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| Erin and Glenn on horseback! Glenn is on Ziggy, and Erin is on Barbie |
| Erin's Journal 01-17-03 New Zealand Today we booked ourselves on a horse-trekking tour near Lake Taupo. We'd spoken to a young girl at our hostel who had gone with this particular company the afternoon before, and she was very enthusiastic about it. Our appointment wasn't till 10am, so we were able to get ready leisurely, have breakfast, make more (dreaded) peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch, and check out in time to drive over. We arrived at about the right time, and we met our hosts. They were a couple of Maori descent, and very friendly and knowledgeable about riding and their horses. We chatted while they saddled up several horses, and met another couple as we put on our borrowed boots & our helmets. The couple was from Sweden, but only the lady would be going with us, as her mate was more into the mechanical thrills of bungy and skydiving, which they'd done the day before. We started our trek a little late, but I was very glad they did. We all went out to the riding ring and tried out a couple of horses before settling on the ones we'd 'fit with' for the 2-hour ride. I ended up on Barbie, a gorgeous palomino who was spoiled rotten. The owners were a little worried about putting me on her, as she would take advantage of any rider not firm enough to control her. But after we took off all in a line into a pasture, she settled in and was fabulous for the rest of the ride. Glenn's horse was one of those sturdy, stable fellows (named Ziggy) who plodded along after the leader's horse, only perking up when we reached the back pastures where the grass grew high enough for him to steal bites as we walked along! The riding was excellent; there were only the three of us paying customers, along with 3 guides, traversing these winding grassy paddocks and fields, overlooking the clear beautiful day over Lake Taupo and the volcanos in the distance! We had fun conversations as we rode, as the Swedish lady was getting very attached to her horse and discussing the possibility of checking her in at the airport as baggage! At about the midway point, we stopped to give the horses a short break (they chomped grass like they were starved for a living). We riders got down to stretch our legs, and wandered up to talk to a bunch of yearling bulls in a nearby paddock. They were very shy, but we smooth-talked them into coming up to us, and one was even licking Glenn's hand! We resumed the ride and finished off on a high note - with photos! The day was perfect for it, and we were hot and sweaty but satisfied. We thanked our hosts and drove back in town to get a couple of cold drinks to go with lunch. We snacked on chips until we found a nice spot along the highway to pull off and eat our sandwiches. The spot was very nice, shaded and cool, near a river, and we read books while we ate. Glenn even took a short nap before we got back on the road to the Waitomo Caves. I napped in the car on our way, but didn't get much sleep, as the road kept winding this way and that, tossing me around on the seat. Oh well. Glenn roused me enough to go shopping in a town just before Waitomo, and we arrived at our hostel with plenty of supplies for meals for the next few days. The hostel was so new that it wasn't even in the guide book, but we'd stayed in their sister hostel in Rotorua and knew to ask for them. The room was nice, and the whole place still smelled new. Nice! We read books - I finished mine, finally - and I started dinner while Glenn soaked up the last bits of sun out on the grass. He came in and helped before things were too far along, and we enjoyed a pretty good dinner. Stuffed, we did the dishes together (looking really cute together, I'm sure), and I went up to the room to catch up on the past few days' worth of journals! |