| The Walk |
| Day 14 |
| PORT MACQUARIE TO COOPERNOOK We were only able to walk for twenty kilometers today as we had to be uplifted through road works as per our instructions from the NSW police. Nanna Torpedo Another early start. Another lovely sunny day. Cabins emptied and on our way again. This morning we were joined by my two nieces Sonia Fingleton and Tania Weekes along with my great niece Kathleen Fingleton who are walking with us from Port Macquarie for as long as they can. Sonia has a lot of local knowledge and though there weren’t many people around she, Tania and the team were able to skim $99.45 of the locals on the way out of town. A good days walk even though we had to uplift due to road works. Sonia, Tania and Kathleen walked their feet off. On arrival at the Coopernook Hotel the boys had to rearrange the gear due to Keith leaving tomorrow with his ute (a great loss). They have had trouble with the seating in the bus so we can repack. It’s amazing what you accumulate along the way. A LATE ENTRY FOR DAY 13 FROM UN-NAMED WALKERS ie: Pete and Barb During a prolonged walk in an area bordered by guard rails and a steep drop off, an urgent need to pump out the bilge arose. Guess what? A country full of trees and not one to hide behind. Quick thinking saw the White Ensign and Australian Flag rigged for a make shift screen so as not to offend any passing motorists. My thanks to our Skimmer friend (a great bloke) for holding the Aussie Flag in situ. We even foiled the Cox’n from taking a photo, which I suspect was for evidence, as I had once again slipped to the front of the group. I suspect he is in cahoots with the Engineer. Day 14 Pete and Barb A pleasant Saturday stroll. Barb doing a good job busing our local casual walkers when their feet became too sore. They left us after lunch on the river at Kendall. We had to uplift to Coopernook because of road works. I was a good boy today. I stayed in the motor room and didn’t venture forward at any stage. Engineers note: except for the first group this morning when he took off up the hill before the girls were ready. Feathers Fothergill – alias Minnie the Moocher After convincing a gentleman on the 4th floor of an apartment building to part with $10 I was dismayed to see it flutter to a stop on the 1st floor balcony. Retrieval was only possible by scaling the wall, which I did with some difficulty, only to be rewarded by another $10 which almost dropped on the same balcony. The hardest $20 I have so far earned. Keith (Dicko) Dickson Following Duck Run's instructions I was carrying out morning stretches, hamstring in particular. I fell off the step. Stretching is not all its cracked up to be. Finished the day with only a 1.5km stretch but that makes 71km for the week. Back home tomorrow and will cover last weeks progress in about 2 hours. It has been fun. Possumdale – Possum and Dale Being support van driver I picked up a hitch hiker at Kempsey. A beautiful big butterfly that kept flapping across the back window. Very distracting looking at it in the rear vision mirror and stop start driving every 5 minutes. Can’t be doing much for the diesel engine. For information, Kempsey is the home of Slim Dusty. Barry (Engines) Davis and Cathy A very eventful walk into Port Macquarie last night where a quick pit stop into the Irish Tavern gave us a fair proportion of the $200+ we mooched. Cathy and I had intended to keep up our 20kms a day but we ran out of road. It was nice to wake up with a laugh when Jock was discovered with his trakky daks on back to front and Craig's Romeo and Juliet scene at the apartment block. Lunch time another one for Jock. Tania, when advised of Jocks age (66) responded “that’s ancient”. We THINK Jock was amused. Richard (Slug) Lewin – Coxswain What a start to the morning, Jock going astern and Dicko stretching his hamstrings only to fall off the step nearly breaking his ankle, followed by Spiderman Fothergills exploits. A good day walking with Sonia, Tania and Kathleen. Jock (back to front) Copeland I was caught going astern this morning (pants on back to front). Richard got good mileage out of that one. I walked 15kms then ran out of road (road works). One of our volunteers, Sonia Fingleton, did 16kms. She had a sponsor offering $20 per kilometer. A good days work. Barbara Sellars is using my box brownie to give me some fond memories. A good day. |
