Oh hai, you made it to part 2, congratulations!
Part 1 is here.
The main reason we drove up to Warrnambool was for the beach horse riding I'd booked weeks before. So on sunday, we woke up early, checked and after a quick maccas breakfast, made our way to Rundell Mahogany Trail Rides.
On arrival, we were greeted by the lovely guides, we were ushered into a shed to fill in a form and help ourselves to boots, jackets (if needed) and helmets (mandatory).
This black kitty came up to say 'good morning' whilst I was filling up the forms. Wish I got a better photo, but cats move too quickly for me, they're seriously fast things. She/he got bored and wandered off after sniffing at the camera.
Once we were all kitted out, we went out to meet our horses and then had a little help getting one them.
ok, a lot of help..
My horse was named Cody and he was a big boy and supposedly very gentle (and greedy, as I found out later).
Here he is socialising after I'd gotten on his back:
After a short tutorial from the guides and some organisation (cody needed to be at the back of the line, I forgot to ask why...), we set off.
We first went through some paddocks, which housed some other horses...
Then some swamp lands, which were really beautiful! There was lots of wildlife and plants, we walked on a a piece of land that seperated 2 swamps that were fed by different water sources. I was extremely fascinated.
We then went through some bushland (Cody then proceeded to snack at any chance he got, even though he wasn't supposed to, I'm too soft...) and after climbing through some sand dunes, made it to the beach, which was freezing!
What a sand dune we climbed over looked like, I'm surprised the horses managed it, it looked impossible even for me:
The trip down the beach was rather long, it was really windy and the sea was choppy, but it was beautiful and amazing to experience.
After the beach, we went back over another sand dune, more bushland, the swamp and back to the start point.
Along the way, we tried galloping (level 2?) and sitting up in such a way that the horses could climb an even steeper dune (hats off to the horses). I also found out the horses were part-clydesdale (the type that pulls carridges) and they were such incredible animals.
I might not have wanted to come in the first place, but I'm glad I've experienced it..
You can purchase vouchers for this experience on Red balloon (I am not affliated with them, bought these vouchers myself and these opinions are my own)