24th November
Tekapo to Lake Pukaki (37.5km)
Stan and my daughter Kelly came up to catch up with us. Brian Potts and his horse Minty and Annie
Jackson and her horse Poppy also came to ride with us for three days.
We all reluctantly left Tekapo after some photos of the Church of the
Good Shepherd and a takeaway coffee and headed on south towards the Tekapo canal
.
.
Kelly was riding Minty today.
We tethered the horses under the trees for the
night. While we were on the canal trail we rode past the salmon farms and it was
really interesting to watch the workers with life jackets on, feeding the fish
and working.
Both lakes Tekapo and
Pukaki were an unreal beautiful blue colour.
25th November
Lake Pukaki to Twizel
(21.0km)
We continued on alongside Lake Pukaki and rode down the end of the
lake and over the Pukaki High dam bridge with lots of traffic. We had coffee at the salmon farm there.
As we
came close to Twizel we left the road and rode on a track by a river with
willow trees and lupins which were flowering, this was really pretty.
Stan had gone ahead and found us the last two rooms in the backpackers
and a separate paddock to keep the horses for the night with lots of grass.
26th November
Twizel to Omarama (33.2km)
We left Twizel after taking photos of the old trucks they had used
to build the canals and heading on south
The road sides were really wide and we were off the road most of the way
and could follow on a track with was left from when the fibre optic cable was
dug in recently. This was great as in
the long grass we have to be very careful to watch out for broken glass bottles
for the horses feet. We rode over the
Ruataniwha dam over the end of Lake Ruataniwha and on past the Wairepo Arm of
the lake and saw lots of swans on this. It
was very beautiful.
Stan had found us a lovely cabin in the Omarama camping ground which was just as well as in the night and the next day it poured down with rain and we had looked at the weather forecast and decided to have a rest day.
The horses were tethered at the end of the camping ground under the willow trees did a great job of “mowing the lawn”
The road sides were really wide and we were off the road most of the way
and could follow on a track with was left from when the fibre optic cable was
dug in recently. This was great as in
the long grass we have to be very careful to watch out for broken glass bottles
for the horses feet. We rode over the
Ruataniwha dam over the end of Lake Ruataniwha and on past the Wairepo Arm of
the lake and saw lots of swans on this. It
was very beautiful. 
Stan had found us a lovely cabin in the Omarama camping ground which was just as well as in the night and the next day it poured down with rain and we had looked at the weather forecast and decided to have a rest day.
The horses were tethered at the end of the camping ground under the willow trees did a great job of “mowing the lawn”
Brian and Annie had to leave for work and had enjoyed their time
on this ride and it was sad to see them leave in the pouring rain.
27th November
Rest day for the horses
28thNovember
Omarama to Top Hut (33.1km)
We headed off and down past Broken Hut road which had wide
roadsides and came across a long line of little huts which we presumed were the
huts which this road was named after.
There were two ways we could go and one was steeper and shorter but had
rough gravel underfoot and the other was longer by7 kms, was not as steep and
had better footing for the horses so we took this track.
It also had many small river crossings which we enjoyed and meant the horses had plenty to drink all day. We followed West Manuherikia track and it took us up to the top of the Omarama saddle and down the other side a bit until we came to the Top Hut and stayed in this for the night.
It has a safe horse paddock next to it which was great. This hut has eight bunks and some really nice safe candle holders as well as a shed which we could put the saddles in.
Stan and Kelly had driven in
and Kelly walked and rode part of this with us.
There were great views from the top of the saddle.
There were two ways we could go and one was steeper and shorter but had
rough gravel underfoot and the other was longer by7 kms, was not as steep and
had better footing for the horses so we took this track.
It also had many small river crossings which we enjoyed and meant the horses had plenty to drink all day. We followed West Manuherikia track and it took us up to the top of the Omarama saddle and down the other side a bit until we came to the Top Hut and stayed in this for the night.
It has a safe horse paddock next to it which was great. This hut has eight bunks and some really nice safe candle holders as well as a shed which we could put the saddles in.
There were great views from the top of the saddle.
Top hut to St Bathans (38.4km)
We carried on and rode through lots of river crossing with the
Manuherikia River growing in size as we kept crossing it. I rode Maddy today for a change as Stan had
been taking her pack boxes in the truck while he was with us.
We rode down past the Boundary hut and this hut was similar to the
Top hut and also had a horse paddock and this one had lots of grass so we let
the horses have a good feed here before carrying on.
We rode past some remains of old stone houses and a water race which would have been used for gold mining.
It was a really pretty valley to ride through and I would like to go back and ride it again one day. We then rounded a corner and left this behind and rode down a long gravel road and past the old homestead and onto Hawkdun road until we came to St Bathans with its lovely blue lake. As we were riding along a fast dirt cart came over the hill and with quick wave they disappeared into a cloud of dust.
We took photos outside the Vulcan hotel and the lake and had a cold drink and then set up camp in the St Bathers domain about a kilometre down the road. We came back and had fish and chips for tea the hotel.
We rode past some remains of old stone houses and a water race which would have been used for gold mining.
It was a really pretty valley to ride through and I would like to go back and ride it again one day. We then rounded a corner and left this behind and rode down a long gravel road and past the old homestead and onto Hawkdun road until we came to St Bathans with its lovely blue lake. As we were riding along a fast dirt cart came over the hill and with quick wave they disappeared into a cloud of dust.
We took photos outside the Vulcan hotel and the lake and had a cold drink and then set up camp in the St Bathers domain about a kilometre down the road. We came back and had fish and chips for tea the hotel.
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