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Horse Trek Experiences | Weekender Review

Back In The Saddle - Horse Riding Holiday Review

Candida Baker of the Weekend Star finds a little luxury goes a long way when you’re trekking through the bush...

Horse riding holiday - adventure trek Australia. I was having this beautiful dream. I was in a brand-new space — a cabin perched on the edge of a beautiful valley with distant mountain views. I could hear the sound of horses in the distance. There were absolutely no children in sight anywhere, and I’d just had eight hours straight sleep and was about to tuck into a sumptuous breakfast.

And then I realised, hold on, it’s not a dream. I’d managed it. Escape! With a capital H for horses.

I’d booked myself a three-day riding holiday at ‘Kerewong’, a horse-trekking property near Port Macquarie, owned and run by Kathy Holtrust, and I was about to start my adventure.

I’d chosen the trip carefully. I’d decided that although I’d enjoyed my wilderness riding in the past, my current lack of fitness and extreme tiredness meant I had to find something where I could rest my weary bones in comfort.

Window shopping for horses in Horse Deals (as you do) I’d chanced across the ad for Southern Cross Horse Treks, with its luxurious cabin, small groups — a maximum of four riders — home-cooked meals, a pool, and a hand-picked herd of horses; five Arabs, a Quarab and a Quarter horse, all fully fit and ready to rumble. What more could you want?

In my case, to be honest, nothing. Well, almost nothing. As it turned out either more padding on my backside, or more padding on the saddle was definitely on my wish-list by the third day, but it was a small price to pay for the fun I had.

Kathy moved to Australia from Holland in 2000 with the express purpose of starting up a boutique riding holiday ranch. She’d had similar holidays in Europe herself and market research led to her discovery that Australia was short on that kind of specialised riding holiday.

Kathy and her then-husband spent two years trying out various places to start the business, working in Victoria and living on the South coast below Sydney, before settling on the Port Macqaurie area. Once they’d found the property — in a beautiful valley near Kendall, backed by thousands of acres of state forest, Kathy decided to take two years to build the business up, before opening in 2004.

“I wanted to do it slowly,” she explains,” so that we could find the horses, and market ourselves overseas, and renovate the house before we opened.”

Her perseverance and long-term thinking has definitely paid-off. Visitors come from all over the world to experience the rare combination of luxury and riding that her holidays provide.

The core business is a six-day riding trek which includes rides to Comboyne Peak, the Bago Winery vineyard, Swann’s Crossing near Kendall, the beach near Laurieton, Comboyne and Comboyne Plateau, and for a change of scenery, a local farm-land ride.

If variety is the spice of life, then these rides would certainly qualify. On some, Kathy’s helper Jo, is a welcome sight with a picnic lunch and lots of refreshment. On a few of the longer rides, the ride is the destination and then the horses are picked up with the float, and a short-drive back to the homestead allows riders to begin unwinding from the intense physical activity. Because, make no bones about it, these rides are not for the faint-hearted.

There’s nothing quite like being in the company of someone who can compete in a 40 kilometre endurance ride without even training, not to mention run a 60-acre property and produce wonderful meals, to make one feel, well, what can I say, just a tad OLD. Kathy pointing out that one of her guests was 70 and had completed the rides without a single complaint didn’t help matters either as I nursed my sore backside back into the saddle.

As it was, due to me being the only visitor, we were able to scale the rides to suit, well, me. Which was a good thing because on the first day when I had got used to my Arab mare’s paces Kathy said in her quiet way: ‘‘Now we will have a little canter.” Which roughly translated means: ‘‘Now we will have a fast gallop.” It was a quick way to get my slight nerves under control, but quick was the word.

But Kathy is nothing if not adaptable, so she will cater the rides to suit individuals. In fact she will do anything from a one-off two-hour trail ride, to a 10-day stay with six days riding and everything in between. You can even enjoy staying in the cabin, the food, the pool and the views without riding if you want.

She has tried to ensure that only experienced riders do the treks, but the Quarter horse, Copper, is there for those that want something a little less spirited — and a little broader backed — than the Arabs. Or for those who exagerate their riding abilities.

During the three days we saw wallabies, goannas, eagles and the odd snake. Snakes being the one thing which will bring a galloping horse to an instant standstill. ‘‘I had two endurance riders out here from Texas,” Kathy tells me, ‘‘and we were galloping along the Comboyne Plateau when the lead horse just stopped and there was this huge python lying in the middle of the track. There was nothing we could do about it. The python wouldn’t move and the horses wouldn’t step over it, so we just had to wait until it decided to move off.” Fortunately for us our snake behaved in a much more snakelike fashion and slithered away as soon as it sensed we were near.

There is something special about being on a horse in an isolated area — the wind whispering through the gum trees, the sound of the horses hooves, the quietness — apart from the cicadas that is — the minty smells of the bush. For me it is always magic. And the magic was only enhanced by the knowledge that there was a comfortable queen-sized bed waiting for me.

Not to mention the relief of cooling off in the pool and then a delicious dinner under the stars. And did I mention no children? I did? Imagine that.

WEEKEND STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2007, 33.
www.northernstar.com.au WEEKENDER



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