Woman from Snowy River....Not! Day 9

A relaxed morning in the caravan park where Steve and the kids played on the playground.  More washing for Andrea.  Why did our girls never get as dirty at home as they do out here...or maybe my lack of access to a personal washing machine makes me need to wash for fear of clothes running out especially as we don't have the same 'Jane zones' as we did in the house. Late morning we headed out to Bogong Horseback Adventures for a half day trail-ride for me.  Steve felt the need to be 'Stirling Moss' on the winding road to Tawonga thinking we were running late.  That aside, it was a much nicer drive than 4 days previously when we found ourselves on the same road in pouring rain and low cloud just to get out of the van.
We got to Spring Spur Homestead 15 minutes early (thanks Stirling!) and were greeted by Taylor who was one of our guides on the ride.  Later, Clay, son of BHA family came up to meet everyone (5 green riders in total).  From then on, this was a totally different experience to any trailride I've had.  We were given a small lesson on the whys and hows of horsemanship (which was quite interesting) and after we were matched with our mounts, did a trial run on horseback in the stockyard to make sure we understood how best to work with our horses.  I must say it was well worth the 3/4 hour and showed that these people cared about their horses and us.
The ride was magnificent (about 4 hours in total) and we crossed flowing rivers, walked muddy tracks and cantered up fire tracks in the Alpine National Park.  The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful afternoon out. My horse was called Sargeant Dungey, so named after a local policeman of the area.  I was told he can be a bit grumpy and a bit of a speed demon (oh my god, I'm thinking!) but he was fantastic to ride. He nearly threw me over the handlebars a couple of times only when he tried to sneak a feed of grass while we were stopped.
The only downside to this fantastic afternoon was my thought about 3 hours into the ride that this is like childbirth.  You get all excited about the event and then the pain hits and we were seemingly sooo far from home that I didn't think I could make it back without an ambulance. Well we did get back, and even though Erin was too young to go, Clay made a special effort to show her one of the horses and give her some confidence with them, if only briefly. Steve went for walks in the pram around the property with the girls and talked to the owners and amused both Erin and Rebecca the whole time that I was gone and I was most grateful.

We did a counter meal at the Alpine Hotel in Bright because we got back too late to make tea.  Four roast beefs which were country size (big) and beautiful to eat. A great day out mostly for meeting interesting people and enjoying the countryside.