     | Friday April 6 2007 Oops! I didn't quite make it up for the start of the 160 km New Zealand National Championships. 44 riders started the 160 km at 1 AM, and 11 Juniors/Youths started the 120 km at 4 AM. It was a chilly morning when I got out on the grounds at 7 AM. There was a frost, but clear, no clouds. It was too cold for the strappers to be too busy for the first part of the morning, but as the day warmed up, they got busier. Strapping's a fine science here. Whereas I usually ride slow enough in the States to just walk right into the vet check, here in the FEI rides it's usually serious business, even if you aren't competing for top ten. There are radio number checks 4 or 5 km from home on each loop, and an announcer broadcasts when the riders pass these. I thought it was just a nice way of letting everybody know what was going on in the ride, but no, I believe it's for the strappers to be ready for their horses when they come in. The rider will cross the finish or in-timer line and get a time, then they'll jump off their horse, unsaddle while several people grab their horse and start dousing him with water and/or cool towels. The idea of course is to get the horse down to the 64 criteria as quickly as possible and present it to the vet immediately to stop the clock. You don't want to take your time in getting the horse's heartrate down; nor do you want to waste the time getting the horse's heartrate below 64. If you've spent an extra minute, or 30 seconds getting your heartrate down to 60 or 54, you've wasted that time. You clean the horse's feet before it goes in the vet ring in case there's a stone that might cause it to be slightly off. It's an art, knowing the horse and presenting it at the precise time. Me, heck, I never have to worry about that because Gretchen and I don't ride that fast in the States, and I'm just happy if we have a crewperson there to hand me a sandwich and a Dr Pepper over ice. (Which, by the way, I have not found ONE in New Zealand.) And of course you don't want to put too much cool water on the horse, or in the wrong places, such as the back and hip, where it might cause them to cramp up. You do put lots of water on over the head and neck and shoulders, and scrape it right off. Cool water under the hind legs, then more over the neck and scrape it off. I haven't seen anybody riding with rump rugs here, though Trevor said a few people do. Most people I've watched give electrolytes in feed, as well as dosing at the beginning of every loop (as long as the horse is drinking). The strappers also clean tack after every loop (um, I clean my tack well about once a year). Jo, who straps for Paul Jeffrey is always busy with the horses and gear, never stops working. The strappers also provide the rider with food and drinks, keep the horse supplied with food, blankets if needed, and carry the tack back and forth. As the day went along, the same 4 or 5 riders stayed up front setting a quick pace, including Kylie Avery, who on her stallion Silands Jasark won the Horse of the Year ride. The Juniors were clipping right along in their 120 km ride - here they don't ride with sponsors - and to me they look pretty fearless. There were 6 loops; loop 1 at 30 km was done twice (in the dark); loop 2 at 30 km was done twice; loop 3 was 20 km, and loop 4 20 km. There was a 40 minute hold each loop, with 10 extra minutes added to the hold times of I think the 4th and 5th loops for a represent of the horse just before going out. All those loops and hold times are a far cry from the 100 mile rides I know, with maybe 3 vet checks spread out among 3 30+ mile loops, or a 65-mile and a 35-mile loop. But FEI rules require 6 loops with these shorter hold times. Doesn't give the horse much of a good rest, and, I believe it removes some of the horsemanship from the ride. I'm not saying it's good or bad. If you can go out and gallop 30 km, have a break, go out and gallop 20 km and have a break, etc, you can do just that - gallop along, slowing near the vet checks for your heartrate and letting your strapping crew take over to get your horse down. That would be a different way or riding than if you had a 60 km loop where you had to manage and ride your horse a bit differently, to get him along further, rate him with a bigger plan in mind before he could have a break. Just an observation. Lois Hosking and her chestnut Highlander, the Best Condition winners at Horse of the Year, vetted out (pulled) after the 4th loop for lameness. Well, he's still the handsomest horse on the grounds. Linda Pullar's horse Razzy was going very well for Linda Meredith (Razzy's first 160 km), and Vanzant was going well for Sandie, as was Gemstone and Paul Jeffrey. Just after 3 PM the winner Mark Tylee came across the line first on his mare Class Act, with the next 3 finishers within 2 minutes of him, including Kylie on her stallion who came 4th. An hour later in 8th place was last year's National Champion, Jenny Champion on Freckles, and a minute after her was Linda Meredith on Razzy. We watched Razzy vet through - well, I don't know if Linda Meredith watched her: "The last vet out is always too hard to watch!" But Razzy passed with flying colors, and there were happy hugs all around. Another horse that caught my eye was a dark brown gelding with a light colored mane, Blackjack Davey, ridden by Rupert Kurghan. The reason he caught my eye, besides being a pretty color, was that he was a purebred Thoroughbred. You don't see too many Thoroughbreds doing 100-mile rides... and he finished with a 14 1/2 hour ride time. Hmm... I wonder if I could get Stormy fit for 100-mile rides... Sandie and Vanzant went out on their last 20 km loop just as it was getting dark. They kept company with 2 other riders, Robyn Peters, and Mariaan Liversage from South Africa. Her husband Leon is a saddlemaker, and would donate a saddle to the Best Conditioned winner of the 160 km. At about 8:15 PM the announcer broadcast the riders had just passed the checkpoint and were less than 5 minutes from home. "Everybody come out and cheer for them!" A good-sized group of people gathered 'round the finish line and waited for sight of bobbing headlights to turn the corner into camp. There they came, and a big cheer went up, clapping and whistling and yelling (which spooked the horses) for the last 3 riders home. A completion for all of them, Sandie and Vanzant's first 160 km ride! Their ride time was 15 hrs 32 minutes (not including vet holds) - less than 30 minutes off the cut-off time. In most New Zealand 160 km rides, you have only 16 hours (ride time) to complete the ride. It's the Organizing Committees of the rides (the rides are put on by riding clubs) who make this pretty standard rule, because they figure you really don't need to be out there for 24 hours, and if you do, the ride is really too difficult. Consensus from the riders was that it was a fairly tough ride, plenty of hills to climb. Paul Jeffrey said according to his GPS information, there was 3650 METERS of climbing in the 160 km ride. Garry Walker, president of the Ruahine riding club that put on the ride had said the ride has "undulating hills and flats." Paul told him "I must have taken a wrong turn because I never found the undulating hills!" Of the 44 starters, there were 26 finishers and 18 vet-outs (pulls). Of the 11 starters in the Junior-Youth 120 km ride, 8 finished. Natalie Bickerton finished with a 7 hr 34 minute ride time, 4 minutes ahead of Tessa Deuss. Two big rides down, more rides to come! |
Monday, April 9, 2007
NZ Nationals 160km and 120km
Vet In Day for Nationals
     | Thursday April 5 2007 VET IN DAY Apparently Julia slept at the fence by the horses all Tuesday night, because when we got up, she was still there and the horses seemed unbothered. In fact Zaandel was in the middle of his pen, and when I went to pet Julia, he slowly crept forward. If the pig wasn't eating me, maybe she wouldn't eat him. He got close enough to almost sniff her, and while he snorted loudly through his nose, Julia just kept grunting happily. Later I saw Zaandel actually walk to the fence on his own and sniff noses with Julia. Maybe Sandie and David will have to get him a pig of his own when they get home. We were among the first 4 horse floats to move into ride camp about noon yesterday. It slowly filled up during the day, and the clouds slowly built up... Around 4 PM it started DUMPING rain. The North Island had some trouble with torrential rains in the last week or so, and I could see why. It poured for a half hour, then rained for another solid half hour, and rained on and off all night. Hopefully things would dry out for the ride, or else there would be some slick footing out there. Thursday morning dawned bright and cloudless - for a few hours anyway. Ridecamp kept steadily filling up with horse floats from the North and South Islands. Lois Hosking and her handsome chestnut Highlander were parked right next to us; Linda Pullar arrived with her mares Razzy and Abigail; Trevor arrived driving Chris's float with a load of horses. Lois is riding the 160 km and the 100 km on another horse. Linda Meredith from Australia will be riding Linda Pullar's Razzy in the 160 km, while Linda will strap for her and then ride her own Abigail in the 100 km on Sunday morning. Trevor was going to ride Picksy in the 160 km, but Picksy didn't feel just right after the ferry ride, so he's waiting till the 100 km on Sunday. Paul Jeffrey arrived with 2 horses, Gemstone that he will ride in the 160 km, and Gazelle who a girl will ride in the 100 km. Both horses completed the Horse of the Year ride a few weeks ago. At noon, dozens of riders saddled up to do a mini-parade down the street and back. Some New Zealand news channel is here to film the ride. Vet-in for the 160 km and junior-youth 120 km started at 2 PM. There are 4 New Zealand veterinarians, and 2 vets from Spain. I watched Sandie getting her saddle ready for the 160 km. Since it's a 160 km FEI ride, she has to carry minimum weight of 75 kilos. She rides with 3 saddle pads, one of which has pockets to slip weights in. She also wears one of those vests that you get wet to keep you cool and carry extra weight. At 6 PM the rider briefing started. There was some discussion over rules to sort out the time slips and horse logs, the represents on two of the loops, the weighing of riders (usually every rider has to weigh with tack in coming in from every loop; this time it will be 2 random loops for all riders, and individual random weighing of riders) and there was a suggestion that there should be some follow up of riders on the first loop. The first loop is 30 km, in the dark (and it's going to be a cold damp night), the first part up a hill, with no number check till about 26 km. What if a horse tied up out there after 8 km? It was decided that a motorbike would follow along a half hour or so after the riders left, for safety. A big filling meal was served, and riders went to get ready for the ride and grab some quick winks before starting to saddle up around midnight... |
Pre-Nationals
    | Tuesday April 3 2007 PRE-NATIONALS We woke up this morning to 4 penned horses going bonkers and a pig! Just across the fence from them was a cute black and white big honker of a pig. Of course I had to pet it. It quite liked the attention and in fact as I petted her through the fence, she just sank down on the grass against the fence and my hand, sighed, and laid there grunting contentedly as I petted her. So while the horses were running in their pens and snorting loudly and threatening to break through their tape fences, I petted the nice pig. And, the Raven met the pig too! We spent half the day in a bigger town 45 minutes away, Taihape (tie-happy) stocking up on supplies and errands. Taihape is, of course, the Gumboot Capital of New Zealand. That's Wellies, or mud boots to the rest of us. Maybe I should have picked a pair up because there's a lot of clouds in the sky, and there were an awful lot of low hanging clouds in the morning. The foothills of the Ruahine Range are made of ash. Too much rain and they just disintegrate. You can see scars along the way where pieces of the hills just fell off and the sheer cliffs of ashy clay is exposed. Back at Butch's farm, David took the horses one by one and lunged them in the round pen while Sandie and I took turns grazing them on the lush grass lining the road. The horses were given their grain, and I snagged a few handfuls for the pig. She almost expected it, was following me along the fence as I called her. The horses still didn't love her, and especially Zaandel wouldn't get anywhere near the fence. He watched me pet the pig but thought I was nuts. Then we went over to Butch's, because he'd told us we could come take showers. We were not ones to turn such a gracious offer down! Butch made us coffee, sent us to the showers, and talked horses. Sandie got out her 2 nice photo albums of pictures she's taken (she's also a horse photographer) and she and David went through them with Butch. They talked horses and bloodlines, and, like learning a foreign language, I'm starting to pick up and recognize some of the names and lines, understand a few and put them together. And we talked pigs. It's Butch's pig across the fence, and her name is Julia. He had a boar for her named Roberts, but Roberts wasn't holding up his end of bacon making, so no more Roberts. He sent some pig scraps back to the farm with us, and said "Just call her, she'll come." Butch had a book on his table, "Straight From the Horse's Ass, A Kiwi Cowboy Rides America" by Lee Hughes. Butch said he didn't read much, but he couldn't put this book down. I must find it somewhere. He said I could have it on loan for the week, but I knew I wouldn't have time to finish it. He also had "Five Hundred Horses", and "Ten Thousand Dogs", both by Peter Newton, and he said they were good also. Anyway, lovely shower that, and a cuppa coffee. We left about 8:30 and as soon as we drove off Butch's lights went out - I think he was waiting for us to leave so he could go to bed! Back at the farm I carried the bucket to the fence for Julia. She had been sleeping near the horses, and she must have known I was bringing her a bucket, because she was already waddling down the fence to me. LOVE THE PIG!! |
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Journey to the North Island
     | Sunday - Monday, April 1-2, 2007 For my journey With Holly Farm to the North Island for Nationals, our goal was to pack and get gone by noon, which wasn't going to happen, so, at the latest by dark, because we would catch the 7:00 AM ferry. We'd be taking 2 trailers for 4 horses; 3 would be ridden at Nationals, and we had a bred mare to haul back home to Auckland. David and Sandie sure hoped they'd get someone to haul her up north with them after Nationals, so they wouldn't have to spend another 16 hours or so driving her. Me, I'd volunteer to stay at ridecamp and watch the ride horses! Nobody was panicking about packing or getting ready, and there was a lot to do: pack gear, clothing, food; clip the ride horses (they got show clips around the head); get things situated on the farm since they'd be gone for about 10 days. They'd either have a person staying there or coming to feed and check on all the animals. Meanwhile, there were horses' feet to trim, horses to move to different paddocks, a demonstration of driving for a gal that would work with a few young ones, and a few more stallions to show me, Zaddam and Simeon Sapar and Imperial Makkir. About 8:30 PM we started loading horses: Dahman Vanzant finished the Horse of the Year ride, but vetted out at the finish - his heartrate didn't come down. That's the first time that has happened with him. Sandie's doing the 160 km on him at Nationals. It will be his and her first 160 km. He's a homebred by Simeon Sapar. David will be riding Zaandel in the 100 km. He qualified last year as a 5-year-old, and was 3rd and got BC in the North Island Championships 100 km. This will be David's first ride back 2 years after breaking his pelvis. Sandie will also ride Mateus in the 100 km ride. Now that's endurance - ride a hundred miles starting Saturday at 1 AM, then get back on another horse and ride 65 miles starting Sunday at 1 AM! Mateus finished the Horse of the Year ride with a young South African girl aboard. Mateus is a character, rather pushy and annoying on the ground (but nice to ride, says Sandie), but you can't help but like him. He ate half my veggie sandwich the other day and he knows when I have candies in my pocket and he insists on sharing them with me. And a note about New Zealand endurance: New Zealand about 10 years ago voted to go the way of FEI. They follow FEI rules for all their official rides. Horses and riders must first ride as novices, and complete 2 40 km rides, then 2 80 km rides, before they qualify as Open riders and horses. Most of the 120 km and 160 km rides begin around midnight and get the hardest loops out of the way first, in the dark, when it's cooler. This CEI*** 160 km starts at 1 AM; the CEI*** Junior-Youth 120 km starts at 4 AM. This year's Nationals is a big shindig: there's not only the 160 km and 120 km, there's also a CEI** 100 km Sunday at 4 AM, an 80 km Junior ride Sunday at 6 AM (and Juniors here do not ride with sponsors), and the National Championships for Competitive Trail Riding, a 70 km Open, 40 km Intermediate, and 40 km Junior ride, beginning at 7 AM on Saturday. It's going to be busy! We drove on into the night, with one stop for gas and burgers, talking horses. I wasn't sleepy, but I laid down in the back seat of the GMC, and was just drifting off when David said "Are you asleep?" I blinked awake. "Uh - no." "Well, I'm getting pretty sleepy... you want to drive?" ACK! "Uh sure." Here I am, half awake at midnite or so, not only driving on the left side of the road, but pulling a horse trailer and 2 horses! And I by choice don't do a great deal of hauling at home in the States. ACK! While the Eagles were singing "Desperado, why don't you come to your senses," I was singing "Retardo, why don't you stay on the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD!!" Gauche! Gauche! Careful! Horses in back! I asked David just before I pulled out, "Is the road going to get wind-y?" because I was pretty sure this was that same godawful winding road that Linda and I drove on coming down. "No, it shouldn't," and as soon as he passed out, and the road got wind-y! Winding, narrow, with skinny bridges, and of course on every skinny bridge and curviest corner I met a truck! ACK! I was no longer sleepy, let me tell you! A bit of adrenaline kept me wide awake. I drove for half an hour and David woke up refreshed. So I crawled in the back again and dozed off... then at 1:30 AM we turned off the highway onto a dirt road and drove a ways before pulling over. I didn't get up, but saw later they'd set up the wire fence pens for the horses, and were stopping for a few hours' sleep. The moon was glowing brightly through a cloud cover, and you could hear the beach and waves crashing a short distance away. Tired as I was, I never fully fell asleep. At 4 AM we got up and took down the fences and loaded the horses again. We were back on the road at 4:30, headed for the ferry at Picton where we needed to be at 7 AM. I was now pretty tired, and was dozing off, and then David woke me to drive again. ACK! He said to stop at the first open coffee place, which happened to be 15 minutes down the road. All he needed was that power nap, and the coffee, and he was good to go. So, I laid down again to try to sleep, and we pulled over shortly after that, because Sandie was fading. I couldn't believe she'd lasted that long. He went to drive her truck and I drove again, following David, all the way into Picton. Fortunately for me there wasn't a great deal of traffic to worry about. Those roundabouts you have to drive around here, though, I'm not quite sure about in a car, much less a horse trailer. I was really glad it wasn't rush hour! We arrived at the ferry at 7:05, and it was loading already. We had to park behind the loading area, and David went to get the paperwork, and actually ask to get on the ferry, because he hadn't booked! He just hadn't gotten around to booking. They said at first there wasn't any room for us, but we squeezed on, the last few to make it on the ferry. Now, I'd gotten a text from Trevor that the crossing he'd taken I think at 7 PM or so had been great. But, knowing that it was 12 hours later and weather can change quickly, and knowing that I can get seasick in a bathtub, I'd pulled out my seasick pills from Greece and took one. It was a smooth crossing after all, and I stayed awake for the whole thing, most of it on the cold front of the boat. David and Sandie and little Trent had a cabin to sleep in, but I figured I'd sleep in the truck while driving. I didn't want to miss any part of the crossing on the ferry! I had a coffee followed by a cappuchino, and stayed chilly out front till I had to take a break on the warm side of the boat for a while. Then I went back up front and stayed there till we docked in Wellington. From Wellington we drove a half hour till we stopped for gas, then another half hour or so till we got to Queen Elizabeth park in Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast. There about 1 PM we set up the fences and unloaded the horses for a few hours' rest. The Raven and I had to go see the beach and touch the Tasman Sea, then went straight back to the back seat of the truck. By then I felt like a chocolate bar left on the hot dash for far too long, and I totally passed out for 2 1/2 hours. Our destination was Rangiwahia, a tiny town in the foothills of the Ruahine Range. This would be basecamp for the Nationals, being put on by the Ruahine riding club. We were planning to be there by dark, but you know how that goes... We got back on the road at 4:30 PM and drove on into dark again, and eventually turned off the main highway 1 onto this seriously hilly winding road for 14 km till we came to Rangiwahia. We couldn't go on the ride grounds till Wednesday, so we went and camped on Butch's farm. Butch is an endurance riding farmer from Rangiwahia. We set up the fences for the horses, got them fed and settled. The full moon (or one day short) was up, and it was silent but for the horses munching. By now I was feeling pretty wrecked, and could think of nothing but crawling into the back seat of the truck for bed, and David said we'd go to Gary and Vicky's. ARGH! Sandie said she'd stay with the horses and sleep, but even though I was about to fall asleep on my feet, I went along with David and Trent. Really, you can't pass up a chance to visit people in New Zealand. And anyway, my bed was our vehicle! So we drove a ways to Gary and Vicki's and got to their place at 9:30, and they were a bit surprised to see us. Not displeased, just surprised we'd shown up so late. They gave us coffee, and talked horses. Gary's the president of the Ruahine riding club that's putting on the ride. We got back to the farm about 11:30 PM and I passed out. And that was the end of our 24+ hour Epic Journey back to the North Island. |
Holly Farm Stallions
    | Saturday March 31 2007 Holly Farm Stallions The gray stallion, Pradaa, showed off mightily for us, absolutely ROCKETING around his paddock. What a ham! He's 5 now, and David just had him going when he had an accident that put him on the ground for 2 years (cracked his pelvis in half on a bucking horse). The horse is going to be a firecracker when David gets back on him. I had a look in a stall where David was trimming the feet of this dark gray horse, and wow, my eyes popped out of my head. It was their 4-year-old stallion Zaddam - half Crabbet, half Egyptian; he has the look that represents both lines well. I don't know much about conformation or type; I just thought he was a solid, strong, good-looking horse - I couldn't take my eyes off him. He's the first homebred to be kept here as a stallion. David showed him as a yearling and a 2-year-old, and both times he was Supreme Exhibit. David plans to endurance him next year, get him qualified, keep him in endurance a bit longer then show him. I took pictures of him in the round pen - nice mover too! Can I make room in my suitcase?? Then we had a look at Simeon Sapar, the 10-year-old bay Straight Egyptian stallion. David pulled tangles out of his mane, with no halter on, and he just stood there sniffing David's feet. Then David got his bag-on-a-whip and ran him around. I don't know who enjoyed it more, the stallion or David keeping him going. Of course, Sapar didn't need much encouraging. He was showing off, sometimes keeping an eye on me and my camera as he sprinted by me. Then he'd come up and sniff the bag-whip, snorting and playing like he was afraid of it, when he was really asking David to wave it at him again as an excuse to take off. David had seen Sapar as a weanling, and he "broke out into a cold sweat" because he knew he wanted that horse! "You see one like that," said Sandie, "it works on your eyes, it plays on your mind; you have to have him." David got him for a reasonable price, and here he is. Due to David's incessant traveling (which may ease up a bit now), he's never been broken in or shown. It hasn't been a priority, because he's already throwing some nice foals. Later we looked at Imperial Maakir, their other Straight Egyptian stallion. This gray 19-year-old is Sandie's pride and joy. He was bred at the Imperial Egyptian Stud in Maryland, and went to Australia as a yearling. David saw him there and really liked him; when he and Sandie were there in 2005, he said she had to see this horse. Sandie saw him and fell in love immediately, told the owner if you ever want to sell him, call us. Last year she called and offered him; here he is at Holly Farm. He was injured on the plane to Australia so was never shown, but he proved himself as a sire in Australia, and has had some nice foals here. Check out the stallions at www.hollyfarmnz.com... only if Zaddam is no longer on there, look for him hanging out with Stormy and the Raven in California! |
Holly Farm
    | HOLLY FARM Saturday March 31 2007 Trevor and I were away from his farm at 4:45 AM, headed north; he was dropping me off at David Marshall and Sandie MacLean's Holly Farm outside of Christchurch on his way to Nationals with Picksy. We left in a bit of rain and a thick fog; it took us 5 hours to get to Margaret and Allan's place for coffee, where we unloaded Picksy for a grass break and stretch. We were there an hour, and they talked solid horses. These people knew Trevor's uncle Brian and had some of his horses, and knew Trevor's horses and breeding, like he does, backwards and forwards. Allan was a beekeeper for 35 years, and has just turned 70 and is retiring from it. They sent me away with a homegrown jar of honey! (Which Trevor nicked.) It was another 3 hours on to David and Sandie's, where Trevor unloaded Picksy again into the round pen, and we all had coffee before Trevor hit the road again. He headed another 2 hours north where he'd stay for the night, and pick up another lady's float and haul it with Picksy and her 4 horses to Nationals, catching tomorrow night's 7 PM ferry. We would pack tomorrow and head north by dark, to catch the 8 AM Monday ferry. David gave me the history of Holly Farm, in his family for 4 generations, and the rundown on their horses and breeding program and bloodlines, which he knows upside down and inside out. Lots of fascinating history and stories there. David's dad started breeding Arabians in 1961; David started riding their stallions in endurance in 1978, just to prove that they could do endurance. His dad had decided to breed purebred Arabians, and acquired 4 purebred mares to start, and a purebred Crabbet stallion, Silver Sparkle. David's father's lines carry select Crabbet, Russian, and Egyptian blood, and have proved successful in the showring and in endurance. While continuing these lines, David and Sandie have decided to also pursue their passion ("I'm just obsessed with breeding!" said David) of breeding Straight Egyptian Arabians as Al Zayd Arabians. The horses are used for showing and endurance, an all-purpose Arabian. David's been all over the world studying breeding and Arab bloodlines, as well as training them, in the US, Germany, and the UAE. They've got four stallions: Imperial Maakir and Simeon Sapar are Straight Egyptians, and Zaddam and Pradaa are the mix of David's and his father's breeding. The young dark gray Zaddam was the one that made my eyes pop out. David and Trevor have a partnership in Whitestone's Silver Flame, the 24-year-old gray stallion with a band of mares at Trevor's. The old homestead on Holly Farm dates back to the 1860's (about as old as you'll find in New Zealand). There's chickens and baby ducks, peacocks, pheasants, cows, and a miniature horse that is Trent's horse. Nobody but Trent can catch the little bugger, and his first day home, Trent led him right in the house. He regularly escapes out of his pen, and we had to run in a whole herd of 2-year-olds to separate him out back into his orchard pen. There's paddocks of endurance horses in various stages of training, paddocks of two-year-olds, mares and foals, and just weaned babies. Another horse heaven in New Zealand! |
Queenstown
     | Wednesday March 28 2007 QUEENSTOWN I was in desperate need of wireless internet, so Trevor drove me to Queenstown, about 2 hours away and dropped me off. He had some horse business he could take care of around there, so it wasn't a total waste of his time. He wouldn't hear of me taking the bus anyway. We were socked in a thick fog until about Lumsden, an hour or so away, and then we drove out of it. All the way we'd been slowly gaining altitude, through sheep farms and more farms, and when we got out of the fog, there were big mountains off to our left, and decent sized ones on our right, that they sometimes did endurance rides in. We reached the bottom tip of Lake Wakatipu, under which I believe there's a sleeping giant, whose breathing causes a rather strange rising and falling of lake level. We drove along the side of it, hugging it along what used to be an old goat track. It's still just a narrow winding 2-lane road, that sometimes squeezed to one lane with road construction. Pretty steep mountains above us, and across the lake, bigger mountains rising sharply out of the lake, no room for even goat tracks over there. If you wanted to head west, there's that mountain range to cross (by bird wing) before you reach another north-south highway (that only goes north to Milford Sound before stopping), and on the other side of that, nothing but hundreds of miles rugged mountains and lakes and Fiordland National Park, with very few trails through it, before you hit the Ocean. I'm sure it's thoroughly been explored at some point, but there can't be many casual visitors. Oh, wouldn't I like to just be dropped off with map and compass and the right gear on the other side of Lake Wakatipu to hike straight across to the ocean! But I took the easy way, with Trevor driving me and talking horses on the way. We got to Queenstown and took some time finding an affordable hotel with wireless internet. Didn't find either - not so many rooms available (well, maybe not for the likes of me) with a conference in town, none with wireless at the ones we checked, so I settled on a room in a hostel, with wireless internet at cafe in town. I had the downstairs of a house, with a bit of a view down over the lake. Gee, I'd like to just move in here for a few months! I only had about 2 hours to wander around town before I had to get to work, but, Queenstown seemed to be a nice town in a lovely setting! It's stacked up around the curve of the lake, with a big forested mountain looming right over it (with a gondola ride to the top), and mountains surrounding the lake everywhere. There's a hill on the left as we drove into Queenstown; Trevor said they worked up on top of that on Lord of the Rings, staying on the backside bottom of it, riding up to the top to work every day. I bet there weren't too many whiners on that shoot! It was quite a busy town, tourists and backpackers strolling everywhere, sitting in outdoor restaurants, riding in vans taking them to adventures, and ducks swimming the lake and strolling the parks. You can do anything outdoorsy you want there (for a fee): bungi jump (no thanks!) sky dive (no thanks!), paraglide (no thanks!), white water raft (no thanks!), take Lord of the Rings tours, water ski, snow ski, steam in a boat up the lake, take scenic flights, go to numerous restaurants (lots of Indian!) and bars and internet cafes. Plenty of upscale hotels and loads of hostels. I'd love to come back spend time just hiking in the surrounding mountains. And riding of course. Next morning I took a couple of buses to get back to Gore - all day to get 2 hours down the road, but the bus is a great way to see the countryside. One other girl and I had a whole bus to ourselves, and our bus driver gave us a personalized guided tour of the countryside we were passing through. I am fascinated by the hedges that are all over the land down here, many of them made from closely planted pine trees that are severely shorn about 12 feet up (by tractors with large spinning blades), then sometimes allowed to grow normally above the trim. They are windbreaks or just impenetrable boundaries between pastures. Sometimes the hedges are other kinds of trees, big yucca-like plants, or even the invasive gorse, through which a snake wouldn't want to try to slither (and New Zealand doesn't have snakes - maybe this is why!) The driver pointed out the "freezing works" or slaughterhouses where the cattle and sheep are slaughtered (deer are processed in their own plants), the old pulp mill, the big dairy conglomerates that are making a resurge. I said Surely Kiwis didn't consume THAT much milk, he said 97% of the milk products, milk, butter and cheese, are exported. I also noticed some of the city slogans... If you've noticed, some cities or towns in America have adopted some slogan to put on the sign on the outskirts, such "Winnemucca - City of Paved Streets" (I'm not kidding! Though it may have changed to something more modern by now); Inyokern - Sunshine Capital of the World;" etc - I actually have a little book of them in America. Here, a few of the slogans were "Where Dreams are Possible" and "Northern Southland, Naturally." I'd say for the whole country: "New Zealand - Come Ride!" |
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