“See that pony over
there?” say they,
“Where?” ask I,
“Way over there!”
they reply pointing to the middle distance. “Catch it and teach it
some manners! We want the children to learn to ride it!”
“Righty oh,” I gulp,
responding in Australian slang.
Well I caught the little
ripper (who is called Rip) saddled him and went trotting off.
I
thought by having a name similar to my Hash tag we would get along
fine! To say I have not ridden a pony for 30 years would be an
understatement.
Pony riding is quite different to horse riding. And
this one had some tricks up his hind leg. First time out I was thrown
and then he cantered off into the whoop whoop. I had to trudge back
home as I had no Sancho to dispatch for help.
Commandeering a vehicle
and co-driver and set out on my first sortie. Rip was easily found
and easily tempted back when a bucket full of horse cubes are
rattled. “What a slut,” I thought. I accuse him of being a whore
except that he is the wrong sex. The ride home was very similar to a
charging windmills! Rip decide every contour on-route and every
fluttering leaf was something so terrifying that he would stop and
drop his head. Was he going to charge? Were these the windmills of
La Mancha. But Donna Quixote aka Ripper is no delusional Don Quixote,
the age of chivalry is dead, I knew what was going on. The little
tyke was trying to flip me over his head. So holding his head high
we gallantly trotted off home, well not really it was stop start all
the way.
Second sortie Rip and
Ripper aka Donna Quixote: Rip has decided that he will show me a
thing or two. So the ride is a constant battle of wills because
Ripper is valiantly trying to avoid using the riding crop. In fact
she has left it home in La Mancha. We go to the airstrip and we just
canter up and down, up and down, up and down because there are no
windmills here just an windsock and the little bugger still tries to
tip me over.
Round three, Rip refuses
to cross the creek and I am nearly in the water head first. I pick up
a stick and wave it, in lance like fashion just as Don Quixote. I had
forgotten that horses espying a whip out of the corner of their eyes
generally step back into line. Also I had pocketful of cut apples
and Rip likes his apple treats.
Bribery is what makes Rip behave and
we have a pleasant outing. Hope I get a fat Rocinante soon?
Don
Quixote fully titled The
Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra It follows the
adventures of Alonso Quixano, an hidalgo who reads so many chivalric
novels that he decides to set out to revive chivalry, under the name
Don Quixote.
He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire and names his
skinny horse Rocinante.
Published in two volumes, in
1605 and 1615, Don Quixote
is considered the most influential work of literature from the
Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a
founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest
canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest
works of fiction ever published. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote).
Generally
speaking those of us who have camped in Africa take along time to
“get” camping in Australia. African camping is seldom a swag thrown
down round a camp fire as the wild life
might become overly nosy and dangerous. It can also be dangerous
from a human predatory prospect in that other humans might be
nefarious in the early hours of the morning. But African camping is
spectacular with its amazing scenery, wildlife and incredible service
and food (if you are doing the luxury safari)! One huge negative is
that swimming is not recommended in the rivers and waterholes because of bugs that cause havoc with your body or animals
which wish to eat it.
So
for an African such as myself it has taken an inordinately long time
to enjoy camping here. Generally it is too hot or too cold. The flies
are a nuisance, the wildlife and bird scene is a bit pauce and the
buggers go to sleep as soon as the sun cracks the horizon and only
reappear late at night when mosquitoes are extremely active. The
noise at night is subdued. Gee, it does sound as though camping in Oz
is pretty ordinary. But it is NOT. Australia offer vistas of immense
magnitude and landscapes which are stunning. Distances are vast and
the human being is in its perspective until the mining magnates come
along with their monster machinery to vandalise and trash the area.
Is Gina Reinhardt a human being?
I
have now done some Kimberly Kamping and I “got” it and I love it.
