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.
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