Day 1 Arrival

Arrive mid-afternoon and get yourself settled in one of the spacious rooms at the homestead. Set up your horse yard or let your horse become acquainted with the new surroundings in one of the paddocks. It’s then time to join your group of fellow riders and guides for drinks and learn more about the program of the days ahead. Since we only work with eight riders at a time, we will have a keen interest in learning more about your expectations for the week and the guides will do everything possible to meet them.

Following dinner, enjoy a bit of stargazing or call it an early night to be ready for the next day’s adventures.

 Day 2

Start the day with a hearty breakfast before it’s time to saddle-up and get on your horse. The first morning will be filled with working with the guide and some activities in the paddocks close by and we will then head out for a ride. Lunch will be ready upon your return and in the afternoon, there will be another ride where you will have the opportunity to meet some cattle on the way. Get back to the station and once the horses are settled there are some nibbles and drinks waiting for you, followed by dinner.

Day 3 – 4 or 5

Regardless if you are booked on a four or five days’ experience, the program on each day is driven by the participants expectations, the guide’s specialty and most importantly by what’s on the station’s agenda.

Depending on the type of experience you book, there are either three or four full action-packed days for you to enjoy and we do spend about 4 – 6 hours in the saddle each day giving you a chance to explore the most beautiful spots on Garrawilla on horseback. Usually, we head out twice per day for morning and afternoon ride.

In line with the lead trainer’s specialty and background some experiences will focus more on cattle mustering, ranch riding or learning how the sport of campdrafting originated out on the open range helping you and your horse (if you bring your own) to improve your skills and developing that special bond and relationship with your horse. However, regardless of the discipline the main objective will be to give you the opportunity to ride and apply skills in a real live cattle station working environment.

Since this is an authentic working cattle station, it’s the animals and nature who dictate the schedule and what you will be doing when you join the station activities varies from day to day depending what’s on the stations’ agenda and the time of the year. However, a typical day would be an early rise and after a hearty country breakfast, you will saddle up and ride out to the area where a job like mustering and moving cattle, checking fences or checking water troughs and dams needs to be done that day. During certain times of the year you might also become involved in some yardwork like branding, earmarking, vaccinating, etc.

Back at the station, once the horses are fed and settled in their yards, there might be time to go for a swim in the spring-fed lake or you just go and have a shower to wash off the sweat and dust after a day in the saddle before you enjoy some nibbles and a cold beer  or a glass of sparkling on the veranda. This will then be followed by a home-cooked dinner

– to be enjoyed with a couple of glasses of that great Australian Shiraz. In the evening, after dinner, we usually sit around the campfire and have a bit of a yarn and so many laughs for sure.

Day 5 or 6

Take in the view from the breakfast table and if you rode one of our horses it’s time to say goodbye to your horse. And yes, if you want to make this equine companion your own, we sometimes do have horses available which are for sale and you might want to take back home with you! But then it’s time to say goodbye and take with you what’s for you alone to keep which are all of these great memories and learnings to be cherished forever!