scuppered. But the lake remains, and is only 200m or so from the car park through forest, and its stillness offers a lovely spot for, ahem, reflection.

Forest Glade Gardens: We ambled through these impressive private gardens in Mt Macedon for about 2.5 hours, and still hadn’t covered all the trails. The garden offers a variety of flora, from manicured gardens to Aussie scrub, as it spills down terraces that can make steep going at times. But there are plenty of flat trails and lots of shady seats, with sculptures ranging from myth to kids at play to portraits and more. The site is also home to the Stokes Collection, but you need to book, and pay extra, to see this private antique collection. The gardens are open daily and cost $8 by honour system at the gate — limited street parking and no public toilets or water on site. Well worth the visit, even for someone like me who doesn’t know their flowers at all. Also, we saw an echidna in a garden bed abutting the house — very cool.

More pictures of Mt Macedon