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After our weekend of racing cars, we decided to take a little break and visit McClaren Falls for a picnic. The Falls have been pretty dry lately because of the lack of rain, but the surrounding countryside is still beautiful. While trying to find the perfect spot to picnic, we happened along a rope swing by the river. The slope was just enough to swing you out over the water and bring you slamming back into the dirt. I tried it once, hurt myself, tried it again and really hurt myself. Ben, however, won the prize for the highest fling.
Autumn is slowly coming on Tauranga although the air temperature is still quite warm. The oak and maple trees are turning colors and there is a new crop of never before seen tropical flowers growing in the neighborhood. The sea is relatively warm but the rivers are getting colder by the day. This was no exception at McClaren Falls. Ben did sacrifice his arms for a short time to experiment with Mark’s new underwater camera casing. The attached picture is one of the cuter ones. After our picnic, we let the girls take turns driving the car in the field.
Mark and I stayed a safe distance away and Ben lent his expertise from the backseat.
The following weekend, we were all invited to go ‘horse riding’ with Alison and her girls. The Sea View Ranch outside of Kati Kati is a working ranch that ‘hires’ horses for about $20 for the afternoon. We were met by the rancher woman who started handing out horses according to experience. Each one of us was placed on the nearest thing to a novice horsy she could find. We were then told to brush them down, saddle them up and hit the trail. Ok. I think I remember how to do this…
First we were taken to a paddock to see how we could handle our horses. Now let me explain that these were not bridled horses. They were trained on a harness that tied to one side of their head. In order to convey a turn to the horse, we were told to let up on the reins, lay it to the side of the neck towards the turn, lean, cock our outside foot to the front, and gently kick as the inside back leg was lifted in step (the
horse’s back leg, not ours). I had to be told a few hundred times. My horse, Michelin (like the tire), figured out pretty quickly that I had no idea what I was doing. She trotted out of the paddock in line with the others with a disgusted look back at me. (Mark - My horse was less excited about the day than I was. I was riding a Clydesdale - honest. One of the locals with a shock of gray hair and wearing a mechanics jump suit laughed hysterically about everything including the site of me of this horse. I said “No worries, they gave me a Cadillac to ride. They are built more for comfort than for speed.” He didn’t get it. It dawned on me that I have never seen a Cadillac in NZ. The Clydesdale had no interest in climbing hills, which unfortunately were plentiful. I encouraged her with the heel of my shoes - kick and 10 steps, kick and 8 steps, kick and 5 steps, kick and bad look then let’s eat grass.)
Once up on the mountain, we were asked if we wanted to do a regular trail ride or something else. Before
anyone could answer, the decision was made by the ranch hands that we needed to help move some bulls around to different fields. This sounded fun so we all headed uphill a little further to get to the bull pens. Wow. Those guys are bigger in person. And they like to fight with each other as they run around from one pen to another. It took awhile, but finally we got comfortable with them. That is, until one ranch hand rode up and told us that if the bulls started charging, we should just turn our horse around to face them head on. Yeah, if we could only figure out how to read that back leg… Anyway, I decided to try again with Michelin and get her to follow my lead. This attempt ended up with us spinning in circles, me holding on for dear life, all the while pulling her head around to the side as I was told to do. Oh yeah, and she was up on her hind legs. With a laugh, I told the rancher that I felt like Dale Evans. Ever heard of her? Yeaaaaa….Nah.
Once on top of the ranch, the views of
Wahia Beach were beautiful. We were allowed to run our horses around a bit and practice our reining technique. At one point, I looked back behind to see how the kids were doing. I didn’t see Grace anywhere. Looking back down the hill, I spotted a wee form sitting on a horse in the middle of the pasture, waving wildly in our direction. Oops. We left Grace behind. One of the guys turned and galloped down to retrieve her. We in turn all hightailed it up further through the hills, hoping to escape the wrath that was bound to come.
The day ended with a hot bath and lots of Ibuprofen and hopes of returning to the Sea View Ranch for more horse training. Everyone but Grace. She is going to the spa.
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