Mt Erica YF Outing

Today the YFers went hiking at Mt Erica which is located in Mt Baw Baw's National Park. 

I realize that I'm into hiking these days so it was great to go with these guys ^^
We stopped for breakfast at Hilltop cafe which everyone enjoyed.

This really old Aussie man passed by our table and loudly asked us "Are you all from Bali?"
and I immediately replied nope we are locals! He said it in a friendly way but it was surprising because I've been mistaken for many things...but Balinese isn't one of them. 

Anyway after breakfast we kept driving and Esther hit a silly bird that flew into her car.
I was driving behind her so when I saw the collision, I just screamed and I could imagine everyone in her car screaming hahaha

When we got to the car park we found this map. Since our group had a large difference in fitness we decided to aim for Mt Erica first. 

The group was pretty big so it took us a while to walk. At the end of the pack was Esther:

She was so worried about snakes and first aid that she brought a massive backpack and struggled to climb. Eventually Zack swapped with her and we got faster. 

When we got to Mt Erica this was the only sign we found. 

It was quite anticlimactic because I was expecting a mountain view or something. There were some tough stretches up the mountain, so it was sad to just see this. We decided to keep walking and the trees started to form a tunnel like pathway. 

We continued walking till we felt the ground start to descend. Then I think someone made the decision to turn around because the next major point was way too far away for our little day hike. 

So we turned back and headed to the Mushroom rocks :) 

When you first get to the Mushroom rocks they don't appear very interesting.

But after a short rest we started exploring.

And then we found the massive mushroom rock which happens to be really high and this photo does not do it justice. I was already sitting on a massive rock when I took it. 

So for the last half hour, Tim, Zack and I climbed the mushroom rock which was terribly scary, but I was so proud of myself when I got up there. It was so high up that I was too scared to stand. 

Reaching the top of the Mushroom Rock was definitely the highlight for me but overall it was great to spend time with everyone! Thank God everyone got back safely as well