Saturday, September 30, 2017

Walpole

Water water everywhere and no boats in sight. Rain, and wading through water has been the highlights of the past section. Feet have not been dry for over a week. Each day is put on wet socks and wet shoes. Some of the water has been hip high. But long sections of ankle or shin high wading. 
But the bright spot is that the weather might be fine this next week. Okay, the occasional shower is forecast, but I'm hopeful.
Made some gaters today from a pair of tights, cardboard milk cartons and some duck tape. Also bought some tradie sock savers to go with my gaters to help keep sand out of my Vibram Five Fingers.  The arrival at the coast has been accompanied by walking through small scratchy bushes. My legs are getting scratched raw in places. I've been walking in knee high bicycle shorts since Collie after my pants became too loose.  I'm hopeful that the milk cartons are also snake bite proof as well. Though the plan is to not test that out. 
I cut the tights in half from the crotch through to the waist band, and sewed up each half into a long tube. I pull one half onto my leg, wrap the two milk cartons joined with duck tape around my calf. They stay overlapping, and then I roll the top of the tights down over them to hold them in place. The sock saver at the bottom holds the bottom together. Bike shorts at the top help hold it up. Short walk testing today seemed promising. Time will tell. I'll have duck tape with me to make any repairs needed in case.  But I'm sure no more scratched legs and hopefully less sand in my shoes and really hopefully snake protection.  Not seen any snakes since Donnley River, but keep hearing about them. 
Only about 200km to go. Suddenly the end is in sight.