The Long March

With Eloise in nusery we decided to do something a little bit different and eschewed Mount Coot-tha Friday for Mount Mee Friday. We went there on Monday, and did a short jaunt with Eloise but had been mulling over all week the idea of doing a longer (13km, about 8 miles) hike with the dogs. Leads are required here, so we ummed and ahhed a bit about whether this would be heaven or hell, but decided to go for it, in our own little version of the pioneering spirit.

And we started out with the best of intentions, being dragged along by the woofers through lovely groves of rainforest palms. The forest then changed and eucalypts predominated, making the canopy green and light much brighter, and then again to pine trees and tree ferns.

Walking up the path, we heard some shouting from behind us and thought we would be chastised for contravening some unwritten rule about dog-etiquette, but it was a bloke on his mountain bike (verboten) being trailed by a dog, off the leach(also verboten). We looked at each other, knowing what we would do next and the dogs were off.

Very well behaved they were too for about five minutes until the familiar sound of yip-yip-yipping into the distance was heard, then groans from us, and we waited for about ten minutes until they came back, panting furiously and <DELETE DELETE DELETE> needless to say they were back on their leads.

Absolutely knacked, the dogs were now ultra-compliant and very good on the leads, trundling along beside us as the forest changed again back to eucalypt dotted with Xanthorrhoea plants, with free-standing boulders beginning to make an appearance.

The heat was building as it was past mid-day now and we started to take little sips of water. We knew there was a lookout about half-way round the walk, but I was beginning to think that we'd lost our way, as we didn't ever seem to make it over that last ridge.

Then we did, and encountered a rocky escarpment falling away before us with the usual blah blah blah commanding glorious spectacular views across forested hills to the Brisbane valley and the parched land beyond underneath a lapis sky cumulated by cotton clouds... you get the picture. Oh, and there it is up there.

But we hadn't actually found the lookout yet, but Nicole spotted the path and a few minutes later we camped down by a little wooden railing and got out our now staple lunch of peanut butter sandwiches.

Presently a couple from Reading arrived and we chatted to them for a while. They were on holiday and this was their last day staying with his brother at Mount Pleasant. Sounds nice.

We continued our hike, and after a couple of hours we were back at the car, exhausted.

We went and picked Eloise up from nursery. Our legs hurt.