Walked by Mike 967.9km walked by Idol 620.2km walked by Toby376.8km Funds
raised $9724
Sunday I took the dogs for an early morning walk and then returned to bed for an hour before breakfast. I got a very good welcome at St Mary's Church and shared a pleasant lunch with them being their patronal festival. They have been worshipping in the hall as the church needs seismic strengthening but are now able to start on the work.
The afternoon was spent checking out options for getting between Woodville and Palmerston North. After looking at Manawatu Gorge Track, North Range Rd and Saddle Rd I have decided to stay with Saddle Rd. It is no more difficult than Devil's Elbow that Idol and I survived. But I will be using Idol only on the hill as Toby would get stressed by trucks passing him that closely.
Here are Idol and Toby going for a walk along the closed State Highway 3. I had no idea how many birds there were living on the steep slopes in the gorge till Toby decided to disturb them.
It rained overnight and I had left a window open in the car but fortunately nothing got so wet it was still wet in the morning. It was another blue morning in Waipukurau. Diana and Jennifer met me at the branch and once the bucket had been deposited and a coffee and sandwich bought from Angkor Wat Bakery it was off on the road with both dogs as far as Hatuma. Not very many people on the street in Waipukurau but I manged to get 2 donations.
Dougald Mabin met me at the end of his street and walked with me for a few kilometres. While Douglad was still with me Reina and Joe the video crew turned up. When I turned up onto the stop bank I was quite surprised when they followed me and Dougald – by this time with only Toby.
When I swapped to Idol I left the bucket in the car so finished up walking 5km without a bucket. This included crossing the only bridge of the day at Maharakeke Stream. It has good visibility so I did it without escort but did put Idol on a lead just in case a truck arrived (which I was pleased didn’t happen). This got me through to first break where Reina did an interview. Toby refused to get out of the crate for me but Jennifer was able to draw him out with a treat. The lead stayed on when he went into the crate after that so I could drag him out.. Toby was mostly very good at ignoring the stock but one paddock of sheep with lambs got his attention and it took a bit of tugging to get him past.
Jennifer and Diana got a donation in the bucket during this period. Shortly after I swapped to Idol Maryanne stopped to give me a donation with Joe in sight and finished up having to do it 4 times so he could get good wide and closeup shots. Then came the rain and hail. By the time I got to my next break at Takapau I was thoroughly wet. Reina and Joe said they could do an interview with me sitting in the hatch of their car but the light wasn’t good so it was outside in the finish.
Up till then I had kept to time but I was now 25 minutes late and stayed that way throughout the 8km walk to Otawhao Rd – which was shared 50/50 by Toby and Idol. One paddock of lambs and ewes had a lamb that had lost its mother and stood at the fence bleating pathetically at us. Idol was rather interested in it and took a bit of persuading to leave it. I hope mummy came soon as it looked most unhappy. As with Saturday most of the donations came late in the trip.
I came into Hawkes Bay on the first day of walking this year in rain and I left it today also in rain.
Reina and Joe took Jennifer and Diana back to Waipukurau while I drove off to Robert and Vivienne’s farm in towards the ranges from Matamau. Internet here is dodgy which is why the blog is so late..
Sunday I took the dogs for an early morning walk and then returned to bed for an hour before breakfast. I got a very good welcome at St Mary's Church and shared a pleasant lunch with them being their patronal festival. They have been worshipping in the hall as the church needs seismic strengthening but are now able to start on the work.
The afternoon was spent checking out options for getting between Woodville and Palmerston North. After looking at Manawatu Gorge Track, North Range Rd and Saddle Rd I have decided to stay with Saddle Rd. It is no more difficult than Devil's Elbow that Idol and I survived. But I will be using Idol only on the hill as Toby would get stressed by trucks passing him that closely.
Here are Idol and Toby going for a walk along the closed State Highway 3. I had no idea how many birds there were living on the steep slopes in the gorge till Toby decided to disturb them.
It rained overnight and I had left a window open in the car but fortunately nothing got so wet it was still wet in the morning. It was another blue morning in Waipukurau. Diana and Jennifer met me at the branch and once the bucket had been deposited and a coffee and sandwich bought from Angkor Wat Bakery it was off on the road with both dogs as far as Hatuma. Not very many people on the street in Waipukurau but I manged to get 2 donations.
Dougald Mabin met me at the end of his street and walked with me for a few kilometres. While Douglad was still with me Reina and Joe the video crew turned up. When I turned up onto the stop bank I was quite surprised when they followed me and Dougald – by this time with only Toby.
When I swapped to Idol I left the bucket in the car so finished up walking 5km without a bucket. This included crossing the only bridge of the day at Maharakeke Stream. It has good visibility so I did it without escort but did put Idol on a lead just in case a truck arrived (which I was pleased didn’t happen). This got me through to first break where Reina did an interview. Toby refused to get out of the crate for me but Jennifer was able to draw him out with a treat. The lead stayed on when he went into the crate after that so I could drag him out.. Toby was mostly very good at ignoring the stock but one paddock of sheep with lambs got his attention and it took a bit of tugging to get him past.
Jennifer and Diana got a donation in the bucket during this period. Shortly after I swapped to Idol Maryanne stopped to give me a donation with Joe in sight and finished up having to do it 4 times so he could get good wide and closeup shots. Then came the rain and hail. By the time I got to my next break at Takapau I was thoroughly wet. Reina and Joe said they could do an interview with me sitting in the hatch of their car but the light wasn’t good so it was outside in the finish.
Up till then I had kept to time but I was now 25 minutes late and stayed that way throughout the 8km walk to Otawhao Rd – which was shared 50/50 by Toby and Idol. One paddock of lambs and ewes had a lamb that had lost its mother and stood at the fence bleating pathetically at us. Idol was rather interested in it and took a bit of persuading to leave it. I hope mummy came soon as it looked most unhappy. As with Saturday most of the donations came late in the trip.
I came into Hawkes Bay on the first day of walking this year in rain and I left it today also in rain.
Reina and Joe took Jennifer and Diana back to Waipukurau while I drove off to Robert and Vivienne’s farm in towards the ranges from Matamau. Internet here is dodgy which is why the blog is so late..
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