In the morning the parents drove Maya and I to the north of the island where we got booted and suited up, then saddled up for some mountain horseback riding.
I hadn't been on a horse in about 7 years, so I was pretty excited to be getting back in the saddle. Though, I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about it after I got out of the saddle and onto an airplane for a day...
Maya got to ride on a lovely mare called Miley, and I, well I got Billy. Billy had other ideas about how he wanted to be spending his day, and it certainly didn't involve going on another goddamn trail ride!
Off we set into the lushious green hills, Billy at a crawling pace, grabbing mouthfuls of grass at every possible opportunity, despite my best efforts to stop him. So far this ride was exactly how I remember it from my old horse Ryann: stubborn horse that doesn't want to do what you're telling it to do, and a sense of assignation to said horse. Billy even looked like Ryann! The only real difference was this time I was closer to the ground.
We were riding through a privately owned farm, and at one point we had to stop so that some horses could be moved from one paddock to another. The horses were herded by use of a truck, and we even got to see the owner riding around on one of those 4-wheel ATV things with her two dogs standing on the back.
The ride went on pretty smoothly, and at various times Billy did actually pick up the pace. This was usually because our guide came riding up behind him making to whip him, but still. Maya and I were both having a great time, taking in the beautiful scenery and laughing into the rather intense wind.
Then we came to a steepish hill, and Billy just stopped. He wasn't moving for anything. And as I sat there, watching everyone else pick their way down the hill while I tried to get Billy to budge, I suddenly found myself straddling his side instead of his back. My saddle had slipped. "I'm falling!!!" I yelled out, which, got the guide's attention pretty fast. He turned around and came back for me, and I, faced with the possibility of hanging upside down under Billy's legs, or falling onto the rocky grass, did a rather graceful backwards soumersault out of the saddle and onto the ground. Our guide was very relieved that I was both fine and in good spirits. As I told him, I'm used to falling off a much bigger horse.
He got Billy's saddle back up and on, nice and tight, and then helped me get back on. This time, though still reluctantly, Billy didn't refuse to move. Billy and I actually got on much better after my tumble. I think having the saddle on properly put him at ease, and the fact that he stopped to make sure my fall was as safe as possible made me a lot more trusting of his judgement. From then on in it was smooth, but slow, sailing.
There were four of us on this ride, plus the guide, and everyone had at least some riding experience. So when Maya asked if we could go back to the ranch via this huge hill, our guide was quite happy to take us on that detour. Billy was less happy about it and refused to go as far up the hill as everyone else had gone. Much to my surprise, when the ranch did come into view he didn't suddenly pick up the pace and start running back. Perhaps he was just a really Hawaiian horse.
When we got back to the ranch and went into the paddock, Maya suddenly turned into Dr. Doolittle: all the horses were following her.
Well, OK, they were following Miley back. But still, it was pretty cute! We got off our horses and said our goodbyes. Then we pulled ourselves out of our boots and jackets and waited for the parents to come pick us up. They arrived with snacks, and pretty quickly Maya and I were devouring a box of goldfish crackers.
My flight wasn't until the evening, so we still had some time that afternoon to hit up the beach one last time. We decided to just go to the one nearest our condo as we didn't want to over estimate how much time we had. It was really nice to get to take one last dip in the ocean before I flew off. I was especially glad I could stretch out in the water after our ride!
After the beach it was back to the condo where I jumped in the shower, then finished packing, then loaded up the llama with my now bulging suitcase to take to the van. We made a pit stop at the shops near us so I could buy a pair of shoes I fancied. This ended up being more of a pit stop than I'd anticipated, so Dad sent the boys off to get themselves some ice cream. Initially I said no to getting some for myself, but when I went over to meet them, I soon found myself with a massive cone of chocolate ice cream with Reece's Pieces and coconut. I, I don't know how that happened...
We drove into Kona and I juggled eating my massive ice cream with getting as many pictures loaded up onto my computer as I could before my battery died. Which it did pretty much as soon as we got to the airport. Once I was checked in to my flight to Honolulu we hit the van and headed for dinner. At Denny's. Where they were out of veggie burgers and the weird Denny's waiter attempted to flirt with me.
Saying our goodbyes at the airport was epic. There were tears, and hugs, and one more hug hugs, and more one more hug hugs, and more tears. I tried to crack a joke by going "See you in a week!" because I thought it would be funny if we were having this ridiculously emotional goodbye and I was going to see them again really soon. But no one got the joke. Oh well! I think I'm hilarious and I'm pretty sure that's all that matters.
Eventually I made it through the security check point and the rest of the family headed off while I boarded my flight and flew off into the sunset. It was just about to be a really uneventful flight when I noticed that we were circling over Honolulu instead of landing. Our captain informed us that the Honolulu airport was currently shut down for all air traffic as President Obama was boarding Air Force One. So, I practically met the President.
We circled and circled and circled some more. Then the captain informed us we were running out of fuel and as Mr. Obama had not yet actually gotten on to his stinking plane, we would be turning around and flying into Maui so that we could refuel. We got about half way to Maui when the captain announced that Air Force One had achieved take off and Honolulu was once again open for air traffic. So we turned around again and finally landed in Honolulu.
My flight to Sydney wasn't until the morning, so I spent the night at an airport hotel. It was quite late by the time I finally got in to Honolulu and I had to leave at like 5:30am or something ridiculous for my flight to Sydney, so it was pretty much straight to bed for me when I got to the hotel. I didn't even get to enjoy their breakfast buffet, as it didn't open until 6am. I was happy to discover that Starbucks sells oatmeal, especially since I was flying on JetStar, where I paid $5US for a small package of cheese and crackers.
I found the flight to Sydney perfectly fine, but heaps of other people did not share my opinion. Their rental in-flight entertainment units were pretty much all broken, so only people who had pre-booked and had children got one. I had already decided that my in-flight entertainment would be a book, so when I got a free pair of headphones so I could watch the movies they were screening, it was a bonus. I watched Eat, Pray, Love, which hardly made any sense and definitely wouldn't have made a lick of sense if you hadn't read the book.
At any rate, after a long day of flying, I made it back home to Melbourne. I flew into Avalon, which is pretty much in Geelong... and made me realize why people sometimes give me funny looks when I say I barrack for the Cats. Well, one of the reasons. WHATEVER DUDES!
It was nice to get home and get to sleep in my own bed again. I was sad that the vacation had come to an end, but I also felt energized and ready to take on the challenges of 2011. And when I went to see my chiropractor, even he thought I was looking a world better than I had at the end of the year.
So what lesson have I learnt for 2011? Fall off a horse more often.
No comments:
Post a Comment