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March 1998 After a break through the hot summer with all the bush fires, Melanie Potter joined the ride from Nowendoc. Margot Patterson, 70 of Glebe joined us for the eight day ride from Sheeba Dams through Nundle to Aberdeen. She enjoyed the opportunity to experience the trail with us and meet some of the wonderful people on the way. Margot has written a fabulous book about her horses and life in Tasmania called "A Horse Called Peter".

April 1998 I started back on the Trail with Dianne Shefford joining me for a second time from Warburton Victoria. She could only come for four days but was glad of her break from her business. My parents visited us for a couple of days with their camper from Monobolai TSR (travelling stock reserve) to Sandy Hollow. From Sandy Hollow I rode two days on my own through the Widden Valley to Noel Tindale's place Myrtle Grove. During my rest day there Melanie caught up after having a break and it was good to see her and her horses again. Melanie and I had a great time riding on our own from Myrtle Grove through Wollomi National Park stopping with Mark Brodie on his property, Wild Horse Range. This section between Nowendoc and Canberra is a repeat in reverse of my earlier ride from Wagga through Canberra to Nowendoc before I trucked my horses north. Most people I met again were suprised and pleased to hear I still had the same four horses. From Mark's place, Mel and I rode the fabulous and beautiful Glen Alice Trail with frequent cups of tea with people we met on the way. By the time we arrived at the bottom of the valley it began raining. The next few days through Glen Alice, Glen Davis and the Crown Station were very wet and miserable. We were very lucky to meet some wonderful people including Robyn and Rex Christensen who took us in and helped us dry out. From the Crown we rode two days to Wallerawang. It began getting very cold here and again we were lucky to find a paddock to keep the horses a few days. Jennifer and Llewellen Bradley kindly helped us out while we were there. At this time Melanie's friend Sophie Balaguer arrived to join the ride for over a week. Sophie absolutely loved the ride and loved the experience of joining us. We rode from Wallerawang two days through Rydal to Hampton where we were met by Jon & Lyn Hopwood on arrival and a few others. Jon is the Director of the BNT and Jon & Lyn have previously followed the trail on foot with pack donkeys. We all enjoyed a beer that evening and lots of talk comparing trail notes. While at Hampton it began raining again. After a days' rest we rode on in the rain a few days to the Jenolan Forest Lodge where Tina and Ian helped us out and my parents came to visit again. Sophie went home from here having thoroughly enjoyed it despite the rain.

May 1998 By this time it was May and when we left Jenolan Caves a few days later the weather was very cold even with the sun out. I had all my thermals, jumpers and jacket on and would have worn a balaclava had I had one, the wind was so cold as we walked along. Mel and I were on our own again for the next few days. We enjoyed a rest day away from any civilisation in the magical valley protected from the elements at Limeburners Flat. From here we rode to Wombeyan Caves our last day together before we rode separate ways for the winter. From there it took me two weeks to ride home to Wedderburn meeting many more wonderful people and fulfilling my dream of riding all the way home. While Melanie rode on to Windellama near Goulburn where her horses came from.

WINTER BREAK

October 1998 Melanie and I now have some new horses to take with us: "Sharky" a very gentle 9 year old bay pure arab gelding that we saved from the sales; "Silver" a 9 year old light grey pure arab mare that I saved from neglect and just broke in over the last two months; "Tess" a 12 year old buckskin andalusion X arab mare from Oberon; and "Dainty" a 5 year old dark grey arab X standardbred mare also just been broken in and kindly lent to Mel by our friend Avalanche. So it should be interesting and fun to have some new horses along and of course my four old faithfuls: "Kandor" my bay part arab gelding now 19; "Gambit" my chestnut purebred arab gelding now 18; "Fonz" my angloarab gelding now 16; and "Minnie" my 10 year old bay part arab mare. Unfortunately I have been unable to scan in any photos from this year yet. I hope to arrange it as soon as I get the chance.

Melanie and I trucked the horses back to the Wollondilly River Station camp ground on the 18th October 1998 for the last leg of the trek to Healesville. Two days later we left with my four horses and two of Melanie's (the other two joining us later). Danielle Everette from Wedderburn NSW joined us for the first three days ride to Taralga and Ina Casburn came along for the first two. It was fun being four women travelling together through the pretty Wombeyan Caves area. We spent a few days in Taralga as the two new horses Dainty and Tess were brought to us here by Avalanche. It was still that cold here that it snowed as we rode down the street on one of our rest days with a record frost the night before that destroyed many of the local crops. On the 26th we headed out for the first time with all eight horses and just the two of us. Two days later we had an unexpected detour as Kandor became lame and came down with colic both at the same time. It was the first time on the whole ride I needed a vet. Though we were delayed four days we took the opportunity to go for a fabulous ride in some sulkies with some people we met. They are a group who get together regularly just to go for a drive together with their horses and sulkies and wagons. This would be another great way to travel.

November 1998 We left Crookwell on 1st November for the four day ride to Gundaroo. It went very smoothly with a well deserved rest day when we arrived and a delicious meal in the local restaurant. Ten kilometres out of Gundaroo was the Arabian horse stud Wybalena Lodge owned by Bob and Jan Neal. By some misfortune or not two of Melanie's horses became lame and we had to stop there. It turned out to be quite an honour to stay at this stud where we had the opportunity to see some of Australia's finest arabian horses. They were beautiful and so gentle and one of their mares Afling had just won the title of Australian Champion Mare of 1998 in Brisbane. It was a great experience to meet Bob and Jan and their horses. The rest of our ride to Canberra had few problems except the trail around Canberra is nothing flash and obviously not used very often since fences have been put up across it, not to mention that it is a bit awkward to ride through suburbia with so many horses. A friend of ours, Andrew - whom we met at Wybalena Lodge, assisted us with the ride from Hall through Canberra to Tharwa. We stopped more than a week between Canberra and Tharwa to visit old friends and stock up on supplies for the following ride over the mountains to Victoria. Ina Casburn joined us for two weeks from Tharwa for a very adventurous time and changing fortunes with my travel partnership with Mel. It's a bit of a long story to write here, but in short Melanie had some problems with the new horses resulting in her needing to turn back.

December 1998 We met some wonderful people and had an extraordinary ride through Kosiosko National Park with them. We saw some country that can only be described as magic and had a very rare opportunity to camp on Mount Tabletop (a slight detour from the Trail) with Everard and Sylvia Oldfield of Talbingo Trail Rides. It was truly spectacular. It was up here that Melanie and I needed to part company. Ina and I continued on with my four horses and my other mare Silver and had a relaxing peaceful ride the last five days to Khancoban. I spent a number of very hot days in Khancoban preparing for the next section of the ride to Omeo and waiting to hear how Melanie was going as I didn't know where she was. When I finally did hear from her, she had decided not to continue due to her circumstances. So incredibly and unexpectedly I am once again travelling on my own. I left late on 13th December riding back into Kosiosco National Park on my way to Omeo in Victoria. The first few days I had a lot of rain so I was very greatful for the number of mountain huts in this area. The rest of my ride to Omeo was nothing short of fantastic. I met and rode with some others on the trail for a couple of days and I also had some incredible days of solitude. The many views were spectacular and the bush and wildlife enchanting not to mention the frequent siting of brumbies. I arrived near Omeo on the 21st December 1998 in time to make it home for Christmas. For more details of this last section please see the extract from my Journal.

Acknowledgments To all the wonderful people I have met - I am very grateful to you for your assistance and support. Thankyou again for your hospitality.

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