Horseback Winery Tour

In the Mornington Peninsula

20.10.2013 - 20.10.2013 16 °C

At the same time I was looking for different things to do on Groupon, an offer popped up for Horseback Winery Tour. Now you might think having a drink whilst being on a horse is a recipe for disaster but we decided to take the risk. :-)

The tour was booked with this company, who were based in Mornington Peninsula which is south of Melbourne.

www.horsebackwinerytours.com.au

The drive out from Melbourne would take about an hour and we needed to be at the winery tour at 2pm ready to leave for our 3 hour tour. In order to make the most of the trip out of the city we decided to leave earlier and stop off for lunch at one of the towns on route. Sarah did some investigating and found out that the annual Main Street Festival for Food, Wine and Performing Arts going on in the small town of Mornington, perfect timing and a perfect stop off point for Sarah and I to catch a break and have a bite to eat.

As we got closer to Mornington we could see hundreds of cyclists whizzing past us the other side of the road going back to Melbourne. They were part of a cycle fundraiser event called BUPA Round the Bay that was organised by my current employer BUPA. The event had cyclists tackling the roads around Port Phillip Bay, it looked pretty tough on some of the hills but I reckon it would have been great fun.

Leaving the cyclists to their challenge we made our way to Mornington. As soon as we parked up the weather picked up and we could see and hear in the distance the festival in full swing. The first thing we saw was a school band playing some classic big band hits and we wandered through the crowds to decide on our choice of lunch. There was plenty of choice and due to being a little hungry we made an early decision and go for Spanish gourmet caterers with their scrumptious chorizo sausage.

Some of the other stalls were quite quirky, especially this one where two girls were promoting fresh produce as well as a unique way to make yourself a salad dress.

After eating we walked up and down Main street listening to music performers and other acts whilst foodies tucked into the multi cultural choices of cuisines. I could see why this area would be popular to live as the sense of community would be appealing.

On our way out we swung by to have some gelato and I tried the unique Ferrero Rocher flavoured ice cream which was delicious.

The drive to find the winery tour was really easy from Mornington and we came to a small dirt track ready to get on the horse and enjoy the clean outdoors .

We felt we were doing well for time but everyone was already saddled up and so we quickly signed up, got our helmets and made our way to the paddock to meet our horses.

The guides introduced themselves and gave us some tips on how to saddle up, making sure to position your feet correctly in the stirrups before swinging your leg over. They also introduced our horses, mine was named Patch based on his patchy exterior and I was told he was a lazy boy with a tendency to coast along at the back, being a beginner behind the reins it didnt matter to me.

Sarah was introduced to her horse name Spanky! Once Sarah got saddled up she walked around the paddock for a bit until Spanky decided she wanted to scratch an itch on her backside, backing into the fencing and proceeding to rub herself with Sarah trying to stay stable on top. It was hilarious! We later found out the Spanky was on heat and had been backing into the male horses as well!...hussy!

The winery tour guides were really good at rounding everyone up and it was clear that these horses were well trained and looked after. I was glad that the reins were given to you rather than someone walking the horse for you because you get to feel more like you understand the horse and it makes for a more interesting ride, especially when they try and go off track and chow down on nearby bushes which they aren't supposed too.

We had a go at rising trot as we made our way along the track which was fun but quite tricky to get the timing right, I did get in the end but it was a little punishing on my gentlemens parts if you catch my drift. Sarah had ridden in the past and so from what I could tell was taking to it like riding a bike. It was about 20 minutes before we got to the first winery called Green Olive.

Parking up the horses we got a chance to have a few photos with our new friends.

Spanky had one blue eye which matched Sarahs blue eyes so she was heartened by that.

www.greenolive.com.au

Green Olive was a beautiful setting and the owners gave us an introduction to the different wines that are unique to their winery. We tried them all as well as the olives and the spreads that were on offer and decided to buy a bottle of Sparkling wine as well as some delicious red onion marmalade, perfect for our future camping trip to the Great Ocean Road. It was a pleasant stop but Sarah and I were kind of hoping to find out more about the processes they go through to make the wine, how they look after the vines etc... which they didn't really talk about.

After about half an hour of trying wines and having a chill out we all got back to the horses, remembering Sarah's Dads advice "if you're facing the tail end you've had too much to drink" and soon were on our way up the track with a trot here and there on the way, Patch was staying true to his character and we lazily propped up the rear of the convoy and the guides horse would every once and while get quite pushy with Patch to which the guide tried to explain that his horse was a bit of Jack the Lad and bullies the other horses. It was quite funny really.

After another 20 mins we made our way to Mock Red Hill, a cider farm and we were given another introduction into the different types of cider on offer which ranged from very sweet to quite mild, there was some delicious cloudy apple juice that I was tempted to get but decided not to bother as we had the sparkling wine. Again it was a pleasant stop but a little short and not quite so sweet, excuse the pun. :-)

http://www.mockredhill.com.au

The ride back to the stables was really nice as the outdoor air and the rolling hills in the distance made it very relaxing and thinking about it now, I reckon I could do a longer horseback trip, perhaps as a cowboy!