Night Walk

Friday 24th saw Geoff, Brian, Shona, John, Kate and Linda setting off from Upper Ferntree Gully at about 8.30pm to test our night walking skills. Up the Kokoda Trail steps (trip number 3 up these stairs for Brian and Linda) and into the wilds of the Dandenong Ranges National Park. Some of our team had never walked at night - and so this was a challange.

As usual, it took me 31 minutes to get up the hill - does not seem to change. We had some great views of the lights over Melbourne (probably Mooroolbark or somewhere equally as exciting) from the top of the hill. Met some other crazy trailwalkers running up and down the stairs. Something about those Kokoda steps that is slightly unsettling - there are always people running up and down.

We made good time on the trip - although the night was very warm - probably about 27-28 degrees. On some of the flatter stretches, the air felt like a silk cloth surrounding us. The night lights caused a phenomonen Shona called the mask effect - the night light shining out from our head torches made the dark on the periphery of our eyes seem like a diving mask.

No photos tonight - carried the camera but forgot to take it out! The trip took around 2 hours 55 minutes. Not bad going for the night run. Next - the really big training walk - 47km in the heat next saturday 4th March.