Three cheers for Thelma! Today everything ran smoothly. The bus came at the appointed time and dropped us at Thelma’s Kitchen where we ate a hearty brekkie. I had eggs Florentine and a bottomless cup of coffee while Rob enjoyed a Californian omelet and biscuits and gravy (dry scones with a hot white sauce). Both brekkie came with a generous serve of homemade hash browns.

We were at the post office right on opening time, said goodbye to our parcel and promptly caught an Uber to the trailhead.

The weather was ideal for hiking – cloudy, cool and a light breeze – and despite our late start and bellies full of town food we made good progress down an easy path to put another 20 miles behind us.

Our first lunch out of town is usually some sort of bread roll with avacado, cheese and tomato. After that, it is usually squashed bread roll, etc, then after a couple more days, wraps with tuna.

Despite the ominous gathering grey clouds and the prediction of rain, possible storms, we felt only a few drops and we are now resting in our tent and the skies seem clearer.