1000 Steps

A couple of days ago, a few of my friends and I did the 1000 Steps, which apparently is a well known thing, but I hadn't heard about it before my friend suggested doing it. So for those people who don't know what the 1000 Steps is the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk at Mount Dandenong. These steps are  meant to give the walker some idea of the physical work that the soldiers in 1942 had experienced, while also being one of the most touristic walks in the Dandenong ranges; being in the rainforest makes the walk, although tiring, extremely beautiful. I really love walking, especially nature walks like this, being surrounded by ferns and breathing fresh air.

My phone camera doesn't really do the view justice

Even though it was around 10 degrees celsius, we were wearing leggings and tee-shirts, because the walk really did keep you warm. But we were extremely lucky with the weather, not being too cold and because it wasn't raining. If it was raining, you'd probably not be able to walk it because the path and steep steps you take going up are made of mud, making it already very slippery. But it was so much fun! There is always that one friend in the group who is enthusiastic about doing an activity and rushes ahead and seems to be filled with so much energy that they are pretty much insane... that was me. I was way too enthusiastic I think and probably annoyed my friends when we reached the top and I suggested to walk further up. My mentality really was: we're here now so we may as well keep going. Plus, I was really running on adrenaline. I was just so happy spending the day with some of my closest friends and sharing this experience with them and at such a lovely place. My hands did go a bit numb at one point, but when we returned back to the base, we went on the playground there, which allowed me to shake out my hands and let the circulation run through them (while jumping on the rickety bridge, which was always my favourite part of playgrounds as a kid).

After all that exercise and conquering a mountain (quite literally), as a reward we went the chocolate cafe Max Brenner, where I had a delicious white chocolate chai, which I always get whenever I go there. It was a fantastic ending to a fantastic day.