Stawell & Hollow Mountain

With water restrictions in place as a result of the ongoing drought more locals are switching to native Australian gardens rather than the English garden look which soaked up so much water. The good thing is that native gardens are also low maintenance and seems to work well with a variety 0f different architectural styles. Never knew that native grasses would suit an Edwardian era home in the photo above but it all seems to work.

Mt Stapleton and Hollow Mountain are at the northern end of the Grampians National Park, one of the few remaining areas still open to hikers after a huge bushfire destroyed more than half the park in a matter of days. I shudder to think of all those poor koalas and other wildlife too slow moving to escape the twenty metre flames that engulfed the region and burnt on for days.
I love the natural amphitheatre above for two reasons: 1. you have to jump across hair-raising canyons along the top of the mountain in order to complete the trail, and 2. it is one of only a few mountains I've climbed that gives a humongous six echoes of "Koo-ee" (for Koreans that's "Yahoo" in Australia) when you bellow into the walls of the main amphitheatre.