Grampians National Park, VIC

Less than 3 hours drive west of Melbourne is Grampians National Park. There are beautiful hikes in these very special mountains, made of sandy sediments that became pressed and folded  over 400 miliion years ago, now 'soft' limestone rock. This must be like a  playground for my geologist friends.

I have seen my first wallaby (this is not a kangaroo), exotic birds (white parrots, Crimson Rosella's), lizzards and a big porcupine. No snakes or spiders, luckily.

The last couple of days I have enjoyed hiking in this peculiar landscape. I made it to the top of some peaks and to the bottom of the water falls. All is so serene and tranqulle - like mountains and places are when you are the only human being within miles.It is good to be close to nature again after all these years in a small, over populated country like Holland. I am just not a city girl - never were and never will be.

The Pinnacles are a bunch of pointy rocky tops with a vertical drop down to the plains. It was an astonishing hike thru the canyon and up the gorge till I got to something like a steep plateau. Stunning views and trembling legs. Two kilometers upwards on rocks and carved-in steps is tough! 

It has started raining in The Grampians and I can hear the rain drops on the roof of the very nice YHA Hostel I am staying at. The YHA Hostels are so much better than the backpacker hotels I have been at so far. Clean, cozy, friendly, and even cheap! It took a few weeks to find out but that's back packing: make some mistakes, find your way anyways, listen to other travelers. And nowadays of course: Googgle what ever you want to know. Like why some countries drive left and other right! Did you know it all started left because one mounts a horse from the left and therefore one was safer on the left side of the road? Tom knew that. Austrailans are clever!

This is a close up of the MacKenzie Falls. I am so happy with my new camera, a rather small but potent compact, digital Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10.
The last picture shows how the Grampians look after the fierce fires of 2006 when more or less the whole park was ingulfed in the flames. Amazingly, nature comes back even greener than it was!