ridingthroughnz

30/05/2023

On the 27th May, WE DID IT!☀️
I put together a summary of our last 3 weeks from Hanmer Springs to Picton:
We already kinda felt like being on the home stretch when we left Hanmer after a long break for the horses and us. Only three more weeks now, and we will reach our final destination. Thanks to Jim, we were able to get access through Molesworth and camped along the Acheron and Awatere road seeing some stunning country (but anyone who's been there before will know what I'm talking about!!) Camping at this time of the year can get a liiiiittle bit chilly waking up to a frozen tent each day, but the sunrises and daily morning fog up high in the mountains made up for it !! The Awatere Valley Road is long, and we were prepared to have some rainy days in the tent. Luckily, we met Steve from Muller station the day prior, who invited us to stay dry in their quarters.
Glenlee Station was our next destination where Andy and Bruce welcomed us and took us in for 3 days to give the horses a bit of a break (mainly Alex needed it due to developing some mud fever on his hind legs during the last few wet weeks)..that's where we also had a crack at mustering cows from the hills !! What an experience.. and I tip my hat to all NZ musterers .. it's one hell of a tough job!
We continued our way to Bolton station, meeting Pip and Craig and stayed in their "haunted cottage," which was warm and cozy, and we luckily didn't meet any spirits 😄 One phone call from Pip and she sorted for us to camp the night in Toms cattle yard down the road with lots of grass for Moose, Alex and Rasta.
On the 22nd of May, we reached our last destination just before Blenheim: Meadowbank station and with that the most gorgeous three little girls and station owners possible!! We got greeted by Pippa, Hannah, and Laura, helping us groom and feed the horses. Duncan cooked dinner for all of us, and Nikki made us feel at home straight away. It was hard leaving after 2 days.
In the morning we had one of our most favourite rides of the whole trip leading us along the river on the cycling and footpath through Blenheim and up to Rarangi where we stayed with Katharine and Des and their sweet dogs, rams, chickens and little 2 week old lambs. We also organised a farrier to put some new front shoes on Moose, who had one of them snap in half during our mustering session at Glenlee.
The next day was the first day since the start of the trip that we were able to ride along the ocean, and we caught up with 2 reporters from the Malborough Express. They took some photos, videos, asked a heap of questions about our journey, and the next day, our faces appeared big and fat on the front page!
While Sam made sure to get some copies back in town, Karolin and I tackled the last hurdle of the trip .. the Port Underwood Road.. it's a very windy coastal road leading from Rarangi to Waikawa with loads of super scary logging, concrete mixing, earthmoving and seafood trucks. We were planning on getting through it all in 3 days.
Thanks to Phil, Duncan, and Nikki from Meadowbank, we got in touch with Mike and Gareth at Ocean Bay and were able to stay in their cottage sheltered from the windy coast. Dennis (a friend of theirs) made sure the fire was lit when we got there, he gave us antibiotics spray and coconut oil to treat Alex's leg and all sorts of tips about treks around the area.
In the morning he even offered to take Alex to the Whatamango Bay campsite to spare him the 18km walk, but we politely declined knowing that Alex would make a scene being separated from his crew and we wouldn't be able to say anymore that all of us did the whole thing without cheating. Can't accept a float ride after 3.5 months in the saddle riding every inch of the way together!! 😄 We arrived at the campsite in very windy conditions and found a little square space in amongst some trees for our tent, set up a paddock for the horses, and relaxed.
One of my highlights was the next morning, when Sam fulfilled his promise of riding Rasta if we made it all the way to Picton. He had never been on a horse before, and it took me by surprise that he actually wanted to have a crack at it. When we finally saddled up, the clock showed 11:30am, and it started pouring. So we rode in the rain for the next 1.5 hours until we reached Waikawa, and it cleared up. We survived the Port Underwood Road and had an easy 5km left along a walking and bike path that led us all the way to Shelly Beach where Jasmin (Karolins sister) was already waiting for us with the horse float..
Which brings me to this:
Karolin, our horses, and I arrived in Picton at Shelly Beach after 3.5 months of riding 1435km through the middle of the South Island.. we still can't quite believe it ourselves .. and that it's over .. no more setting up the tent or making coffee with our little water boiler in the morning.. no more feeding and saddeling up the horses to prepare for 8-10h days in the saddle, no more route planning ..
We already miss it, and it will be weird, boring, and different getting back to normal life compared to what we've just done. But I'm sure a new adventure is waiting just around the corner!! After all, we said we might tackle the North Island in a few years' time 👌🏻😄🐎
Karolin will start posting footage from the trip on Instagram under "Nzonhorseback" over the next few weeks (finally we have reception and wifi to do that!)

04/05/2023

All of us need a break!
From Bluff to Hanmer we've done 1140.2km and god knows how many hours in the saddle! 🐎🙈
The last few couple of weeks have been pretty intense! After leaving Mt Oakden we made our way to Lake Coleridge, Castle Hill, Flock Hill and Mt White, all these people were just amazing and gave us a place to stay for the horses and us as well! Thank you so much!! 🌈
After leaving Mt White we made our way towards Anderson's Hut and the Dampier Range which turned out to be a bigger mission than we were hoping for!
We had planned to get to Deep Creek Hut on the other side in 1 day but because we followed Anderson's stream (advice we got from a few people) we found ourselves on a swampy animal path that eventually led to a hill with an insanely steep incline.. it took us ages to find a path up, when we made our way to the top of the first ridge it was 4pm by then and we decided to call it a day ..
The next morning we found the actual path over the ridge to Deep Creek hut after running into swamps again further down (again..we weren't on the right path then either)
We got in touch with Lawrie (Alpine Horse Safaris, Hanmer Springs) who organised a paddock for us to set up camp that night. The day after he took us in at his place (Jenny your food was to die for!! Thanks heaps!). The following morning he navigated us through the river on his mare and waved us goodbye on the other side. He organised for us to ride through 3 more stations up to Hanmer Springs to avoid riding on roads as much as possible.
After going through Sandford Downs, The Grampions and Lockiel Station. Again, thanks so much to Jim & Jo, Peter, Jono & Sarah & Graham and Mary Ann and Hamish! Without your consent to pass through your properties it would have been lots of most likely unenjoyable road riding!
Yesterday after checking out the windy road and narrow bridge to Hanmer we decided to cross the river instead which turned into a 3h mission first crossing the Waiau River (water came up past the horses bellies again!) and then bushbashing our way back to the highway, reaching town just before dark.
A big fat thank you to Mary for letting us have our 3 champions rest in her paddock during our break and cooking the most delished dinner!
It's definitely time for the hot pools, eating some real food in restaurants and good sleep to recharge our batteries before (hopefully) continuing through Molesworth! (Although the weather forecast is horrendous).

21/04/2023

What crazy 1.5 weeks !! Last Friday we left Castle Ridge station where we were able to wait out the rain once more staying in their super nice sheering quaters! Thanks so much Kerry and Paul!!! You are bloody legends! ☀️😊 We've then fought our way over the Clent Hill saddle which was the most challenging part of our journey that sent us through endless swamps (Moose sank in to his butt!!!!), along very steep loose gravel paths along the mountains constantly slipping and thinking the horses are gonna tumble down the gravel pits, after that we had to cross the river about ~ 80 times over the next 2 days because the path was walking through the river over boulders with strong currents and spots 2-3 m deep!! Our bodies are also covered with cuts from all the briar bushes we had to cut down to follow overgrown "paths". Instead of making it to Comyns hut on day 1 and to Double Hill station on the second day it turned into a 5 day mission which meant we weren't doing more than 5km/day, hence why we took 3 days extra and made everyone worry.. at least we did eventually arrive in the rain and the owners greeted us with the most beautiful quarters, a hot shower and weren't mad at us at all for being 3 days later than planned 🙈
Thank you so much Anna & Tim for being the most amazing and generous hosts ♥️🙏

Yesterday we left Double Hill super early and had a massive day with 2 big river crossings (Rakaia & Wilberforce River) which were the most challenging crossings so far because the horses were belly deep in strong currents and could sometimes barely hold their balance .. the water was all milky and you had to take a guess where it's possible and safe to cross and hope to not fall down a steep cliff or get stuck in quicksand!
At 7pm we arrived at Mount Oakden in the dark and stayed dry in a shed overnight! Tomorrow when the rain stops we will head east towards Lake Coleridge and slowly make our way up to Mt White Station before we are going to cross the Dampier Range!
☀️🙂🐎
870km down so far and lots to go !! 🌈

12/04/2023

After putting new shoes on our three champions we managed to cross the feared and rough Stag Saddle and Bullockbow saddle without loosing one and have also done our first proper river crossing (Rangitata River from Mesopotamia Station to Potts River) !!
Rasta has suffered some injuries (cuts) from an accident crossing a deep muddy creek trench covered in high grass and briar bushes.. he seems fine otherwise and we have given him days off to recover and treat the wounds.
We are currently waiting out the rain at Castle Ridge Station (Thanks so much to Kerry and her family for having us!!) before continuing over the Clent Hills Saddle to the Rakaia River where we will be doing another River crossing (if the weather permits it!)🤞🏻
The plan is to get to the start of Archeron road and through Molesworth the first week of May 😊

19/03/2023

Yesterday we had a 33.5km day trotting to the Woolshed in Otamatapaio where we were able to stay 2 nights to avoid the rain once more! Evan the manager and his daughter let us watch when they were crutching the sheep in the morning, we gave the dogs, chickens and pet baby deer lots of pats, collected eggs and now the journey continues past Benmore Dam and up to Lake Tekapo for 3 nice relaxing rest days catching up with friends and family 😊👌🏻☀️

18/03/2023

Here is a great shot of our 3 musketeers Rasta, Moose and Alex (left to right). Without them and their endless energy and amazing manners it wouldn't have been possible or a safe trip ! We've had trains go past right next to us, planes fly only 15m above our heads, logging trucks and motorbikes next to the state highways and many more "scary" things and they couldn't care less !! 🙉🐴♥️🌈

Here you can see them conquering a really steep incline at Nokomai Station ! Thanks for letting us pass through guys, we really appreciate it and loved it there! 😊

17/03/2023

We put together a few highlights of our time riding through Southland and Otago worth posting! ☀️
Leave a comment and let us know what you'd like to see in the future !! 🙂🐎

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17/03/2023

It's been a hell of a ride so far over the last 22 days making it from Stirling Point in Bluff down south up to Omarama, actually riding 477km!! 🤯😅 Our butts are getting used to it (thank god!) and we will never get sick of the view, river crossings or animals we meet along the way.. only our protein bars for lunch every day are starting to loose their charm ..😬 Almost 1/3 of the trip has been ridden, having met people that have been very kind to us, that took us and the horses in for 1-2 days, fed us, gave us advice for routes and the weather has been on our side too for most of it !
We can't wait for what's still to come over the next 2.5-3 months !! 🌈☀️🐎
📸 Credit goes to John, motorcyclist we met at Homestead Campsite near St. Bathans

20/02/2023

Two women riding the length of the South Island on horseback in 2023

Our names are Nici and Karo. A few years ago we had the idea of riding through NZ on horseback - and after a lot of planning it has finally become reality! We are now already on week two of our journey and it has been absolutely amazing!

Follow us for more updates about us and our horses Moose, Rasta and Alex exploring this beautiful country!