1000 Steps
October 2010 and the family and I wanted to give the famous 1000 steps a go in Ferntree Gully. We arrived mid arvo on a cold, drizzly day thinking it would be quiet, but we were wrong, it was packed.
We parked in the Ferntree Gully picnic area at the base of the mountain with the signs saying that the 1000 steps were 800mt up the Kokoda Memorial Track.
With my son on my back and daughter along side we head off with my wife close behind.
The 800mt walk to the start of the steps was an easy uphill stroll with memorial plaques lining the side of the track.
At the start of the steps the track narrows dramatically and with lots of walkers and joggers it was very tight in spots.
From here to the top is about 1.7km, uphill and it was tough, especially with Baxter on my back. My 5yo daughter did really well, she walked 2/3 of the way, I carried her the rest. There are rest areas along the way which we took advantage of.
Except for the loads of people the walk was beautiful, the stream was flowing nicely after recent rain and the trees and ferns looked great.
It took us about 40min to reach the top from the car park where we had a well deserved rest and gave Baxter a run around.
The walk down was just as hard and while the kids had a play on the playground in the picnic area I thought I would go back up by myself, without the pack, to see how long it would take.
I gave it a good crack and got up in 9min with 7min to get back down, from the base of the stairs.
Good walk on the day, I wouldn't want to go there on a nice day, I'm tipping it would be packed.
No comments:
Post a Comment