Howdy folks,
I'm a NSWer and it looks like I will be need to be in Melbourne for work on a friday and following monday sometime in March. So I am looking for some options for what to do on the weekend in between. I've done a search and found discussions on walks near trains, but nothing quite matched what I am looking for, so hopefully someone here can make some suggestions...
Given the primary reason for my trip is work stuff, I won't be able to bring much gear with me, so any overnight walks are out. But I am also looking for something thats a decent challenge, i.e. 6-8 hrs on rough tracks with a fair bit of vertical and maybe some scrambling. I would rather not hire a car, so strong preference for something I can get to via train.
The ideal for me would be some town I can get the train to on Friday evening, from which I can do some decent day hikes on sat & sun and then get a train back to melbourne CBD for 9:00am monday morning. The NSW version of what I am looking for would be the Blue Mountains - 2 hrs by train from Sydney CBD, and lots of day walks including 20km+ options like Mt Solitary and the Blue Gum Forest. Is there a Victorian equivalent?