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Published: September 26th 2006
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Honey
This was my horse. He was a real beauty but a little frisky! Well as you can see from the title and pictures I have been horse riding. It was fantastic! I loved it. I was so nervous before we started even though it was my idea and I had booked it all. When we arrived at the place I was even more concerned. There was a guy with a trailer and some horses just in a field. I didn't need to worry out guide was excellent. He was a real cool Maori guy, and famous too, but I will come to that! He asked us whether we had ridden before and saw from our faces that we were petrified. Toby and Roland had both ridden before so he saddled them up first and then it was my turn. My horse, Honey, was a beautiful horse. It was a he, even with the name Honey, this I pointed out probably offends him. But Mac, our guide said the guy he bought him from was named Honey too! After climbing on Mac told us we would be riding Maori style. This means that basically you hang on with one hand and use the other to do all the moving of the horse. It felt strange
at first because you wanted to hold the reins with both hands but it soon became really comfortable and much safer to hold onto the saddle as you went.
There were 6 of us in the group, all from the program, and we headed off up the mountain, walking gently and then Mac said "Right shorten your reins and hold on". That was it we started to gallop uphill and it was terrifying but fantastic at the same time. Now I know I am waxing lyrical but I have always said I didn't like to ride but I loved this. We flew! I held on so tight and Mac said it was funny watching our faces, our eyes were so wide! We had about an hours ride to the top, see I told you New Zealand hills are big and then we stopped for a break. Mac had to help me off my horse as my legs were killing me. This was when he noticed that the buckles were sticking out of the saddle I had and were embedded into my thighs. I tell you the bruises are legend. If I was brave I would post them on the page
but I don't want to scare people. After the break Mac told us a little about himself. He is a cool guy and has done so much. Now I can explain the title of this blog. One of the horses we were riding was famous and so is Mac himself. They starred in the Lord of the Rings. Mac played a rider of Rohan and can be seen in the battle scenes of the Return of the King. Very cool. He told us all about the filming and how he had hung out with the actors. He was very easy going about the whole thing but we were a little start struck. Jessie the horse Roland was riding had been his horse in the film so he was a little tempremental, well he kept trying to nip my horse anyway.
So that was it a great day. I couldn't walk on Monday and the bruises have now turned from blood red to a dark blue colour. Toby and I are already talking about our next ride and are thinking of booking for 4 hours so we can gallop along the beach. Can't wait!
As for other things that we
have been up to this last week. We went on another seal count. This time the seals were not quite so smelly and apart from me almost standing on one there were no scary encounters. The wind was something else though. We could almost lie down against the wind and holding your coat out behind you was a real superman event! The place where we were counting is called Honeycomb Rock. There are some really impressive rock formations there, mainly due to wind erosion.
Then we have spent three days at a beautiful reserve about an hour up the Kapiti coast called Nga Manu. Means 'Lots of Birds' doesn't translate to well. We were building a bridge there and worked really hard. It was great to finish it today and see that all the hauling of planks and grit, hammering and wading around in knee deep mud was worth it. Looks fantastic. I even got to drive the tractor! They have some fantastic birds there and today we saw a Kiwi. The Kaka parrots are so friendly they come and sit on you and try to eat your hair and they have a Tui that can talk. I was having
quite a chat with it today.
We've also done some planting at a Maori university where they are trying to create a native wetland to encourage eels back into the area. All the wetlands have been pretty much destroyed around New Zealand and the eels need these to survive. The place we worked at was stunning and the people really friendly. They welcomed us in and fed us really well.
This week is kind of sad because it is Steph, my roommates last week. She leaves on Saturday. We have had a lot of fun and I'll miss her. There are 3 new people moving in too which takes the house number up to ten. A lot of people in a small house. We shall have to see how that all pans out. At the minute we are trying to workour way through the 3 Lord of the Rings films. We fininshed the Two Towers tonight so only one to go. We have to keep our eyes peeled for Mac and Jessie tomorrow.
Well just thought that if anyone was reading this blog and wanted to know a little bit more about the program I am on they could go and look at their website. I would highly recommend it. They are a great company who really look after you. They have programs all over the world, not just New Zealand, and I am having a wonderful time working with them. You really get to see parts of New Zealand few others get to see and meet the most amazing people.
Go to www.volunteer.org.nz
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Brittany
non-member comment
cool
hey looks cool