Overnight Horse Trek to Cockburn Creek

Saturday  and Sunday, July 11th and 12th

Join us for two days of exhilarating horse riding through the wonderful East Kimberley from Digger’s Rest Station.  After spending Friday night at the station, we ride out and spend Saturday night camping out at Cockburn Creek, returning on Sunday afternoon.

All gear is provided, including meals, saddlery, helmets and swags.  Price includes complimentary accommodation at the station on Friday July 10th with dinner, and, if required, accommodation and dinner on Sunday July 12th, with breakfast Monday morning.

Cost per person is $660

Bookings essential

BYO alcohol

Please not this ride is for experienced riders only (beginner riders are catered for from the station on request).

FULL MOON RIDE AND DINE

Wednesday, July 8th 2009

Full Moon Rising - Sun Setting -  Relaxing Horse Ride - Delicious Meal

Join us for a relaxing horse ride in the cool of the afternoon as we wind along the valley from Digger’s Rest Station.  At our dinner site, we take in a majestic view of the Cockburn Range, unsaddle the horses and let them go.

We’ll serve refreshments while you enjoy the rare view of a rising full moon over the Erskine Range as the suns sets behind the Cockburn Range.  If you would rather not ride, you are most welcome to join us for refreshments and a sumptuous camp oven cooked meal.

After dinner, we’ll transport you back to the homestead where you can choose from a range of accommodation types.

Ride and Dine   $130pp

Dine only $30pp

Bookings essential

BYO alcohol

We have a seven day trek scheduled for July 26 through August 1, with a few folks interested.  It would be a great time of year to ride along the Bedford Stock Route, with the Saw Ranges and their fresh water springs accompanying us along the way.

Morning Light

We then ride up into Speewah Valley for a bit of exploring.  We need four more people to make the ride possible, so let us know if you’re interested!

horses taking a break while riders go exploring

breakfast in the making

We start our horse treks every morning with a big hot breakfast, cooked over the campfire.  Our evening meals are campfire meals sure to leave you satisfied.  For lunches we serve up cold meats and salads.  Most days we have a morning smoko with fruit, homeade cakes, and billy tea.

Our horses enjoy a good hearty breakfast too.

Cat's finished his nose bag, ready to start the day.

We have changed our schedule around a bit to offer a seven day trek at the end of July, from July 26th through August 1st.  The trek will begin from Wuggubun Community and head down the Bedford Stock Route into Speewah Valley.  This country has spectacular scenery with the sandstone Saw Ranges in view along the way.  Numerous fresh water springs flow out of the Saw Ranges, offering many anopportunity for a ’saltie’ free swim.  July’s a beautiful time of year in the Kimberley!

Morning at Wuggubun

Night camp on Dead Horse Creek

Join us on our horse treks and learn how to relax Kimberley style. We set up camp in some beautiful spots, with plenty of basic comforts, even if we are out in the bush. Our camps are set up near water holes, with a camp fire circled by chairs, and the horses’ night yard is always close by.

lunch break at Goose Hill Creek

Looking South at the Cockburn Ranges

We are having a huge wet season here, already well past our average rainfall and we still have the two wettest months to go.  The waterfalls are roaring, the King River is wide, and the grass is growing by the minute!

The animals are enjoying all the good feed around, so

they’re looking fat and shiney.

View from the tank hill, just north of the homestead a few hundred metres.

Join us on the Carson River Trek for two weeks of outback adventure by horseback.  From June 29 to July 12, we will guide our guests along a route used by the Kimberley Exploration Expedition of 1911.  The landscape is spectacular, the location remote, and plenty of adventure guaranteed.

The trek heads out of Digger’s Rest Station, following the traditional Karunji Stock Route for the first two days, with magnificent views of the Cockburn Ranges for the first three days of the ride. After crossing the Pentecost River at the Gibb River Road crossing, we camp the night at Home Valley Station, an aboriginal owned station being run as an outback resort.

From there, the trek takes us through remote aboriginal land, with a variety of landscapes….salt marsh flats, sandstone ridges, ti tree country, tidal creeks, freshwater billabongs, pandanas spring country….

Passing through abandoned aboriginal settlements Linji and Ngildu, we ride on to Oombulgurri aboriginal community where we will re-stock some supplies.

After crossing the Lynn and Berkeley Rivers, we head northwest, riding around the northern end of the Seppelt Ranges and down towards the Drysdale River.

After crossing the Drysdale River, we ride across Barton’s Plain and on to Carson River Station, following an old gold and diamond mining exploration track over the Carson escarpment.

The landscape for the last few days will be in a higher rainfall area and more heavily timbered. Freshwater springs will be marked by pandanas, or cork screw palm. The waterholes along the way offer many an opportunity for good fishing, though not many will be suitable for swimming as the salties abound up this way.

A traditional owner will accompany us on the ride.

Have a look at the Google Map that shows the route of the Carson River Trek.

Mark and Debbie cantering on the flood plains

We will be at Equitana this year, booth #190, for anyone that would like to stop by and meet us, ask a few questions, see a few photos.  We will be sharing a space with Mark Rodney and his Horsemanship business, who is pictured here on one of our treks last season, and Helen Packer from Packer’s High Country Horse Riding, based north of Omeo, Victoria .

The Digger’s Rest Crew will be waiting to hear the reviews of Baz Luhrmann’s Australia!  We are all looking forward to seeing the movie ourselves when it is released next week.

Digger's Rest crew