Day 18 Gowanbridge to Newton Flat

Walked by Rapid and me 46.8km. Walked by Ella about 13.5km. Steps 59137+ (see below)

Up in the dark so we still didn't get to see the splendid view from Suzie's cottage. All the time disappeared getting dressed and going to the toilet so it was breakfast in the van. As it turned out we got to Granity Creek where I had finished yesterday at the time I would have arrived if starting from Gowanbridge.

Rapid was a much happier dog than yesterday although I made him wear shoes and socks. Ella walked the first 7km with me as usual. One frustrating thing is that towards the end of the second hour I found the pedometer dangling from its safety cord so it wasn't counting steps for about 75 minutes I think.

The interview with Lisa on Coast FM worked wonders and all day locals were stopping to give donations.

The creeks between Gowanbridge and Murchison have interesting names which give hints to their history. Two Mile, Coal, Handrail, Claybank, Rosiestone, Doctors (the what the Doctor ordered creek I suspect). Longford

I made good time to Handrail Creek where I took the first break and was only 1 minute behind time at the end of the break. The next 2 hours also went well with me making up a few more minutes.

Just before Doctors Creek I let Rapid off the lead on a wide verge. He ran around merrily and then found some rubbish to eat. When he cam back past me he had kicked off two of his shoes. I took the others off and his feet gave no problems for the rest of the day so they stayed off. A lot of the way he could walk on the verge and at about a dozen places the verge was wide enough to let him off lead.

As usual I started to slow after the second break. On reaching Mangles River, 5km out of Murchison I was 5 minutes late. In January when I did the route survey I walked Rapid and Ella from Murchison down to the Mangles River and back. There is a really good swimming spot accessed from the rest area on the Nelson side of the bridge. The bridge has a raised ledge along the side wide enough for a person to walk on. In January he just would not get on the ledge with any amount of persuading. Today he walked happily along the ledge with me along side on the road. Still not happy to do it with me behind, however now I think about it yesterday we went over a similar bridge with Ella in front of me and Rapid behind so maybe I should try going in front.

I took the luxury of having a warm lunch in Murchison before heading on. The staff in the coffee bar made a huge fuss of the dogs and helped make the bucket a little heavier.

The first farm on the north side of the road after the Matakitaki River bridge has a huge rabbit problem. I saw 4 rabbits there in the middle of the day (and the same on Sunday when heading back from Picton). I have only seen 3 other rabbits on the walk so far. About a kilometre along the road I meta Border Collie breeder. I knew some of the dogs she had breed who do agility but now my head is empty.

There is a very long right hand corner just before O'Sullivan's Bridge. ALison had gone ahead to get me some more pain killers from the house. Half way around the corner I found her ahead of me clambering along on the outside of the armco slowing the traffic. We nearly had a major argument - Alison was thinking I would much rather have a live brother in pain than a dead one; I was thinking I can handle this corner I need pain killers more than a nanny.

Crossing O'Sullivan's Birdge was a non-issue as there no traffic coming. Alison was waiting on the far side to stop traffic, but wasn't needed. The road to the West Coast turns off just before (like about 10m) O'Sullivan's Bridge. All the traffic to Christchurch carries on so there is way less traffic. The road is narrower and the corners tight so it is necessary to be on the outside of the curves. The west side of the road has a wider verge so it is often easier to walk with the traffic coming from behind. Rapid was really happy as a couple of times I let him off the lead. At one point a Weka poked his nose out of the undergrowth but quickly retreated.

In order to make Monday easier I walked 2.7km past the planned end of today - 1.7km where to make up for the extra done yesterday. The last kilometre was some more distance in the bank for Monday.

I got bck to Suzie's cottage in daylight so I was able to have a shower - the first in 3 days. Thank goodness for merino that absorbs sweat so well or else people would have been insisting on being up wind from me.

Alison and I went to the pub in Murchison for dinner. We were in the queue to order food when one of the locals took the bucket off me and carried it round the bar and brought it back quite a lot heavier.