Team Vodka practised on part of the actual Kokoda Challenge course. On race day we anticipate walking in the dark from Polly’s Country Kitchen and so planned a 17km walk from Polly’s at sunset on Saturday. The course we were practising in the dark heads West from Polly’s to the Numinbah Environmental Centre. From the Enviro centre it bears South for 5.5 kms and then back up another track to form a circuit – returning to the Enviro centre.

Tonight the temperature was in the low teens and a cloudless night helped the full moon shine brightly upon us. We were well prepared with warm clothing, torches, food, water, GPS, first aid and course notes.

Right from the start we encountered a mother of a hill. A very steep ascent but it finally tapers off and the down hill is not as steep – a relief for the knees. Following us about 100m behind was another team with the same idea of practising the course at night.

After 7kms we reached the Enviro centre. From here we head into the Springbook National Park for the 10km circuit. The first 4.5 kms follows and crosses Waterfall Creek 8 times.  Luckily those with waterproof boots mostly just walked straight into it the creeks with the confidence of not getting wet. But some of the crossings we found were huge expanses of flowing water. We negotiated these by seeking out the narrowest parts of the creek and delicately rock hopped (with the aid of hiking poles) across it.

During the Waterfall creek course the girls apparently all walked over a strange black stick. It was Mel Rose who turned back around with curiosity. Then asked me what I thought it was. The light was bad and it looked to me like a black ribbon about 20cm long. That’s strange and unusual looking I thought. So out came the hiking pole and I prodded it. MISTAKE. The ribbon turned into a snake, in fact a “Small Eyed Snake”. Only a juvenile but its bite is potentially fatal (source: http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/snakes/snakedetail.asp?TaxName=Cryptophis+nigrescens). Always thought all snakes were active during the day and hid at night due to the cold – now I know that’s untrue – for this species anyway.

As I poked the snake, its head rose and before I knew it, all the girls screamed – loud girlie shrieks too! Made me jump too and we all ran away from the snake.

It was not the last time for screaming either. Nicey was happily leading us into the darkness when she suddenly leapt into the air screaming with fright. Apparently she thought something was crawling up her leg. In fact it was her jacket falling of her backpack and brushing against her leg. Needless to say everyone was feeling jumpy (literally) after encountering the snake!

We also encountered a long-nosed bandicoot (http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/Documents/Anim/Long-nosed_bandicoot.html) which tried in vain to hide from us. The bandicoot would zig zag across the path and finally found a grassy spot to bury its head in. However, the paparazzi weren’t easily fooled and took a few snaps before leaving the cute creature alone.

Luckily we did not encounter any eight legged friends tonight, only a few stray strands of web.

To keep our minds of the nasties and kill the time, I had a portable speaker hooked up to my backpack. It was weird walking in the darkness of a rainforest with a doof-doof musical bag attached to one-self. But it worked a treat and will be used again in the race – but with less doof-doof and more motivational songs.

At the most southern end of the track, we turned north wards and up a fairly steep hill. Thankfully the distance and size of the hill could not be seen in the darkness. It just seemed to go up forever. At the top we exited the track onto another fire trail called Chesters Road. The return trip was supposed to be uneventful but we somehow missed a turn off this dirt road and continued until Chesters Road met the Nerang-Muwillimbah Road. Luckily the GPS gave up a bearing and told us to follow the road north back to the Enviro centre.

We had done what we had set up to do: checkpoint 6, 7 and 8 of the Kokoda Challenge within 5 hrs.

Mt Coot-tha circuit

On Sunday we did a small 3 hour walk from Paddington to the summit of Mt Coot-tha and back. It was another perfect day and after dodging incoming traffic while walking up the Samuel Griffiths Road to the summit we witnessed a terrific sunset. We decided to take the summit hiking trail back. By now it was dark, but the moon was still full. We saw it rise above the horizon in an orange hue. We discussed why the moon seemed large on the horizon then at the zenith. The truth is the moon is technically smaller on the horizon but looks bigger becuase its an optical illusion known as the “moon illusion”. Various theories exist on the illusion and even NASA isn’t so sure (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4619063.stm).