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Hello dear ones,

I'm finally back. So much has happened in the last week that I didn't have time to write anything here. But now I have a moment for myself and will make up for this omission. In my last blog post, I wrote about my trip to the Heaphy Track. After this walk, I drove to Motueka and visited the iSite. There I informed myself about the Great Walk, a multi-day hike through Abel Tasman National Park. Unfortunately, the weather for the next few days wasn't very good, so I couldn't start as planned. While browsing through the tourist information, I stumbled upon an interesting flyer that would become very relevant. I spent the afternoon in the hostel garden, washing and drying my laundry outside on the clothesline and planning my next days. The flyer that caught my attention was for a horse farm that offered beach rides and overnight accommodations. After a short phone call, where I just wanted to get information about the different products, I booked a night and a ride. So the next morning (25.09) I set off for Takaka in pouring rain. On the way, I made a detour to Harwoods Hole, a hike through the forest to a cave that unfortunately couldn't be seen much as you mainly see a big hole from above, which can only be reached with mountaineer or cave climber equipment. Another small trail led up a mountain, where at the end you had to climb over rocks and were rewarded with a view of a gorge. Definitely worth seeing in good weather, but for me it was mainly windy, wet, and cold. After getting enough exercise for the day, I drove to Hack Farm. There I didn't do much except look at the horses, talk to Bärbel - the owner - and spend a relaxed evening. We had planned our ride for the next day.

In the morning (26.09), my hopes for the ride were unfortunately dashed. It was still raining and terribly windy, absolutely not riding weather. Since Bärbel saw how disappointed I was, she offered me to stay another night and even came down in price for me, and we would do the ride the next morning. So I used the time to finish planning my route for the North Island and talk to two people about the Great Walk who would like to do it with me. In the afternoon, the sun finally came out and I was allowed to help Bärbel and her friend break in Captain, who is almost three years old. I got to work with him in the round pen, let him kick around me, walk backward, and stuff like that. I enjoyed it very much and it was very interesting to learn about horse training. Did you know, for example, that you have to teach horses everything on both sides? Horses don't have a connection between the two halves of their brains, so they can't transfer what they learn on one side to the other.

On Wednesday the 27th of September, a long-cherished dream of mine came true. I was allowed to ride along a beach and even gallop. As soon as I woke up in the morning, the sun was shining on me. After a quick breakfast, Bärbel came to me with Jasper and Tee, and after we had groomed the horses and saddled them with Western saddles, we set off. First up the hill across the farm grounds from where you have an incredible view over the entire Golden Bay. You could see from Farewell Split to Abel Tasman National Park. Then we went down to the beach where we could let the horses run. We even rode a bit into the water. It was a great two-hour ride where Bärbel explained a lot to me. So it wasn't the typical ride where you just sit on a horse and follow the others, but more like a riding lesson on the beach. The time passed by way too quickly and we had to go back. After unsaddling and grooming the horses, it was my turn to cook. Because Lina, a girl from Germany, and I teamed up for the Great Walk and decided to pre-cook curry for three nights. After that was done, I headed back to Motueka, where I rebooked the huts for the Great Walk and the water taxi at the iSite. The next morning we would start. I spent the evening buying some more things and packing my backpack.

That's it for now, otherwise this entry would be way too long. In the next one, I will tell you about my experiences with a multi-day hike.

Until then,

Your Jessi