still being constructed but had reached a point where heavy blasting was required to get past some precipitous bluffs. Although a footpath had been formed along the route for the road-builders to use, that was so steep in places that ropes needed to be used to get past the bluffs. Shortly afterwards, John Godley ordered further spending on the road to cease and the workforce was retrenched. A Bridle Road was surveyed in November 1850 by Edward Jollie at the direction of the Chief Surveyor, Captain Thomas, after John Godley, Agent for the Canterbury Association, managed to obtain funds to continue surveying and road building. A contract road gang operated by a Mr. Hughes and supervised by works overseer Donald Gollan formed the path, which was intended to be wide when complete. On the Heathcote Valley side, the path descended to the valley floor and then ran around to Ferrymead, at which point a ferry crossed the Heathcote River mouth at the head of the Estuary, where it met with the then still incomplete "Sumner Road". The estimated cost of constructing the road was about NZ£300 as of January 1851. When Charlotte Godley travelled over this Bridle Road in early December 1850 the path was mostly formed, except for a small portion near the summit where they had to dismount and climb to the top over rough stones and rocks. Heavy goods were usually shipped from Lyttelton to a dock at Ferrymead, but this was a hazardous journey as the sailing ships of the time needed to make an open sea journey between Lyttelton and Sumner Bay and then cross the Sumner Bar under favourable wind, sea and tide conditions. However, a fleet of small ships were prepared to undertake the journey despite the risks involved. Sometimes vessels would remain in port for days awaiting the right conditions rather than risk this journey. Even so, many a colonist lost all their worldly possessions when a boat capsized or was wrecked. Shipping fees were exorbitant, sometimes costing as much to ship goods across the Sumner Bar to Ferrymead as it did to ship them from England. Before the end of 1851, enterprising businessmen had formed an insurance company and were offering to insure goods just for this journey. At the beginning of 1851 the Bridle Road also connected to a westward leading footpath that ran along the crater rim and then