It’s a nice morning, we have a pretty relaxed start, the kids go out and play on these fantastic sculptures dotted around the park. They’re carved out of trees, a couple of them seem to be the stumps of trees that have been carved where they grew.
When hitching up, the bit of wood we sit the jockey wheel on has sunk into the soft dirt and the jockey wheel has slid a bit. It’s so out of whack it’s jammed and we can’t wind it down, so we have put the stabiliser legs down to hold the van weight, reposition everything and try again. Between that and waiting for two old couples to move their rigs out of the way we’re about half an hour later than expected when we pull out.
When packing, we’ve realised Caitlin has lost her beanie, she had it on the Island walk, so it’s either at the Bakery or the Op shop, if the latter, it’s probably stock now! I guess it could have fallen out of the car, but in any case we try the Bakery (no we don’t buy anything – sad), but no beanie to be found.
From here we drive to Warrnambool. We stop to do some shopping as it will be the only big town for the next 6-7 days. We take a drive by Middle island as the kids remember this from the movie “Oddball”, oddly the movie doesn’t show it being right next to the car park and the port…. Actually this part of Warrnambool is pretty busy.
Another reason we’re in Warrnambool is there is a horse riding centre just out of town. I have looked at it last year when planning this trip, but a couple of days ago when it looked like the rain would be clearing I booked it. Justine is happy to sit this one out, and I don’t blame her. I just figure the kids have never done something like this, and the 1.5hr ride takes you over the dunes and onto the beach so it looks pretty special.
So we drive the 5km or so back to the riding centre. We’re fitted with boots and helmets and allocated a horse with a temperament that they think will suit us and our skills (read Zero.) So Liam gets “Shady”, Caitlin has a tiny little horse called “Boots”, (who we oddly find out is quite stubborn) and I have the old bloke “Cody”. We mount up and are given a 30sec guide to horse riding and after a bit of an overview of the day’s ride we head out of the stabling yard in single file. Fortunately one of the riding guides has a rope to guide “Boots”. Through a couple of paddocks and one of the guides rides up and tells everyone we’ll be going for a bit of a trot and when we do, hold on to the saddle and stand in the stirrups. Then about 5mins later, the horses seem to know the drill better than we do, and we go from a walk to a trot for a 100mtrs or so. I recon’ about half of us thought we were about to fall off, not a pleasant experience. At this time I’m trying to remember why I thought this was a good idea? Mostly walking with a few trots in between, which I have to say are getting slightly less terrifying each time, we reach the dunes. Over the dunes, where there were a number of steep in sections, so the horses do well. Of course during this whole ride, it’s clear the horses, which must have done this trip 1000’s of times, know this routine downpat. They know to follow the horse in front and stop when they do, they know when to trot and when to stop. I think the only reason they have reins is so we have something to hold onto. That and pull their heads up when they stop to go for a feed.
Caitlin and Boots 
Liam and Shady
Anyway onto the beach, a group of about 5 riders who have some experience ride ahead, I suspect they’ll ride a bit faster. The beach is sensational and seeing the horse walking in the water is pretty amazing. At some stages the sand is really soft and the horses hooves sink more than I would have expected. We finally catch up to the other group at what seems to be the turn around point. I’m second in line behind the main guide, all of a sudden her horse almost does a 360 on the spot and rears up on it’s hind legs and spins off into the water, she does so well not to fall off, I’m thinking, “I hope Cody doesn’t follow that lead!” Then I see the issue, there is a dog on the beach, a sandy coloured bulldog or staffy of some description. I don’t think it is having a go, if anything it seems like a large puppy and just wants to play. I can assure you the horses don’t want to play. I can see the guides are all pretty concerned about the situation, but they handle it well and keep everyone calm. After 5mins the owner comes walking over the dunes, the dog has obviously run away, but probably shouldn’t have been off it’s lead in the first place. Fortunately a less eventful trek back down the beach and back over the dunes. This time I’m at the rear, with just one of the junior girls bring up behind. The lady in front asks about my daughter then goes on to compliment her confidence. How nice. It’s not till about 2min later I realise she talking about Liam! We get it all the time, then they apologise, followed by saying how great his hair looks!
After the Dog issue 
Back from the dunes
A few more trots, while getting less concerning, they ain’t getting any more comfortable. Finally we’re back in the stabling yard. It was such a great experience, so glad we did it. Liam and Caitlin did really well, 1.5hr considering they’ve never been on a horse before is a real credit.
From here we make tracks to Port Campbell, as least as we’re in a caravan park the time of arrival is not so important and we pull in at 4:30. It’s a fairly small park and about a quarter of it is fenced off as it looks like they are doing drainage or other work. I hope the workmen don’t start too early in the morning. Fortunately, they’ve put us about as far away from the work as possible.
Out for dinner, we walk the small lap that is Port Campbell and eventually arrive at the pub, it’s actually quite busy. The meals are a bit too fancy and in the end not that great, but the pub was nice.
a Caitlin Selfie.
It’s bitterly cold tonight. With the wind, is has to be close to a “feels like” of Zero!
My Legs and apparently Liam’s butt are pretty tender…….
Oh you are so brave, horses are not my thing, always give them a wide berth. Boots not looking too happy in your main photo, perhaps he did not like getting wet. But it looks great walking along the waters edge, a great experience for the kids.
Well done for first time on a horse……magnificent creatures……..The dog must have been very scary!
How long until you can walk normally……..Ha.
Hey D, love the look on your horses face.
Hugs Paulo xx