Holiday On Horseback

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31830, 7 November 1968, Page 3

Holiday On Horseback

Two Christchurch girls with three horses recently travelled more than 200 miles through the Wairau Valley, Buller Gorge, Westport and along the coast road to Stillwater.

Miss Jenny Nicholl, of Heathcote, and Miss Elaine Simpson, of Chatteris Bay, took three weeks for their holiday. They rode their own horses and used a third as a pack horse. Last year Miss Nicholl and a friend made a similar journey, through the Lewis Pass, covering 225 miles. Because her friend had gone to Australia she advertised in the newspaper for a companion and Miss Simpson answered. “We had never met each other and had only spoken on the telephone about twice before we left Fortunately, we

got on very well, said Miss Nicholl yesterday. The two girls travelled from Christchurch to Blenheim by train and then set out on horse-back. They had made few plans and carried only necessities—saddles and bridles and a spare set of shoes for each horse, a small tent, and a hammer, sleeping bags, chocolate, condensed milk, and coSee, mugs, plates, and a billy. They received many offers of hospitality—so many that the tent was never used. “We had only three fine days. It rained nearly all the time and there was even snow at one stage,” they said. They averaged 20 miles a day, but on particularly wet days could only manage about seven miles.

At one stage the pack horse bolted and ran back two miles and a half and Miss Simpson had to follow it in a logging

truck while her companion looked after theother horses, Travelling through the Buller Gorge their only watch stopped and it was dark when they reached the hut where they were to spend the night The next morning they found that one of the horses had become tangled in some brambles and was lame. It recovered after the foot had been bathed in sea-water. There were no other incidents, although the girls admitted being “scared stiff” at spending the night alone in a building. The horses were shod at Westport, and at Stillwater Miss Simpson sold her mount, Apache, which she had bought especially for the journey. “We would have liked to keep going, but there just wasn’t enough time left,” the girls said. From Stillwater they returned to Christchurch by train with Miss NichoU’s two horses, The FUlie, and Stranger. The day they arrived home was Miss Simpson’s twentyfirst birthday. Miss Nicholl is aged 20. The girls, both clerical workers, have been riding since they were very young. Miss Nicholl is a member of the Ferrymead Pony Club and Miss Simpson belongs to the Mount Herbert Pony Club. “People were very kind to us. Many motorists stopped and offered us food and hospitality. We carried soup and baked beans, but didn’t really need them,” said Miss Nicholl. The photograph shows Miss Nicholl (left) and Miss Simpson.