of which there are many – have fun…..
Horse Adventures
A Gift Voucher –
where it all began……..
Horses, stars and me
It is a long time since I rode a horse, and even then it could be debated whether I rode the horse, or the horse carried me around. I have done a few trails, in Lesotho, when the weather changed everything and the Mountain Club had…
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Garrawilla Cattle Station
All’s Well that Ends Well, so Shakespeare once said, and who am I to argue. After all he knew a thing or two about life. So after a great time at Markdale riding with Brooke and her horses, (Markdale Madams…..), I jumped at the opportunity to go…
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My First Real Horsey adventure :
in my beautiful home country, South Africa.
You what? 😂
You what?, I’m going on a horse trail. Why? Good question, and one I ask myself not infrequently. And my answer always seems to be vaguely unsatisfactory. Certainly, not because they are there, as with Everest. Rather, I want to. No idea why 😂.…
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Day zero – Farm 215
We had a comfortable 5 hour day today, stopping in beautiful Hermanus for a delicious lunch. The weather was a glorious mid 20’s with blue skies and the views along the bay spectacular. It was a little difficult to capture the beauty as we…
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Trail riding
Trail riding is quite a solitary experience . Of course I am not riding alone; there is Breyten ( keep wanting to call him Breytenbach) riding Patches ( very original name😜) and Julia on Sparkey. Essentially though I ride alone as we travel in single…
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Day 2 – long, long, remarkable
If you are wearied by my use of superlatives – please move on. Because today is filled with superlatives, both with respect to the world I saw and with respect to how my body feels now!!😜😜 Julia and I had coffee and cereal this…
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Today I Lived
Today was the kind of day for which there are no words. We set off from Stanford River Lodge, a lovely spot for a repeat visit and rode for almost two hours towards the beach. A different road today took us along a dirt…
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No Clothes
There is something very liberating about having no clothes. Every morning we put on the same things. And when we return from our rides, shower and change, it is into the same tracksuit pants and top every evening . I intend to get into…
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Day 3: A walk with friends
I went for a walk today, to use different muscles after so many hours in the saddle. Joining me was my delightful young German companion, a volunteer at the stables, the two resident dogs and a ginger cat!!!😻 We set off on a trail…
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Day 4: An easy walk 😜??
Today we went for a ride of a different sort. A white contraption; I would like to say it was a car, except that it lacked most of what we today consider normal in a car, namely windows that open and close when we…
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Day 5 : Leaving something on the table
All good things….. Following the old adage my mother taught me; always leave the table wanting more. I did a short ride today, almost too short. But then again not. Just perfect It is a grey day today The clouds blanket the sky so…
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No Regrets
As if on cue. As if to remind me how special. As if to highlight what was. The clouds have settled, the rain is streaming down, the shutters rattling and I can see absolutely nothing from my windows. The lights are on, the chimney…
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MY NEXT ADVENTURE SAW ME IN WESTERN AUSTRALIAN
THE BEAUTIFUL MARGARET RIVER REGION
Margaret River – Harmony
Nothing I have ever done prepared me for Jesters Flat, Margaret River ……. Beautiful Perth. My final few hours before returning to ‘the real world’ Enough time to marvel at what had happened over the past week at Jester’s Flat Enough time to marvel at what happened when seven women, unknown to one another arrived…
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There was a quick ‘test yourself’ ride in the Howqua Valley.
Day One
The most amazing porridge and coffee (Mansfield Coffee Merchants) set me up for the drive to the stables – about 30 minutes out of Mansfield. There is, at least for me, always a few nerves…
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Day 2
If anyone snored, no one heard – we all slept warmly and long. And our second day dawned bright and sunny. Full of optimism about the weather I forgot for just a while that…
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Contentment
It is difficult to put into words the sense of well being that is possible after a long day of physical adventure, a hot bath, a seat on the verandah – as opposed to a…
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THIS WITHOUT A DOUBT – IS AN AMAZING RIDE,
STUNNING SCENERY,
GREAT HORSES AND
The BEST People
Hidden Trails……
For those who don’t ‘have the bug’ this blog may be a bore. I know most of my friends think I am a little crazy and there is no doubt that my father would have something to say about the absurdity of a 60+ woman starting to ride horses when it hasn’t been part…
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Sometimes, we ride, short and sharp.
Sometimes we ride fast or stuck.
Sometimes we stay on and sometimes we don’t
See for yourself
Going nowhere…..
As anyone who knows me knows, I am learning to ride. A horse, that is. A bicycle in my youth was challenging but a horse in my ‘mature’ years is altogether a different kettle of fish . Okay, so metaphors are mixed…
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Weekend Getaway
“Come with me” I said. “It will be fun. We will escape Melbourne, the weather looks good and it is sooo close” And so she did. Come with me, that is, to escape Melbourne and because it is close. Well to be…
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Saturday Breakaway …… pop
Not to be confused with Weekend Getaway (click the link) but to be read alongside. “Come with me” she said. “It will be fun. You can escape Melbourne , the weather looks good and it is sooo close” And so I did. Go…
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Yeeha Cowgals 🐴
Come with me- it will be fun she said 😉 (For those who don’t know 😂😂 see the links http://www.leepowrie.com/weekend-getaway. http://www.leepowrie.com/Saturday-breakaway ) In the Otway National Park between Torquay and Anglesea. And so I did . Go with her. And it…
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Buckle Up Ladies – come for a ride…..
How wonderful to have reached the ripe old age of ‘comfort’. That age between old enough to no longer to care and not so old that you need to be cared for. So when two friends I recently met invited me to…
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SO WHAT’S NEXT?
Chasing cows? why not……. or even penning them.
Come for the crazy ride……
Mt Goomboorian, Cattle Mustering
The adverts were amazing, mustering cattle, camp drafting, (suitable for all riding levels, even beginners (that’s still me!!!!)) stunning views – Southern Queensland, mid winter, escape from Melbourne cold, improve my riding skills – who could refuse. So before I knew it, I was a paid up ‘member’ of the June intake of camp…
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Mt Goomboorian, Campdrafting
Now that we had mastered the art of cattle mustering (in 2 easy lessons you understand 🙂 ) We moved on to ‘greener’ pastures. In the bus, with horses in tow, we left our beautiful Mount and drove through Gympie, where once again we made a pit stop, this time, not at the bottle shop,…
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Lord Of The Rings…
Land of the Long Cloud…..
Beauty beyond Breathtaking.
NO WORDS… well not many 🙂
Glenorchy Back Country ; No Words
“Words, words, words, I’m so sick of words!” Well at least Eliza Doolittle was. Me, I would be better saying, “Words, words, words, I’m so stuck for words!” Which for anyone who knows me, must surely be a first. I LOVE words. I love working out their origins, the way they look on paper; their…
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When the green monster causes a Big Spill !!!!
See also Portugal.
Portugal – Dolphin Trail
I am used to travelling alone and often find myself ‘the odd one out’ in a group. But never more so than when I joined a group of horse riders in Portugal. The group had been riding together for several months and were winding down towards the end of their epic adventure. I…
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What an Experience (note the capital E!)
See also Morocco
Morocco Ride – day one…..
The thought of ‘thundering’ through the plains of Mongolia was what got me on a horse in the first place; and here I was, about to ‘thunder’ across the plains of Morocco, on a horse! Who would have thought! And while I am still to see the Mongolian plains, I have seen miles and miles…
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Morocco Ride – the next days…
(To be read after Morocco Ride – day one ) And just like that, the horses and riders worked together. The first day was, for everyone, a surprise, requiring much energy, patience and self control. But here, on day two, it felt as though we all knew what was required and were confident we could…
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Oh my Heart Horse.
Oh my Heart Place. Oh my beating heart…….
Tassie Tigers…..
It would appear I begin every riding blog with the imaginative but repetitive statement “there are no words” Which is odd, for as anyone who knows me knows, words ‘are my thing’ 🙄 I love the sound of them (don’t…
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My Heart Horse – took me the the Barossa Valley…..
again and again…….
See Barossa Valley, South Australia Barossa Blessings
Barossa Valley heaven
I cannot in all truth begin this with ‘there are no words’ which is usually how I feel about my amazing horse riding adventures. There Were words. Plenty of them. Well, for starters, there were 8 women, thrown together by the love…
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THE OUTBACK – dreams come alive here…….
See also Northern Territory/W Australia
Duracks, pastoralists, the Kimberley’s and me
Anyone pick up books at Op shops? I do, and so it was that I was introduced to ‘the Duracks’ for all of $2. I had never heard of this family. I had heard of the Kimberley’s, Kakadu and Arnheim land and had a vague idea that they were all ‘far up there’. With the…
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Stanley… No Words….
……. does not mean no riding. On the contrary there has been plenty of riding. What it Does means is that finally, and absolutely, there are no words (or to perhaps, very few words) that can describe this new world I have discovered. Having…
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Once in a lifetime.
A long ride, with amazing horses, incredible back up organisation.
And all in my beloved Victoria Alpine Country.
Wonnangatta.
Hidden Valley. Hidden Trails. Wonnangatta Have you not done the Wonnangatta ride?… You will love the Wonnangatta ride. You must do the Wonnangatta ride. Statements and questions that have been put to me more times than I…
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Markdale Madams…..
Have you ever wondered what happens when you put six women of a certain age together? Women who do not know each other, but are now going to share rooms, bathrooms, meals and 4 days together. Yup, I hear…
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Brave New World of Blogging 