Though we've taken a few uneventful rides around the neighborhood, we finally decided it was time to give our horses something new to look at, so we packed them in the trailer and headed down the road 10 minutes to Riverbend Park. My brother has been telling me they've been putting new trails in around the area, so we thought we'd go exploring a bit today. They've got the entrance to the park all torn up, evidently they're putting in new parking and/or a new building, so we had to bounce through that short area, then reached the trailhead field as usual. We saddled up and headed out, not sure which way to go, then decided since we were looking for something new, we headed straight north on a grassy trail we've never tried. That weaved through the woods, then soon curved around a lovely lake with some nice grassy stretches, perfect for a canter. It was windy, and the horses were fresh and full of vinegar, so we had to be careful lest they get too excited! We followed the edge of the lake, went through a couple of horse gates, then paralleled a canal for a bit. We passed a wildlife photographer whose mega-lens was trained on the nest of a swallow-tailed kite, waiting for someone to come home and feed the chicks. We passed a few words, then headed down to where the trail ended on Jupiter Farms Road. We turned around and headed back, around the lake again, this time crossing a bridge that took us toward Indiantown Road and the new Cypress Creek parking and viewing area. Unless we wanted to following along Indiantown Road away from the park, we could only turn around again and head back to the park, as the trail around the back side of the lake didn't allow horses. Across the bridge once more, then this time we stayed on the shellrock trail, until we reached the park road. Across the road there was a sign for Battle Field Trail, another grassy trail. We weren't absolutely sure whether it was an official horse trail or not, but it looked so inviting we followed it along the river, then finally curved around and back to the trailhead. Less than five miles, by a very nice 90 minute ride on a beautiful day, with my wonderful Hubby on our two fabulous horses... who could ask for more than that!

Hubby slept like a log, and I wasn't far behind him, the most comfortable and relaxed we've been in quite a while. Wonderful! We headed downstairs looking for the breakfast and found it just up the street at one of the restaurants, with another really nice buffet, lots of local fare but also lots of Western choices as well. We loaded up on food, then headed over to the stable for our 10:00 ride. The leader was a young man who had worked there for 12 years, and in additional to leading the trail rides, he apparently also taught riding lessons. Hubby was put up on a bay horse names Felicia with a hornless Australian saddle, while I was put on a palomino named Bonita, with an English saddle. It's been years since I've been in an English saddle, so I thought it might be a challenge! But it worked out, though I felt I had to have my stirrups shorter than I usually like them (more appropriate for English), and it really hurt my knee after a while. I'm not quite sure why they chose these two horses, though, because they didn't seem to get along, and though there wasn't any actual kicking, there was lots of posturing and flattening of ears whenever Bonita tried to get next to or in front of Felicia. We rode around the round pen for about 10 minutes just to demonstrate we were experienced and to get to know the horses, then we set off down the road toward the golf club. We thought that we would be spending more time in the wilderness (probably because it was called "The Jungle Ride," but about 65% of it was along the road getting from one forest trail to another. Still, it was time on the back of a horse, and as I've said many times (along with many others), those hours are never wasted! The ride was just about two hours long, and all arrived back at the stable safe and sound, always a good thing! Afterward, we go into our bathing suits and sat out by the pool for a while, but the water was too cold to enjoy, and the air handlers were a bit noisy behind us, and there were two guys swinging machetes at the bamboo border around the pool, so eventually we went back up to our comfy room until cocktail hour, when we went down to the bar and had a couple of Singapore Slings (when in Rome, right?), the first alcohol besides beer I've had in a long time. I had ordered a Guinness at the Italian restaurant last night, and it was served from a can, and it just didn't taste right, so I decided I'd pass on that. Hubby has decided his Tiger beer reminiscing had been well satisfied (tastes fine when your 22, not so much when you're 82) and splurged with me. We stayed there until the French restaurant across the street opened at 6:30, then went over there and enjoyed a fabulous meal. We were the only ones in the place, and again, there were only a few people wandering the streets, which really surprised us. Almost like a ghost town. I guess if you used your imagination, and considered that this was a French town after WWII that needed some maintenance and cleaning up, yet the people were still too scared to come out, you could justify it. A reach, I know, but hey, whatever it takes! Anyway, it was a lovely dinner (though the sound track was a bit weird, old American music mostly from the 70's, starting with Linda Ronstadt's Desperado and the like), but I felt sorry for the waiter, who spent almost the entire evening folding dozens of napkins at a table on the back wall. At one point, we had a Filipino trio come out and serenade us with oldies for a few tunes as well before they made the rounds at the other restaurants. We luxuriated over dinner before taking a walk through town and ending up back at our room, more relaxed than we'd been in a long time. Love that we're starting to wind down a bit, with two nights at each place. As much as I enjoy driving, it's time for the chauffeur and logistics expert to emjoy HER vacation!

After an incredibly peaceful night, with perfect sleeping temperatures and a long-distance view of Brisbane to die for, we woke up long before the alarm. We had apparently crossed into a different time zone, even though Sydney and Brisbane are nearly on the same longitude, and I found out later it was because one goes into daylight savings time and the other one doesn't, apparently quite a controversial topic around here! In any event, we had a leisurely breakfast, and still headed down toward the barn by just after 8:00 local time, even though the scheduled muster was 9:00. Turns out even that was optimistic... Anyway, I finally met Daryl, who gave me a big hug and bragged to everyone around that we had driven all the from Melbourne in two days to do this ride, proving once again (in his mind) that we Yanks are a crazy bunch. Frankly, 800 miles in two days is no big deal for us, but it seems to impress some people so I let Daryl go on with it. In any event, we finally got everyone signed in and paid up, a lengthy process that took a lot longer than I thought it would, and, I'm sorry to say, Daryl charged us $30 to stay out in his pasture, which surprised me because he made it sound like a friendly invitation, not a commercial offer, and for $30AU we could have stayed in a Holiday Park with water and electric, or more likely, just gone to one of the many free camping grounds in the area, but whatever. It was a beautiful view and we enjoyed ourselves with the horses mingling around so I let it go. We finally got down to the paddock where the rest of the crowd was getting basic instructions (and by now, everyone knew about our extensive experience from Daryl, and no one was worried about our experience or credentials), and after some more milling about, we were finally assigned our horses. I was on a nice little brown horse named Dan (the Man), and Hubby got a spotted paint named Pappy. Both started out a bit unresponsive on the bit and sides, but that quickly changed once we got going, and the horses discovered we knew what we were doing. At LAST we got on the trail by about 11:15, in a long line of nose to tail single file with over twenty riders and three or four trail guides. The first 20 minutes or so was agony for us, watching people who had never ridden struggling with the most basic commands, but before long, they were dividing us into amateurs vs. experienced, and that was quite the relief! Once we divided, the ride became a whole 'nother ride. We began trotting and cantering regularly, particularly up numerous hills and dales, through woods and across the occasional field. It was wonderful! It turned out Dan loved to run, so I often held him back when the group went off the trot, until we had to canter to catch up. It was heaven! He had a great little canter, and he loved to run, passing a few other horses (though we weren't really supposed to pass, but I had no choice, of course!) There were a few sections where we had to ride along a road, but for the most part it was cross country through a lot of woods and cattle country, passing quite a few cows and calves along the way. It took over two hours to reach the winery, but it was located on a beautiful spot. They had rings and tie straps on a bunch of trees just below the restaurant, and it didn't take long to get settled in. Hubby and I got a couple of scotch ales while they served us crackers and cheese, and before long the newby group joined us, and they served up some wine for tasting as well. We had also ordered lunch as part of the morning waiver ritual, and that was eventually served as well. It was a long, leisurely lunch, with great food, great conversation, great wine and beer, and a great time was had by all! After two+ hours, we paid our respective bills and headed back down into the yard to collect our patient horses. I helped Hubby climb up (they were all on a slope, so we didn't even need a mounting block) and before long we were on our way again, with a new group leader. Evidently, they switch off with the experienced group, to make it more interesting for the guides as well. This time, we took a shorter route, beginning with a fabulous couple of canters in a partially wooded field, which was a spectacular way to start the post-lunch ride. After that, it was mostly along the roadway until we reached the edge of Daryl's property, but we did finally see a live kangaroo in the wild cross the road in front of us, yippee! He was too quick to get a picture, though. Then we all snaked down to the bottom of a long and windy hill, then again, we split up. The new young leader pointed in the distance at a great long hill and asked Hubby, do you think you would enjoy cantering up that hill? Hubby, despite earlier concerns that he needed a day off before we rode again, but who had been doing swimmingly all day, replied, "Sure!" So off we went. A few short ups and downs, and then we reached the long stretch, and away we went! Sure enough, Hubby's horse Pappy was all about reaching the top before anyone else, and he didn't stop until he climbed the whole hill. Dan, who had raced and passed everyone in front of him all day, made it about two-thirds of the way before slowing to a walk for a short distance, then he kicked it up again to make it to the top. I was so proud of Hubby! He really got the feel for the canter on this trip, and his stamina was incredible today! He was pretty proud of himself, too, as with all the ups and downs, so soon after another ride where his back ached after all the ups and downs, he didn't seem to suffer a bit. Just beyond the top of the hill was our starting paddock and the end of the ride, a fabulous end, too! Many rides just kind of peter out, but this one really had a climax to it. We got the impression they don't usually go up that hill (the horses kept trying to get through another gate at the bottom), but we think they were trying to impress us a bit. After all, if we drove all the way from Melbourne, it had better be good, right? No pressure, right? Suffice to say, it was very satisfactory, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, with the horses, the company, the other experienced riders, the whole day. Wonderful! Once we got back to the barn, though, with only an hour left before it got dark, Hubby and I had to leave quickly. Fortunately, I found a gold-mine of a free camping area in nearby Petrie. A motorhome/caravan/campervan only rest stop, with water, a dump and all free of charge, only 25 minutes away. We headed out and was there in no time. We filled up with water, used the dump and found a nice spot under the trees. The only down side is that the park is sandwiched between a commuter rail track and a little road, though the train seems to be electric so it's pretty quiet, and the road doesn't seem too bad either. I didn't care by this point, it had gotten hot during the day and all I wanted was a cold beer, a hot shower, and few minutes and writing and reading, then off the bed. So that's exactly what I'm doing! Good night!

Woke up extra early, grabbed breakfast, and was ready to start rolling at about 8:00 when PHHHT! The van wouldn't start! We had no idea why, though we did see a strange fault light on yesterday that had something to do with the lights, but we thought it was just because a bulb was faulty or something, at least according to the flaky manual that comes with this thing. Everything's reversed on it, so we had a heck of a time even finding the battery! Not under the hood, as you would expect, but rather, under the passenger seat (though the manual said under the driver's seat). Naturally, we had no jumpers, but fortunately for us, our neighbors at the campground was well equipped, though I had to rouse them out of bed to give us a hand. They very generously helped us with a jump, and even though he seemed like a very handy guy, even he was stumped when it came to finding the battery. According to most of the paperwork, it appeared that this unit should have an auxiliary battery under the hood, but we never found it, so we're guessing that there is no auxiliary battery, and the main battery doesn't have a controller on it to stop it from discharging beyond the start voltage, yada, yada, yada, but we really have no clue. Anyway, a quick jump and we were off and running! Thanks, neighbors! We headed out to Mount Stirling, and arrived just a little after our scheduled time, though Sally, our guide, had called to confirm we were on our way and knew we were a bit late. We arrived at the designated meeting point, and in no time, got all the requisite paperwork, helmet and horse assignments. Today, I had a buckskin mare named Arrow, and Hubby a sorrel gelding named George. Sally was on a brown horse, and pony-ed a gray pack horse carrying lunch, and was also an extra, "just in case." That was the first time THAT had happened since we've been on the road! Anyway, it wasn't long before we were up in our Aussie saddles and heading up the dirt road, which soon turned to dirt track, and before too much longer, was honest-to-God trail! All uphill at first, with absolutely gorgeous trees along the way. Apparently this area is a HUGE alpine skiing resort in the winter, but in the summer it's only used by a handful of hikers and horseman, so it was very quiet. We really only ran into some 4X4 guys all day, and a couple of folks at Craig's Hut, the lunchtime destination point. The ride was marvelous! The horses were the best we've seen since our start, extremely responsive to both hand and foot, yet felt totally safe and well-broken. Really wonderful to ride! We had no issues with irregular strides, and they all rode just beautifully. We climbed for a long time until we reached The Summit, where the 360 degree view was absolutely stunning. Sally pointed out some landmarks, including where they filmed certain scenes from The Man From Snowy River, and we gawked for quite a while, until the cold breeze finally chased us down the other side of the mountain, out of it's chilling grasp. We continued downward, then upward again, from private resort land to the Mansfield State Forest, where we eventually arrived at the afore-mentioned Craig's Hut, with it's origin in the movie. The original film version quickly deteriorated, so the local shire decided to rebuild it to stay, then that burned down during a big fire in the last decade, until they rebuilt it in a new and safer location, where we were having lunch. "Huts" in general seem to be something of a mainstay here, like the line shack of the old Wild West in the U.S. There are quite a number staged around the area, with supplies and firewood to last a lost hiker or skier for quite some time. We passed half a dozen during the ride, including an outhouse known as the "loo with a view," because, it did, in fact, have a magnificent view on the overlook. Anyway, we had a lovely lunch near the famous Craig's Hut before heading back down a different trail back to the parking area. The ride was much longer than our other "day ride" and exactly what we were looking for, but in the end it was about a half hour too long for Hubby, whose back was starting to hurt from all the downhill pressure. Nevertheless, we made it out just fine, and very appreciative of the good care Sally took of us and the horses. We soon hopped into the campervan and headed out to our next adventure, stopping at an IGA for a few groceries, then headed north. Hubby felt we needed to get into a holiday park with electric to recharge the battery, so we found one a little after 7, and for the first time since we've been in Australia, I cooked a meal and we settled down for the night, albeit later than we hoped, though with no dump and no wifi as advertised, unfortunately. And for the first time, we wanted to be not FREEZING! Temps went up every mile as we headed north, rising from 22 degrees C in Manfield to nearly 35 degrees by the time we got to the park, and we actually had to put the AC on for the night! It didn't matter, though, we were determined to get a good night sleep, though we were right by the highway and the truck traffic seemed rather heavy, so we'll see.

Got up again at the usual time, and was out by just before 8:30, arriving at High Country Horses by 8:45. There were already quite a few people there, but the staff was running behind, the horses were just being saddled, and everything was running late. They decided to get the short rides started first, so us day-long riders had to wait even longer. Hubby was assigned a brown gelding named Buddy, who was very gentle but very dead on his cues. Hubby couldn't even get him moving when the train pulled out! Fortunately, he perked up later in the day, but he was very slow to get started. I was given a horse named Goose, but when I went to get acquainted, something just felt off to me, and for some reason, I checked his feet, not something I would normally do with someone elses' horse, but sure enough, he was missing a shoe. Considering the terrain, that could have been devastating, so they pulled him out of the line and gave me Bertha, who was going to be the leader's horse, but she switched to another horse. Bertha was a compact former race horse who had a penchant for running full speed when she had the chance, and she walked just fine, but I'm not sure I can even describe the thing she was doing in the middle. It might have been a trot, might have been a pace, but it felt more like rabbit hopping. I've never felt such an uncomfortable gait in my life! Needless to say, I didn't trot much, but I did manage to get her into a very slow collected canter that kept us at about the same speed when we had to trot. So now for the ride. All the promos key into the fact the this horse trekking company was the ONLY one that had access to some of the LOTR filming sites, and that was a big draw for me when I booked it. It was a very expensive ride (I could have bought a cheap horse and decent saddle for what it cost for the two of us to ride,) and I was enthralled by the hills surrounding the area. There seemed to be many forest areas, very inviting, but the ride seemed to stay almost entirely along the riverbed, miles of stones and rocks and fording across the river. Other than a few sections of pasture-like trails and road, where we were given leave to canter ahead of the one woman (and thus the group leader, Yvonna, who had to stay behind with her), which was fun (Bertha would do her hop if she were behind anyone, we soon learned, so we ended in front, where she would take off in an effort to win the race, and always did :-), but almost 90 percent of the ride was along the riverbed, essentially up a valley to the end, where we hopped up the bank to a clearing and had lunch, an extraordinarily long one hour event, before heading back down the valley on the other side of the river. During all this time, not one mention of anything about LOTR. I had asked at lunch when we would start climbing, and was told soon, but that wasn't exactly true. Finally, at about 3:15, I asked about LOTR sites, and she seemed surprised that it was of any interest! She offered the excuse that "full-day riders" don't usually care about it, so that was why she didn't talk about it. It seems the 1.5 hour ride (which we were originally scheduled for, but opted for a longer ride) actually went to one of the filming sites, but the rest of the rides just got you in the general area, and were pointed out from a distance, which she promptly started doing. While it was interesting, it now seemed rushed, because it was almost the end of the ride. FINALLY, we got off the riverbed, crossed the road and headed into a pasture area that had a long gradual climb, where we were once again given leave to canter up the hill. Bertha and I took off with Dan, a corporate lawyer from Russia (who, I swear to God, took his shirt off very early in the ride) and Hubby bringing up the rear. There was another woman named Jeanette there, but she only cantered the first few times before she had had enough. She hadn't ridden in years, so was obviously sore after the first hour or so, so I didn't blame her. We raced to the top of the hill, with Dan only catching me when I stopped. Yvonna wasn't very good at instructions, she said go to where it looks like you're at the top of the hill, though it really wasn't, and stop. I stopped where I thought that was, but Dan kept going, practically until it started going downhill again. Hubby caught up and we waited for the others to join us, heard some more fun facts before descending again, then we were almost back on the farm, though we took some slightly more interesting pathways home, mostly along stream bed and through a few swampy areas, though the stones were smaller and gentler on the horses' feed than the riverbed. Along the final stretch, Jeanette pointed out an abrasion on Yvonna's horses' back leg, and when she got down to check it, the horse flinched when she touched it, so she ended up walking the rest of the way back to ranch. We arrived just before 5:00, tried to feed our leftover lunch apples to our horses, but they were obviously not used to such treats, and only the big dapple gray Corona was interested. After a little chat with Jeanette about our thoughts on the ride, I hopped back into the campervan, and Hubby and I headed down to Mrs. Wooley's in Glenorchy where we had planned to spend the night. Unfortunately, the last site was taken by a backpacker right in front of me. Apparently they don't distinguish between campers and tents, so there was an incredible amount of wasted space (not to mention lost dollars) by not doubling up on the tent sites. Once we discovered there was no room, we drove out of Glenorchy, through Queenstown until we hit Kingston (thank goodness for the long summer days!) and signed into the Holiday Park there for the night. I spent a dollar to get 200 mb of internet time, which I used up in half an hour uploading half a dozen pictures, and was soon off to bed, exhausted from our long and tiring day.

Woke up before the alarm, had a leisurely breakfast, then headed down to the station early, hoping to find a wifi signal where I could check my email without using cell phone data, but was disappointed no one had a free wifi anywhere. Evidently they have a purveyor here called Spark, where you buy a reloadable sim card for $5, though it starts out with $20 of wifi time on it, and it lets you onto any Spark wifi system, which is in a little cage next to the service station, and also at most of the other buildings in town. Not having time to mess with it, we decided to forget about it for the moment. Hubby suddenly couldn't find his back brace, which he usually wears for any of our longer rides, and we searched high and low for it with no success. He was convinced he had taken in out of the suitcase last night and put it with his clothes, but we looked everywhre for it with no luck. We can only think he must have knocked it off the bed during the night on his way to the bathroom, and then it fell into the door step of the van and got kicked out in the morning with no one noticing. A long shot, but we couldn't find any other explanation. Anyway, our ride leader showed up, a true Maori Kiwi, a young man of 22, whose father owned the business of Horse M Treks. Our original schedule was for the Fishers Track ride, which was advertised as bing 21 kilometers (12 miles), and 4-5 hours long with experienced riders, 6-7 hours long with novices. Jakob said the ride was really more like 27 kilometers long, which we really thought would really be too much for Hubby, especially without a back brace. After much discussion and suggestions, we agreed to take Jakob up on his offer of an alternative route which would be a bit shorter, around a different part of the forest, though he assured us we wouldn't be disappointed. Another factor was the weather, it had started drizzling last night, and was forecast to continue doing that all day, and the original route would take us up some altitude where it was bound to get much colder and wetter in the clouds. We were NOT disappointed! In fact, the entire ride was fantastic! After getting introduced to our pretty spirited horses, with Hubby on a paint named Memphis, would you believe, and me on a part Arab buckskin named Duffy, we pulled out of the driveway and up the road, following the railroad tracks a short way before crossing the road. We briefly went through a neighborhood before reaching the entrance of the wilderness area, following a gravel road for maybe a mile before crossing a bridge over a raging river, and maybe a mile or so more up the gravel road to a beautiful lookout and beyond, until we finally got off the road and into some pretty high grass like stuff, and finally into the woods, which were some of the darkest, spookiest woods ever! So cool! There was even a section Jakob called the Blair Witch section, where they used to pull practical jokes on some of the tourist, skeletons on strings and so forth. Even though it rained off and on, it seemed appropriate because it had a real rain forest feel to it. After a couple hours on the trail, Jakob led us to a spectacular spot for lunch, with a view of a stunning waterfall that apparently very few people have ever seen. It didn't even have a name, it was so remote. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch that Jakob brought for us, and chatted like old friends for well on a half hour, before mounting up and heading out again. Jakob did a fabulous job of catering to our every need, and we even did some incredible long canters unlike anything we've ever done before on a rented ride. We had one river crossing where the horses practically had to swim across (well, now quite, but it was definitely a boot-wetting experience, even though I put my legs way up!) Hubby's boots got a bit submerged since he can't lift his legs that high, I managed to keep one foot dry while the other got wet. Jakob offered to take us to a spot where we could actually swim the horses, and if it had been a hot day we would have jumped at the chance, but it wasn't that warm out, and we were already pretty wet, so we declined. We had another fantastic canter for a long way up the road, with Jakob staying behind us because his horse had a missing shoe and he didn't want to lame him on the gravel, but he gave us leave to canter as far as we wanted, just stop to let him catch up before we got back into town! Well, that was a great canter! Before we knew it, we were back to the railroad tracks and into Jakob's yard. He invited us for venison stew, which we would have loved to stay for, but we are on a pretty tight schedule, and the ride was about 5 hours long, we arrived back at 4:00. Since we still had a drive ahead of us, we had to decline, but I shared my GPS map with him (at least, it's in the email waiting to go out as soon as I can get a wifi signal again!), discovering the ride was just about 12 miles anyway, just perfect. And amazingly, Hubby's back didn't bother him a bit, despite the long ride! Guess we didn't need his back brace after all! We considered going back to the campground to look for it, but decided it wasn't worth the time on such a longshot, so we headed back to the park station, got a little fuel for the campervan, and headed south to another DOC campground I had found about 1 ½ hours down the road, which would leave only about a 2 ½ hour drive to Wellington tomorrow to pick up the Cook Strait Ferry to the South Island. Jakob was kind enough to fill up the campervan with water, which was very convenient as there was no water at Simpson's Scenic Reserve campground (which is why it's free), and we both needed showers. It was a lovely drive, albeit wet, off and on with rain, but we arrived just about 7:00, quickly settling into this offbeat little campground/parking area, having dinner, showers, catching up on the diary and reading before turning the lights out before 11:00, the latest we've gone to bed since we've been here! Must have recovered from the jet lag!

The last couple of days we've been slowly gathering everything we need to pack for our big upcoming trip, but today we just had to get a last ride in, to insure we're in adequate shape for our first 5 hour ride in New Zealand.  We just took a quick trip out to the gazebo again, since it was convenient and nearby.  We've completely filled the trailer with alfalfa and bags of food for the horses, wanted to make sure brother Jeff had enough to last for the entire 6 weeks we'll be gone, so taking the horses out anywhere to ride wasn't possible.  Anywy, it served it's purpsoe, we got a number of trots and cnaters in, and feel good about our condition.  Of course, the dogs came with us and enjoyed the walk as well.  Nothing exciting, but it was very pleasant, perfect temperatures and weather, precisely why we like to spend our winters in Florida.