Reversing the backwards progress Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Paul Caffyn phoned Barry and I up here shortly after we arrived back in Riverton and kindly pointed out that we'd actually gone over 50km backwards this week! Tomorrow we start to nudge back in the right direction. The Andersons have been fantastic and they are kindly driving us to where the road ends tomorrow and then we're going to walk about 20km back to Port Craig along a marked trail. We could have paid for a helicopter ride and taken about 6 minutes to get there, but the weather is looking windy for a while yet and the walk is meant to be beautiful. It will also be a good test for how well I'm recovered. I'd rather test myself out on a fairly flat walk where I can stop at any time, than run out of energy on a committing 50km paddle in 4 metre plus swells! I'm actually feeling so much better today, with 100 times more energy so hopefully I'm pretty much recovered. I still took it fairly easy today, enjoying chatting to Tim & Sarah in their lovely garden in the sunshine and generally relaxing. Barry and I cycled into town for some groceries and cooked a meal tonight ( a small return for all the delicious meals we've been given here). Thanks again to the Andersons for loaning us the delightful ( but safe!) helmets!

Barry also has been great looking after me. I'm trying to milk it for one more day but I think he's on to me!

The weather isn't looking too good for a while but at least when we're at Port Craig we can be ready to make the most of any small break in it to inch forwards. Ahead of us lies about 300km of roadless wilderness that is Fjordland. It's probably the most beautiful stretch of coastline that we'll paddle and also the most committing as the nasty weather from the SW hits it first. I think we're just about ready to have a crack at it!!