Goodbye Grampians-Other Random Pictures

Well, I already posted about our Mount Stapylton Loop hike and rock climbing days in the Grampians, but there are some other random pictures and stories I wanted to share, so this post is for that stuff!

Here is a cool plant, which Google tells me is Banksia spinulosa. I took this picture on our hike on Saturday.

We stopped at the Ngamadjidj (meaning "white person"-don't ask me how to say it) Shelter to see some aboriginal rock art. These drawings were done with white clay.

Mackenzie Falls is one of the most visited places in Grampians National Park. It's a pretty huge waterfall, and you go down a decent number of steps to get to the bottom of it. We enjoyed cooling off our feet in the chilly water after our hike.

There were lots of kangaroos around our campsite, especially early in the morning and at dusk. This one let me get pretty close before hopping away.

There were also a ton of kangaroos on the roads in the Grampians. Emily, our expert driver, was able to maneuver around them. We had one close call with a little brake screeching, but no animals (or humans) were harmed! They were gathered by the hundreds out in the fields, and we had several hop across the road in front of us.

Zack still remembers how to make an awesome campfire. This picture is from Saturday night after our hike. We drank some ciders and made S'mores, which is very un-Australian. We used graham crackers sent by my mom from the US; I never knew that was just an American camping tradition! We played a game of Rummikub with Emily and headed to bed in our tents. In the morning, the birds were SO loud and woke us up pretty early!

Check out my hunky husband!

We drove by this giant koala on Sunday, and I just had to get a picture for Morgan, my koala-loving sister. Anybody who knows her and is reading this should tell her to get the working holiday visa and get out here for a year!

Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend in the Grampians, and we'll be back for sure! Yes, our zip-off pant legs are around our ankles in the picture below, and it looks dorky. Don't judge us!

Aboriginal Art

Yesterday I spent the afternoon walking around Federation Square (more about that in another entry), and I stopped in the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).  Most of the exhibits were free, so even though I'm not much of an artsy fartsy person, it was cool to see some Australian artists' work.  I especially liked the first floor, which was full of Aboriginal art.  Each painting tells a story, and its description was next to it.  I liked the colorful ones.

Last week, I stopped in a shop down in the CBD that has this type of art for sale.  These large ones cost $20,000 or more!  Bummer, because it'd be cool to have one of these colorful paintings above a couch in our house some day.  Anyway, I'm not even sure if I was allowed to take pictures in here, but I did.  I kept the flash off and snapped quickly!  I'll put the rest of my pictures on my Shutterfly site.  Enjoy!