Day 63 Hook to Timaru

Walked by Mike & Rapid 37.1km 48527 steps walked by Ella about 14km.

Total distance walked 2167km funds raised for Cancer Society $19,335.98

I have tried to avoid knocking people in my blog but today I'm doing it. Shortly before 11am I arrived in St Andrews and went to the Gobble Cafe to have morning tea. I left Ella and Rapid lying on the concrete in front of the cafe. They have a garden and I was hoping I could take the dogs into the garden. There was a sign out front saying all dogs must be tied up or left in vehicles. I didn't see the necessity of tying Ella and Rapid. They will stay. The owner was very quick to say tie the dogs to the picnic table or put them in the car. The picnic table was on chip seal and not a comfortable place for the dogs to lie down. She then carried on to say dogs outside food premises didn't present a good image. I left. If my dogs aren't welcome then I am not welcome. I urge all dog owners to stop patronising the Gobble Cafe at St Andrews. The people at the cafe in Pareora have a much better attitude to dogs and were happy to have the dogs at their outside tables.

The weather did not look promising early on. The wind was quite strong as we were getting ready and there had been rain during the night. Driving the van north from Glenavy the wind was pushing the van all over the road. Strangely just before Hook the wind stopped. The cloud which looked like it may bring rain gradually cleared during the day and by Pareora it was a warm. I think the last time it actually rained while I was walking was 16 days ago.

I got off to a good start this morning covering 11.5km in the first 2 hours. Ella walked the first 7km. I sent Ngaire and Ted off to get some photos of the old Hook school. Margaret's dad Iain used to teach there. Crossing the Makikihi River was also in the first 2 hours. This bridge has a slight hump so it is hard to see the traffic coming the other way when getting on the bridge. A wide load came through 3 or 4 minutes before I crossed. I'm glad I didn't meet it on the bridge.

A mower had been through between Makikihi and Pareora one or two days ago and Rapid was very disappointed as there was very little trash on the verge for him to eat.

Peggy at the Cancer Society in Dunedin had given us instructions on how to find her sister Rachel in St Andrews if we needed a toilet. Rachel came along just as I started walking from the second rest break and gave a donation. Paul Beswick also stopped on his way south.

After stopping for a drink and an apple crumble (plus a sausage roll for the dogs) at Pareora I was 10 minutes late. The road as far as the Pareora River is pretty much flat. From there to Timaru it is a up hill and down dale, not long climbs but fairly hard to make up time on. I managed it just and reached the south end of Timaru on time.

Going through Redruth I noticed a woman and her daughter in a cafe looking at the dogs. I decided to exploit the opportunity and ask for a donation. I was rather thick and couldn't work out the door slid rather than opening in or out. By the time I had it figured Rapid decided the stay must be over and rushed in the door. He was also rather slow to respond to the outside command. That blew an chances of a donation from the cafe owner.

I was met outside the National Bank by a reporter for the Timaru Herald. Then the photographer arrived and I had to walk aroun a bit to let him get photos. There was a good welcome at Timaru branch, bank staff plus people from the Anglican church including Prue who Ngaire & Ted are staying with and Indrea who I am staying with.

It was really nice to get all the working done early. I had ample time for a bath before dinner and nearly got the blog finished. After dinner I went out around the pubs. It would have been a waste of effort if one of the punters at Richard Pearse hadn't got a big win on the pokies and gave me half.