of the up-turned bridge but it wouldn't load. Of course my blog-
master is off on a beach in the south pacific so I guess I'll have to
do without the pic. It's hard to get good help these days.
Headed down to the Otway National Park for some trail running last
Friday. Picked up my 14 y/o daughter from her holiday house in Lorne
to introduce her to some serious trail running. We went out to
Sheoaks Picnic ground and hit the Castle Rock track. It was supposed
to be an 8 km loop down to the coast and back. Due to a track closed
sign diverting us, we ended up doing the loop in reverse. Steep
climbing saw us reach the ridge within a couple of kms with views
across to the ocean. I was giving L some tips on downhill trail
running when we startled a big koala by the track. He scurried up a
tree and stopped about 2m up to check us out. I got L to stand
alongside for a photo. She was a little freaked being so close. We
were soon descending steeply towards the Swallow Cave and I left L
and skipped down the technical part of the trail. After crossing the
creek we discovered that the trail we wanted to use to get back was
the closed track. L was already feeling tired after an hour of surf
paddle training in the morning and a carnival the next day. So
retracing our steps up over the ridge wasn't an attractive option. So
I convinced her that the closure was probably pretty benign. So off
we went. Another close encounter saw a bush wallaby scare the crap
out of us by crashing off through the bush alongside the track. It
was good running along the valley and we were getting close to the
end when we rounded a bend to find the footbridge turned on its side,
literally. I knew L was really tired when she barely hesitated
following me precariously across. It added a little interest to the
end of a fun little trail run. We went for a soy-berry-smoothie
before I dropped her home and went back out for another little run
over the Kalima Falls track. It is a really great area for trail
running.
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