Home, home on the range

Well it sounded like a good idea back in December when I made the booking. But you just never know what kind of weather you're going to get in the cloud-covered valleys of Southland.

My horse was Sully. He had a pretty head, and a great big belly. I could scarcely get a grip on him, with rain coming down on all sides of us, as we wended our way through Paradise. Or more accurately, Paradise Station: a huge swath of land the served as the location for several scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies.

Poor Dan was feeling too under the weather to be out in the weather, so I left him at home to rest and write up some blog posts and I set out on my horse ride solo.

Sully was a tail-sniffer: he was far happier ambling along with his nose touching the rump of the horse ahead of him than cantering across the open plain. Which was fine, as I was busy keeping the rain off my neck and taking snapshots of the rugged terrain around us.


The group leader did her best to describe the exact details of which Ring movie scenes were done where and what areas of "Middle Earth" they corresponded to, but her words were mostly carried off by the wind. The honeymooners along with me on the ride weren't terribly chatty either. So it was just Sully and me out there.


I said to myself: wow, this must be just like what the pioneers or cowboys experienced back in the day--riding across the open range, braving the elements, the authenticity of it all.

Yeah, roiiiiight.