As you can see from the map below, Mount Helena is a semi-rural area nestled in the beautiful Perth Hills.

The Hills area is not representative of the greater Perth area, or WA in general. It's quite lush, rocky, rolling and cool (as opposed to hot, sandy, flat and boring). If I were to equate Mount Helena with somewhere back east, I'd probably pick Whittlesea. Our nearest shopping centre (other than the local IGA) is at at Mundaring, which would be similar in size to Yea.

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Mount Helena is about 35Kms from Perth (which for Perth drivers is like the other side of the planet), and we have a population of around 2700. This page shows a useful suburb profile from a real estate perspective.

Of local (and indeed national) historical significance is the Golden Pipeline. A an ambitious project conceived in the late 1800's to carry water from the Mundaring weir some 500Km to the goldfields of Kalgoorlie. This was a major engineering feat, and one steeped in sadness with the engineer, C.Y.O'Connor, ultimately committing suicide at Fremantle admidst unfounded allegations of corruption.

Popular activites in the area include bushwalking and cycling along the Heritage Trail, drinking beer, dirt bike riding around the hills, drinking beer and socialising at the pub whilst drinking beer.