For Boston..

As a runner.. it's impossible not to be affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.. just felt like doing something & standing behind people with a common cause, this bib was created by some folks on FB & I thought I'd join & do my bit too.. world's gone mad these days & folks who still have a sense of what's right & what's wrong must come together to show condemnation & solidarity.

The Ultra Dandenong Project - Olinda 2

No I haven't forgotten about this project!

I've been putting off running in Mt Dandenong again for a while & really had no reason not to, today. So packed all the running gear into the car & off I went. I had no clue which part of Mt Dandenong I wanted to run until late this morning.. I've already covered Sherbrooke previously, Dongolla during the Rollercoaster run, did a run up the Kokoda 1000 steps up to One Tree Hill so pretty much covered that area too, and really needed to discover more of Olinda given the previous trips I only went as far as the RJ Arborterum, and another trip I visited the Silvan Reservoir thinking I could actually explore around it - only to find out the entire reservoir is fenced up and was at a higher ground from the Silvan picnic grounds (ie. no view). In summary, a missing gap in Olinda that needed filling up.

And so - today's route was like this... 13k, 646m elevation gain

Started at Olinda Falls Picnic Ground -> Cascade -> VW ->Barges -> Barlett ->Rifle Range Gully -> KC -> Vally Picnic Ground -> Boundary -> Eagle Nest -> Hermons -> Rifle Range Gully -> Barlett -> Olinda Falls Picnic Ground (13km)

Gorgeous trees awaited me along VW Track.. 

A captivating section of Bartlett Track

While the run along Rifle Range Gully Track was a damp soggy one..  I really didn't expect to pick up a leech along the way. Makes me curious now how big the local breeds are, coz this lil friend is puny compared to its counterparts in the tropics.

And the name of this log is JV.. this was shortly after the climb along KC track.

The scenery is not to be missed (Valley picnic ground), a very serene place for picnic, even if its just banana & nut bars :)

This was a beautiful section along Hermons Track

Back along Rifle Range Gully Track, the sun made beautiful silhouettes of the tall commanding trees

Couldn't resist snapping a few more rays of light.. 

The thing about Oz is you see these beautifully colored birds/parakeets and its almost like you're running in some exotic amazonian jungle paradise. 

So what did we establish today?

1) This section can be linked via Kalorama Picnic ground -> Olinda Creek Rd from the north.
2)  Route should def include Valley Picnic ground, it will make a good link towards south Olinda (RJ area) anyway

And as a little side-note, I also learnt 2 things:

1) I should not take Malaysia's waterfalls for granted (wasn't impressed by Olinda Falls!)
2) Malaysians really shouldn't take them for granted either (was impressed how clean the area was - and sad  coz we treat ours like a rubbish dumping ground)

So anyway.. that ends today's adventure & adds a little progression to this project of mine, thanks for reading folks.