AUGUST 2019 THE RIDER /35 Australia Continued from Page 34


dom of Australia guess what I see? Se- riously try to guess. I can guarantee you’re incorrect, I saw a house cat, a bunny and giant toads, seriously giant, probably larger than an apple toad. The whole time I was there I only saw 1 spi- der that was about the size of a quarter. No venomous snakes, no reptilian croc- odiles or great white sharks or other deadly poisonous things… Just one tiny little spider.


memorial rock, getting pictures with the Queensland junior team that we com- peted against. We looked at the original farmhouse grounds including the farm helps house and some of the old work- shops and a super old pool (or at least that’s what we figured it was). We said our goodbyes to everyone and with a lit- tle bit of a heavy heart but also with ex- citement about what lay ahead of us we headed out on our way towards Toowoomba (say that five times really fast).


Halfway there we stopped and camped. The sky was brilliantly clear


a river that flows through it. I was told the city isn’t much to look at in the day time, but at night the city comes alive. The city could compare a little to our big cities like Montreal or Toronto, but there was hardly any trash on the side- walks and streets. It was such a nice, presentable city that was so clean! They obviously take a lot of pride in how they maintain it. We walked along the Brisbane


River (Indigenous name Maiwar) for a while. We had to remember to be on the correct side of the “footpath” so we wouldn’t get run over by the many of the scooters and bikes.


Day 10 Getting towards the end. Our last


day in Australia. We went to the Koala Sanctuary. It was somewhat like a zoo but focused on animals that were native to Australia. One of the first things we got to do was to hold a koala. The only thing I can say is that that the little beastie was adorable, but a lot heavier then I thought they would be. So soft and it was definitely a camera hog. We were able to go in with the kan-


garoos and pet the 100 or so that were there. They walked a dingo past us and we were able to pet her as well. Seeing all of the animals in the sanctuary was amazing with everything being so dif- ferent from Canada and the United States. When we got back to the condo we


At the end of the day, two of us


completed the ride. One girl got pulled halfway for a slight lameness, most likely from just hitting himself with all the slippery clay. The other was pulled at the end of the ride also with a slight lameness, likely with a little muscle fa- tigue. All our horses were perfectly fine the next day so even though not every- one completed the ride all of our riders rode their horses the best they could and so the horses that could ride another day.


The Queensland team did amazing


and finished with 100% completion and even though it was by my standards a hard ride I am happy all of their horses and riders did so amazingly well.


Day 7 At awards, anyone who finished


the ride got a belt buckle. Now, this isn’t any old buckle, it is a hand made one with the ranches cattle brand on it, not everyone can say they have one of those.


We were able to get a small tour of the property. We went to R.M. Williams


we were able to see the Southern Cross. The stars were so incredibly bright, and it was so cool to see another part of our sky that I would never have been able to see back home.


Day 8 We made it to Toowoomba and got


a tour of the endurance farm we were staying on. They had about 10 horses and a couple of pastures that we were shown, and we saw a bunch of kanga- roos. I figure there were about 15 of them, unfortunately, they weren’t that close to us, but still even seeing them from a distance that isn’t a thing one can do in Canada, some pretty amazing stuff.


Day 9 On Day 9 we headed into Brisbane


to our Air B & B. It was a huge condo having 30 floors in the building, with the top floor having an infinity pool and a gorgeous view of the whole city. Bris- bane is a city that’s very close to the Pa- cific coast and is lucky enough to have


walked over the river out of South Bris- bane and were delighted to see a very large outdoor market, under a bunch of pop up tents. It had everything from or- ange juice that was freshly squeezed on site to fresh fruit, to churros (fried dough dusted with sugar). The unfortu- nate part being everything that we could have bought we would have had to use/eat or would have been thrown out because we were leaving the next day.


Day 11


Last Day 2:30 am wake up call, we left for


the airport. Dropping off the rental car and getting onto the plane for 6 am. Into Sydney then back to LAX, we left at 9 am and got there at 6 am the same day. My June 13 was 38 hours. It was brutal. Even though it was the most amazing trip I think we were all missing our own ponies back home.


The Thank you First of all, thank you so much to


Connie for organizing the trip, getting the money together and for driving us around the countryside in Australia.


Thank you to Lisa for coming to Aus- tralia with us and providing the comedy for our time together, it was never a dull moment and for driving us around the countryside. To Kelsey for organizing the horse,


you did an amazing job and I am so thankful for the chance to be able to compete in Australia. Thank you to all of the horse owners for allows complete strangers to ride your incredible horses, it was an amazing experience. A big thanks to Peter Toft for letting me ride the stallion and for trusting me with such an incredible horse! I truly had the most amazing ride. Thank you to Peter for hosting the


ride and being so very helpful with everything we needed. The trails were amazing and I truly appreciate you shar- ing with them us. Thank you to all the


vets and volunteers for RockyBar, it wouldn’t have happened without you. Thank you, sincerely, for all of the


supporters for donating their valuable time and money towards the youth ex- change team. You have allowed us to have truly a trip of a lifetime. A special thanks to Distance Depot,


Kerrits, and Ariat for your donations. I love and appreciate the gifts of clothing we received. Whether I am competing or training at home the jackets, shirts and jodhpurs will definitely be used contin- uously and will spread the word of the International youth exchange program.


please


Editor’s Note: To see all the photos for this article visit


https://sp338.wordpress.com/australian- adventures-2019/


Save The Date: Equestrian


Canada Convention Coming To Toronto November 2019


2019 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, for three days of education, network- ing and social events for the Cana- dian equestrian community. Stay tuned for registration, speaker an- nouncements, and a full agenda


Toronto, ON Join EC this fall during the


WHAT: 2019 EC Convention WHEN: Nov. 1-3, 2019 WHERE: Exhibition


Place,


connect about sponsorship or speak- ing opportunities, please contact:


Jessie Christie Senior Manager, Marketing & Com- munications jchristie@equestrian.ca 1-866-282-8395 x 13


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