4 hours getting lost in the Dandenongs!

After a productive Saturday morning last weekend spent shopping at the sales at both Mountain Designs and Kathmandu (and giving the credit cards a thrashing) and much needed bicycle maintenance in the afternoon, we decided Sunday was the day for a long walk out the Dandenongs.

The original plan was to walk up Mt Dandenong, so we paid a visit to the info centre at Upper Ferntree Gully for some map action.  The lady in there suggested we take a bus to Sassafras or Olinda.  So as you know where I'm talking about, here's a link to a map of the area:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Dandenong+Ranges+National+Park,+Monbulk+Rd,+Belgrave+Victoria+3160,+Australia&hl=en&ll=-37.861438,145.352554&spn=0.069796,0.154324&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.821085,79.013672&geocode=FWWivv0dGGuqCA&hnear=Dandenong+Ranges+National+Park,+Monbulk+Rd,+Belgrave+Victoria+3160,+Australia&t=m&z=13

We decided taking a bus was for pussies, so we'd just walk it instead!  Up the Lyrebird track we went, to the One Tree Hill Picnic ground.  From there, we took off in a NE direction down another track.  The problem was that the maps were very basic and many of the tracks weren't marked on them at all, so there was a lot more backtracking than we would have liked!  We decided we'd walk to Sassafras, but ended up at a dead end on a road with no continuing track on the other side and we weren't too keen on walk up the highway as there were cars zooming past and not much walking room on either side.  At that point, we had no choice but to turn around and head back which was a wee bit frustrating.  However it's good to know there are a huge amount of tracks beyond the 1000 steps area, and another good thing is that my boots didn't give me any blisters whatsoever!  20 kms of uphills and downhills later and our legs weren't even aching that much the next day which is a good sign I reckon.  It was also a super nice day, 27 degrees ad sunny.

Here are some pics of the walk including a sign for Helen Track.  Cheesy?  Yes, but it had to be done.  We also found a really creepy car graveyard with loads of random junk strewn everywhere which looked like it could have easily been a scene from a thriller / horror film so if anyone needs a creepy location for a film, lemme know.  I took the old drier pic there and there's one of Anton checking out an abandoned Range Rover.  Half expected to find a dead body.  Thankfully we didn't discover one!!

A few of my amazing friends put in for a $100 Kathmandu voucher for my birthday a couple of weeks ago so that definitely took the edge off the credit card thrashing.  I now have:  a down jacket with a hood, a merino hat, merino gloves, walking poles, liner socks, and a mean head lamp.

Next purchase to save up for is a sleeping bag.

Our quiz night at Fitzroy Bowling Club went pretty well last night.  Anton's workmates and my workmates formed 2 tables, and then we had 2 more tables of our friends.  Team 'Gone Fishing' came out in first place, taking away a stack of Monteiths and Little Creatures beer and 2 bottles of wine.  We also gave away Gr'lled vouchers, Holgate Brewhouse voucher, Taco Truck voucher, Aesop gift pack, and a double pass to Nova Cinemas.

Huge thanks to the above businesses for their donations!  Next quiz night is on 16th May, but before that, I have Let's Dance on Saturday 28th April at The Evelyn Hotel!!

Tix $15 on the door, this is going to be one fun night!

FB event is here:   https://www.facebook.com/events/115504321910607/

I have also attempted to suss a raffle ticket stall for us at both Barkly Square and Northcote Plaza this week but they have both fallen through which is pretty disappointing.  It looks like Piedmontes are the friendliest supermarket in Melbourne, so we may well end up outside there again this Saturday morning.

Until next time..

Helen

Rain, hail and shine

So, after selling our tickets to Boogie Festival we decided we should def seize the Easter weekend with both hands and wrestle it into submission.

Good Friday we were up at the crack of dawn and off to Upper Ferntree Gully for some more 1000 steps action.  This was a good chance for Anton to break in his new boots.  After a trip up the Bellview track and down the Lyrebird, his heels were bleeding and blistered.  That called for an end to that trip, and we were back on the train after only about an hour.  There really is no other way to break in boots but to walk in them though!

Saturday was rest day, then we were up at the crack of dawn again on Sunday to pick up our 'Rent a Bomb'  And what a bomb it was (the sky blue colour of it making up for a missing inner door-handle on the passenger side, and a few goes before starting up after it's been dormant for a while)  At $35 a day you really can't complain.  So off we drove to Kinglake to claim our pre-booked number 9 campsite at The Gums Camping area.  Each campsite has a BBQ table and fire pit, so after driving around trying to find firewood for a while, we settled on some fire-lighters and charcoal instead.  Pitched the tent, and then took off on a '4 hour circuit' according to the park ranger which ended up being about 2.25hrs.  Probably a good thing because even with mega bandages Anton's blistered heels were bleeding again.  OUCHY!

Here are some fun pics of the campsite and fire.  This first one is Anton putting on his new boots, Rent-a-Bomb 'Barry' in the background:

This next one is on the 2.25hr walk.  As you can see the trees are all charred from the Black Saturday fires in 2009.  It it rather sad and confronting with the trees being a constant reminder of the tragedy, sort of like a living memorial I guess.  95% of the Kinglake National park was burnt and the Gums Camping area and some of these tracks have only just been re-opened after restoration:

Anton just about to eat a flaming marshmallow!

After quite a good night's sleep, we decided a longer walk was in order.  We packed up the tent in the morning, and after grabbing a welcome coffee and croissant in Kinglake, set out on a 5 hour tramp.  We really didn't have a clear idea how long it would take, but figured judging by the map, that it would take between 4 and 6 hours.  Anton wore his sneakers as his heels were still too sore to endure a long tramp in his boots.  The scenery on this tramp was much more interesting than the previous day.  We headed along ridges and down dales, the weather varying between, rain (we had umbrellas) hail (thank god for those umbrellas) and shine!  Because we are not yet fully equipped with gore-tex wet weather gear, I was hugely thankful Anton bought the umbrellas along.  As luck would have it, we found a concrete pipe to eat our lunch in about a minute before the first hail storm swept in:

The second hail storm on the way back was brutal and all we could do for about 5 mins was crouch down and brace ourselves against a low bank with our umbrellas aimed against the storm!  It was so loud it sounded like a huge plane flying low overhead.  Nothing like a good storm in the wilderness!

Here's a pic of some fluro orange fungi on a burnt out tree.  There were also incredible grass trees which were beautiful and strange and prehistoric looking.

A sunny spell after the rain:

We were glad to finally turn the corner after 5.5hrs and see Barry the Rent-a-Bomb waiting patiently where we had left him, but felt pretty proud of ourselves to have done such a challenging walk (with both terrain and weather!)

One thing it has revealed is that my boots are not up to the challenge!  After 5 hrs walking on reasonably rocky ground, the soles were ripped to shreds!  Not cool.  So I have had to bite the bullet and buy some new ones from Mountain Designs today.  Oh well, better to find out now than 2 months down the track. Blisters will also become my constant companions over the next few weeks, the only difference being that I will probably complain more than Anton about mine rather than his admirable suffering in silence.  Here is a pic of the soles of my old boots, next to my new ones:

That's all for now!  Oh we set up camp outside Piedmonte's supermarket on March 31 (my birthday incidentally) and sold 13 raffle tickets in 3 hours, so that was a good effort!  

Next week is quiz night on Wednesday so between now and then we will need to plan some cool games and of course great quiz questions!

Wish us luck!

XXX