Starting with morning headaches now? I looked out the window and it hadn't rained. A couple of muffins with peanut butter for breakfast, and I hit the road. Awesome zig zag down the hill, which was great fun. Then the rain came. And it kept coming. On the up side, it made everything look really green. And the tree bark really orange. Then I thought I'd got a puncture, as it turns out the rain had just soaked into the ground and made the going really sluggish. Even the slight down hills I was having to pedal through, where I would normally stand up & coast, to give my rear end a break. I met a couple going the other way. The guy was wearing a Vietnamese 'cone' hat, and she had bunny ears on her helmet. They were doing an E2E. Further on, I came across some rope tied across the trail. Which I removed. It then stopped raining! I arrived in Northcliffe at lunch time. I stopped at the cafe for lunch & consider my options. The next hut is another 50km I could stay here, and dry off, or go part way & bush camp. I don't really want to bush camp if it's going to rain again tonight. I'm not making much progress, but I think I'll stay at the pub. It's not a race. I'm 'touring'. After lunch I walked along to the pub & found Harold (a friend of Matt Donaldson's). We had a good chat. He's cracking on at around 80km a day. But not doing the whole trail. He'd skipped some out already, & isn't going into Collie. The pub was shut, so I called the number on Google. The lady said she'd be there in an hour, so I parked up round the back, & washed the mud off the bike with a tap & old watering can I found that had a hole in it. $60 for a room sounded very cheap. Then I saw it. I thought I'd been locked up in the 1960s I couldn't bring the bike in (some health & safetyness) so it had to go in the "shed" (lean-to) out the back. Still, it was dry, and the next 3 days are going to be wilderness. I lost my shades somewhere along the trail, so called in at the general store & bought some for $20 I can't imagine I'm going to need them over the next few days, but I can dream. I'm thinking I might end up taking one more day to get to Albany than I'd planned. Although 50-60km is a nice comfy distance each day. The huts & towns aren't conveniently placed in those distances. Form one hut to Walpole is just 30km but to push on to the next hut would be too far to be enjoyable. It doesn't really matter. I have the time. But it means more time away from family, and another day of Chloe being a single parent. Everything's still to wet. There is no heating in this room, I've been trying to dry my gloves, socks etc. Over the radiator on the back of the fridge that looks like it was built in the 70s. It buzzes like a road roller, but I don't want to turn it off while it's the only source of heat in the room. Over the bedside lamp are my nicks. It has a power saving bulb in it. These lack the heat I need. But at least I won't burn the place down with my nicks. I had burger & chips. And a can of Kilkenny (which needs to be added to fitnesspal).