The Grampians

I am happy to say that we had a good inspection. I wasn't worried, though. Our place was very clean.

I had a very special post planned for tonight, but I think I might wait for a few days. Today, I'll talk about my trip to the Grampians. The Grampians is a national park in Victoria, which is a bordering state to South Australia. It holds a very special place in my heart. Al took me there exactly one year ago, and I could easily go back there again and again. There are a lot of pictures in here, so enjoy!

Below, we're leaving Adelaide. It's a 5-hour drive to the Grampians....

with a whole lot of looking at this. When you go to the Grampians, the mountains literally shoot out of nowhere. You see flat plains...and then you're suddenly in a mountainous national park.

Look what we found in the fridge in our cottage! Butter, Toblerones and champagne

The owners provided cereal for us

Hiking to the top of the Pinnacle. It's one of the most popular hikes in the park. You have to do a bit of ducking as well as hiking. Can you tell that I'm wearing a Cubs shirt?

The view from the top of the Pinnacle

You climb these stairs to get the best view. These kids were on a field trip!

Climbing down the Pinnacle in an area called Silent Stream. You can't hear anything.

This was our city center. It's so quaint.

This was the outside of our cottage. Many of the houses in the park have this kind of aluminum siding, because it's more prone to fires. When it's dry and extremely hot in the summer, wildfires are unfortunately likely. If you remember hearing about the horrible Australian wildfires in 2009, then you have an idea how bad dry and hot conditions can be. Those wildfires took place in Victoria.

Look what we found sniffing around our yard!

Boomerang throwing area?

This was a breathtaking view. From what I remember, this is an Aboriginal museum.

On our twilight kangaroo walk. Here's a fact: the best time to spot kangaroos is at dawn and dusk.

They were everywhere!

We saw more gorgeous views on our second day of hiking.

McKenzie Falls. You have an easy hike down....

....and then you realize that you have to hike back up!

We went last year, because we had a three-day weekend for Labour Day (same idea as the American's Labor Day, just has an extra letter). We would love to go again this weekend, but we have to save our money for other upcoming holidays. I'd go every year if I could. If you ever come to Australia and want to do something amazing but not so touristy, I definitely recommend giving the Grampians a go. It's about five hours from Adelaide and four hours from Melbourne.

I can't wait for tomorrow. I have the afternoon off, because our office closes at one. I'm probably going to have a relaxed afternoon, and then I have a very fancy dinner at the Convention Centre. Stay tuned for an update on that on Saturday!