Wanna drive?

Wow.

Just wow.

Never in a million years did I dream today would have gone the way it did. My plan: get up, see horses trot, go for a run, go to DairyNZ for another interview, have coffee with Malcom, plan Northland trip.

So many lies.

As planned, I got up this morning earlier than I wanted to, but it was to see the horses trot. Worth it. A little trick... hobble in sleeping bag to the ignition, start the car, huddle. Wait until the car gets warm, then change. Or, better yet, sleep in clothes. The problem, you see, is that the clothes you wear the day before become the clothes that you'll wear the next day. This cycle continues until, well, it hasn't stopped yet.

At any rate, I pulled on my NEW neon pink gumboots after breakfast and headed to the Cambridge racing track. Kevin, the man I talked to a few days ago, saw me there huddling with my coffee cup staring sadly at a blank track. No horses. Not one. Nothing.

With a polite smile he hustled me into the grandstands to show me the place. Leaving me be in the “members only” area (where all the high brow folk watch races) he told me that no one would bug me there and I could have a look around.

Seriously.

I watched a bit of the sunrise from the general seating, still clutching the coffee for dear life. After a while I headed back down where he asked if I had gone to see Nicky, the woman he referred me to the other day. I said no, with a bit of an ashamed look as I couldn't find White Star Farms when he originally referred me to them. Handing me a racing booklet, free of charge, he told me that I had to go down there... they'd give me coffee and a tour of the place!

Heeding his advice, I drove into the gaited farmland and introduced myself to Zoe, Georgia, Megan and Nicky. I chatted with Georgia a bit about her horse experience and then Zoe quickly showed me around and told me all about the harness racing industry while Megan and Nicky worked some of the horses down on the back track.

I thought it was amazing enough, with Zoe immediately putting me to work, being handed horses to help her turn out and petting yearlings to keep them calm while they were tacked up. Once Nicky came back she asked if I wanted to drive one.

I thought she was kidding.

Mere moments later, after watching a few more horses go out, I was handed some mudpants, a heavy jacket, gloves, a beanie, and a helmet. She was absolutely serious.

It wasn't just a little fun drive down the lane; she turned me out on the workout track alongside Megan. The little gelding I was driving was a sweetheart but quick, of course much quicker than anything I was used to. It was easy to get the hang of it after a little while, though my hands became permanently frozen to the reins. I've never experienced pain so intense as when the feeling came back to my hands. It was one of those “suck it up, this is an experience of a lifetime” moments. 

 

I helped untack the little gelding (much simpler process than it looks) and after turning some mares out with Zoe I had to go to the DairyNZ interview at Lye Farm. I drove by the galloping track on the way there, now knowing my way around, and ended up right on schedule for my interview with Alan Napper who is in charge of the research dairy. He gave me a great tour of the place and I even saw Virginia! Before hand I even had time to go by the motor park where I talked to Ray and Joyce who gave me their address. Guess who is staying outside their place in Dargaville...

From there I headed back to Hamilton Gardens for a run up the Waikato. It's quite a lot like the Chattahoochee river, but much MUCH cleaner. Veering to the right before going back to my car, I discovered why the Hamilton Gardens gain such publicity.

They are stunning.

Hamilton Gardens, I am so so so sorry that I ever doubted you.

I weaved and ran in and out of the Japanese garden of contemplation, English literary garden, Chinese scholar's garden, Indian Char Bagh Garden, Italian Renaissance garden, American modernist garden (Western American- cactus... ew), Maori garden, Kitchen garden, and the Herb garden. There were a few others.. too many to name!

After going back to the Lodge for a much needed shower, Malcom and I went into Cambridge for a coffee and tan slice. There he introduced me to a good friend of his from Zimbabwe named Nikki (another!). She was positively delightful and very cheeky. Malcom actually used to work with her in her restaurant which is now closed. However, she does own a shop instead.

Malcom made a few calls and then we drove over to where his filly is. Her barn name is “Tang” where her race name is “Friends of Clover”. Sybill calls her Bubs.

For a racehorse she was pretty mellow, and let me poke and prod around her, checking out her right shoulder freeze brand, a 30 and 8. She was born in '08 and the 30^th foal if I'm reading that right. It's exactly like cattle tags. 

As the sun was setting, Malcom suggested we try to catch it at a piece of property he used to own, wayyyy up on the hillside. On our way there we saw an Angus steer trotting merrily down the road... on it's own. No luck finding the owner...

We went on towards the hills despite the bovine road block. It was a lovely drive, a bit like a roller coaster though. We just missed the sunset but the drive was well worth the time.

Before going back “home” we stopped by Malcom's ex-wife's home, Ann, who treated us to coffee and chat about her 28 year old standardbred and her 3-legged dog. She was also quite traveled in the US and had an interesting tale of her driving down a wrong street in NYC. It makes me feel better about my driving skills here.