Ride 'em cowboy.....

I hate horses - in fact I just hate large animals- they are unpredictable and usually manage to bite or kick me when I get near them. So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I went along with Anne's wish to go on the Numinbah Valley Adventure trail, riding an 'orse to "spectactular scenic lookouts, beautiful rock pools, ancient volcanic caves lush rainforest and much more".

Numinbah Valley was "about three quarters of an hour from Tweed Heads", it took us twice that, and when we got there we found that we were a party of around fifteen, mostly young people. I've never ridden an 'orse in my life, so by the time we all got mounted and ready to go ( I had to be helped on mine, who was called McCloud) it took a full hour. So off we went, uphill, along the top (spectacular views!) Plodding along was quite comfortable, McCloud behaved himself except when we stopped, at which time he got the munchies and put his head down to graze- and I nearly slid down his neck.

So on we went, Anne plodding along behind me on Fred, a most amenable horse. Of course, she has done it before, and had no fear of these huge creatures.

At one point our guide said it was time to break into a trot, Mccloud did, I nearly didn't and had to call a halt before I fell off. My horse was very good- he realised I was terrified and when I started screaming "whoa" and pulled his head off his shoulders he stopped. That's enough of that.

We passed though streams, up hills, and down dales, until we eventually arrived at a river, which, we had been told, contained water "cleaner than our bottles". It was too- well, the horses liked it.

At that point we lit a fire, and put the billy on by the billabong. It didn't take long to boil, and throwing a few tea leaves into it we enjoyed a great cup of tea, along with 'damper' a kind of hot Ausie bread which they eat in the outback. I must say it was rather good.
Once a jolly swagman etc.......
A couple of the guys jumped in the pool for a swim, but we didn't fancy getting back on the horses all wet, and perhaps sliding off them too.

So we plodded on back to the farm, McCloud behaved impeccably, even when I tried to get him to trot again he was having none of it. He was thinking of me really- or maybe if I'd fallen off he would have had to stand in the naughty corner and not get his tea....

Hey- it was a great day, we rode for about three hours, and I really enjoyed it. However I decided that Numinbah valley was misnamed, it should have been Numinbum valley.  Hi-ho silver.......