Horse-trekkers get a taste of rural life

BARRY WHITNALL/Nelson Mail

THE GOOD LIFE: Murchison rider Stu McKenzie sets off on the Murchison Pony Club's horse trek yesterday.

Sleeping in a woolshed, feasting on roast lamb and taking in beautiful landscape has enticed 40 riders to take part in a horse-trek which set off yesterday.

The Murchison Pony Club fundraiser takes the riders more than 120 kilometres over rivers, through bush-tracks and across picturesque countryside.

The riders, who each paid $220 to participate in the event, saddled up at Mt Ella Station in the Tutaki Valley yesterday afternoon before heading off along Horse Terrace and into the Glenroy Valley. The group stayed in a woolshed in the valley, where tasty tucker like camp-oven bread and roast lamb was cooked by the Murchison Golden Oldies group.

Today the riders planned to further explore the valley and tomorrow will follow the west bank of the Matakitaki River into Murchison. After a trot down the main street, the trek will end at the Commercial Hotel. A party will follow and includes a dinner at the hotel's historic stables.

Bron McKenzie, who helped organise the fundraiser, said it was the first time the club had held the event. She believed it was the first time that such a fundraiser had been run in the region.

The appeal of the trek was the atmosphere created by having a group of riders with a common interest, wanting to be out with their horse and socialising.

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