As we started planning our vacation to New Zealand on the North Island one of the must-do activities on our list was an overnight horse back ride. My style was much more inline with nose to butt riding-you know the “safe” kind. My husband and I were not on the same page when he booked this little excursion. He loves to push me out of my comfort zone in every single way possible. Why would this be any different?! I’ve always managed to return home alive, so I went with it.
We arrived at Hone’s (pronounced hone A) house. As we stepped out of our little rental car, he took one look at us and realized he’d have to tone it down, just a tad. I felt a little insulted because I AM a country girl. Who does this guy think he is? Looking at me like I’m some city girl. But I digress, in all honesty, he was right in his judgement. Even the tone down version was pretty crazy , not gonna lie.
He invited us into the house for tea or coffee. By this time we learned coffee is not New Zealand’s strong suit, so we opted for the tea. They do tea and they do it well. We got to know his girlfriend and sweet little girl while looking through photo albums of his Rugby days and he was also in a movie where he was a cowboy stunt man. Hard core! The anxiety really set in when they showed us photos of past tour groups that he led. This is not at all what I had in mind. Thank you husband. What were you thinking?
In the back of my mind I was a little perplexed by the whole set up. It’s probably fine, I thought.
Having just looked at the past tours, I was feeling the anxiety. The stream of crazy thoughts took over as I began to wonder if we were getting in over our heads: Would we never return from this excursion? Wait! That hat!! He’s that Australian serial killer, yes, he killed all of those hikers, no wait, that was just a movie, loosely based on an actual person that is currently in prison. Ok, it’s fine, we’re fine. He’s totally legit and truthfully he doesn’t look anything like that guy. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are two novice tourist horse riders. No useful knowledge of the lay of the land. What if something happens to our guide. No cell phone service, no experience of any sort in the New Zealand wilderness. Did we update our will for our orphan children? Yes, we did….TEN YEARS AGO! Eventually I managed to calm myself down and the panic fueled thoughts subsided, thankfully. It looks like a challenge but we probably won’t die. We’ll talk about the INFJ loop in another post.
After our tea and sweet baby time it was time to head out. He explained to us that he was still training his horse and he didn’t like the saddle. Outlaw Josey Whales was indeed not a fan of the saddle. He jumped on and got bucked off immediately, which then spooked my horse who was already a little nervous Nelly. The horse kept on bucking, it was like a rodeo at this point.
I’m on my horse ready to go but he too, is feeling agitated. I’ve ridden many times before, but this horse was feeling a little sketchy from the get go (ahem…he may have felt my nervous energy as well). He knew my number and he took full advantage. I was not the alpha in this case. Not even a mile into it, he decided that he didn’t need to listen to me. He started galloping his silly butt back home.
Suddenly, I had no idea what way the reign was to go. We confused the crap out of each other. I began to wonder, well maybe since in New Zealand they drive on the wrong side of the road, the horses are trained the wrong side too. Here we go again in the spiral of incoherent thoughts. Whatever the case, my horse decided to go back home, so Hone had to come and round us up. At this point, I’m pretty sure he thought I was a fraudulent country girl. Good thing I didn’t boast about my horse skills. He was kind enough to throw a lead until we got into the mountains where I was truly on my own. I was not going to argue. Please, yes cowboy, lead the way.
By this time we came across two guys on ATV’s that chased us down and honestly didn’t seem to be stand-up guys. They took one look at Hone and left us alone. I live in Hawaii, I know the tourists are always the easy target that the low-lives flock to. This time we were the clueless tourists but thankfully we had Hone, he has that look, you know the one, I felt safe. They went on their merry way. But did I think, what if they find us in the middle of the night and axe murder us? Of course I did.
Moving along, I decided we were in safe hands as he did save me, twice. We stopped for lunch by a gorgeous waterfall. I was relieved to finally relax and enjoy this beautiful piece of heaven. This is exactly what I had envisioned. After lunch we rode for another couple of hours to our accommodations for the night. There were no fancy frills what-so-ever, just country life at its finest. Complete and utter peace and quiet. No cars, no people, no airplanes flying over head, no electricity, not to mention the bluest sky. Pure joy and bliss!
After we finished settling in the horses for the night, we walked the surrounding forest area to explore a little further. Some people stay at the Hilton, not us. Where’s the adventure in that? I’m a country girl, remember. We made our way back to the cabin and Hone already had lamb on the grill with vegetables and beans. It was pretty amazing.
We spent the night learning a lot about Hone, who turns out is a pretty interesting guy to say the least. A great storyteller! We were in stitches most of the night as well as some serious ghost talk. Why would you not go there, you’re in the middle of no where?! It added to the experience and made it that much more fun and memorable. We had a blast! The boys started drinking some beers, I on the other hand, knew better and headed to bed.
The next morning we woke up and Hone had made another amazing breakfast. From there, we were ready to go so we packed up and headed out. But not without another Rodeo Show from Outlaw Josey Wales. Hone took her to a trench so that there wasn’t much wiggle room to buck him off again. Hone 1; Outlaw Josie Whales 0. We were on our way!
On the ride back we traveled through a forest and got stalked by some wild boar. While also being slashed open from all the Bush Lawyer we traveled through. Brutal plant. We used every bit of our novice horse knowledge, while also gaining some serious skills to slide down muddy hills and steep areas that led us to a gorgeous rocky river crossing. I came out of this thinking, who am I? I’m a bad ass, that’s who I am.
Bush Lawyer
The colloquial English name is often said to have been given because once this thorny plant becomes attached to you it will not let you go until it has drawn blood
DuFresne, Jim (November 2006). Tramping in New Zealand
This was such an incredible and unforgettable experience. All of that worrying for nothing. If you’re feeling adventurous, I highly recommend one of the many horse adventures in the Owhango area.
View all of the many tours Horse Treks offer in New Zealand’s Tongariro National Park.
Location: Owhango Village, Ruapehu, New Zealand
There are tons to choose from. We stayed in the ten man hut for the High Planes ride. Hone was an awesome guide!!