The Kosciuszko Ride, Australia - Horse Riding Holidays and Safaris

The Kosciuszko Ride, Australia

5-6 NightsBeginner to AdvancedFrom $3,200 AUD

Kosciuszko National Park is a place of many moods, where fortunes have been made and lost, where Brumbies roam free, and where YOU get to ride a mountain-bred horse into the wild!

For most Aussies, Kosciuszko National Park – or Kosci, as it’s affectionately known – needs no introduction. This rugged, remote wilderness leaves all who meet her in awe. Kosci is a place of many moods, where fortunes have been made and lost, where Brumbies roam free, and where YOU, lucky globetrotters, get to swing your leg over a mountain-bred horse and ride into the wild!

If you grew up reading The Silver Brumby, this trip is a MUST. Although sightings can’t be guaranteed, you’re very likely to spot Brumbies running free as you ride across high plains and sheltered hillsides covered in gnarled, weathered gumtrees.

Leading the masterful team is Brad Taylor, a bushman through-and-through, who knows every bend in every trail, every legend, and more than a few secrets thanks to his decades of experience guiding rides around Kosci. Over billy tea and saddlebag-packed lunches, he’ll share his intimate knowledge of this extraordinary country.

Astride your surefooted horse, you’ll traverse hidden tracks known to few except Brad and the Brumbies, scale windswept mountainsides, canter along wildflower-speckled plains and weave through groves of silver-trunked snow gums. The raw and untamed beauty of this region will leave you breathless.

Back at camp, evenings are spent around a smoky campfire under a dazzling, starlit sky, swapping stories, sipping your favourite bevvy and devouring lashings of hearty, flavoursome cooking.

Those who LOVE the idea of ‘hiking on horseback’ – navigating challenging, diverse terrain with lifetime memories as your reward – will fall head over hooves for The Kosciuszko Ride.

Fast Facts

  • Horse Breed:Stock horses, Quarter Horses, Gypsy Cobs, Arabs, Brumbies, Paints and Clydesdale crosses.
  • Pace:Due to the often-challenging terrain, you’ll mostly ride at a walk, but each day includes chances to trot and canter, the extent of which depends on the trail conditions, weather, guides’ discretion, and your individual ability and inclination.
  • Weight Limit:A maximum of 95kg /210lbs.
  • Type of tack:Australian stock saddles and a mixture of split- and single-rein bridles.
  • Seasons:November through to April.
  • Group size:A minimum of 8 and a maximum of 10 guests.
  • Time in Saddle:On average, 4 to 6 hours per day.
  • Riding Ability:Suitable for beginner to advanced riders, with a maximum of 3 beginners per departure.
    *If you are a beginner rider, you are expected to be capable of riding your horse at a walk, posting/rising to the trot, and be willing to try cantering.
     Not sure what your riding ability is? Watch THIS video to find out.
  • Accommodation:Bush camping - you will have your own spacious safari tent complete with stretcher, stool, light and bedside table. You will need to bring your own sleeping bag and pillow. In good weather, there’s also the option to bring your stretcher outside and sleep in a swag under the stars.
    A hot camp shower and a long drop toilet are available at camp, as well as an undercover dining area.
  • Ride Length:6 day, 6 night and 5 day, 5 night itineraries are available.
  • Inclusions:

    The price includes meals (from dinner on day 1 through to breakfast on the final day), accommodation and guided riding.

  • Exclusions:

    The price does not include flights, travel insurance (compulsory), or transport to and from the starting point of the ride.

 

DEPARTURE DATES & RATES

NEW! Secure your saddle seat NOW with a 10% deposit - as part of our 10x 10% payment plan!
Departing FinishingAvailabilityTotal
December 27, 2023January 2, 2024SOLD OUT!
$3,700 AUD - Single Rider?Happy to pay a booking supplement for own room
January 16, 2024January 22, 202410 spots left
$3,700 AUD - Single Rider?Happy to pay a booking supplement for own roomBook
January 24, 2024January 30, 20245 spots left
$3,700 AUD - Single Rider?Happy to pay a booking supplement for own roomBook
March 17, 2024March 23, 2024SOLD OUT!
$3,700 AUD - Single Rider?Happy to pay a booking supplement for own room
March 28, 2024April 2, 2024SOLD OUT!
$3,200 AUD - Single Rider?Happy to pay a booking supplement for own room
April 24, 2024April 30, 20246 spots left
$3,700 AUD - Single Rider?Happy to pay a booking supplement for own roomBook

PLEASE NOTE: The March 17 and 28 departures in 2024 will be based at Rocky Plain campground. All other departure dates are at Wares Yards campground.

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE?

The price includes meals (from dinner on day 1 through to breakfast on the final day), accommodation and guided riding.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRICE?

The price does not include flights, travel insurance (compulsory), or transport to and from the starting point of the ride.

Accepted payment is by credit or debit card only. There is a 2% surcharge on all card payments. Click HERE to read our recommendations on which cards are best to use to avoid international transaction fees.

WHY IS THE PRICE QUOTED IN AUD?
With our riding destinations, the currency is dictated by our ride partner in that country. Therefore due to fluctuating exchange rates we have to quote in the same currency.

Itinerary

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*Please note, this is a suggested itinerary only and subject to change at the discretion of your guides due to weather and other influencing factors.

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  • Day 1

    Yippee, your Koscioszko adventure begins today! You’ll need to arrive at camp (either Ware’s Yards or Rocky Plains, depending on your departure date) between 4 and 5pm, so that you can meet your guides and crew, settle into your spacious safari tent, have a safety briefing, and enjoy some drinks and nibbles before nightfall. After the first of many mouthwatering dinners and desserts around the fire, sleep beckons.

  • Day 2

    Waking up to the sounds of birdsong and padding hooves, you’ll unzip your tent to find billy tea and coffee brewing by the fire and unhurried breakfast preparations underway. At 8am, the feast begins: cooked delights such as bacon and eggs, English muffins or omelettes alongside cereals, fresh bread and fruit. When everyone is fed, dressed, and has prepared their saddlebag lunch (either a wrap or a sandwich, plus tasty snacks!) you’ll get to know your trusty steed on the ground before mounting up for a brief ridden skill assessment in the safety of the campgrounds. Once everyone is comfortable, the ride begins in earnest. Travelling along Gavels Ridge, Brad, the lead guide, will point out the day’s route, which takes in Gavels Hut (your lunch spot – a weathered 1930s grazier’s hut), Nungar Plain (a vast alpine grassland where you’ll have chances to trot and canter) and ‘eagle’s nest’, a secluded area where you may even see your first brumbies!

    After four to five hours in the saddle, the campsite will appear through the trees, smoke rising, wine and antipasto ready and waiting. If you like, you can wander down to the creek to spot kangaroos and wallabies, or if you’re really game, take a cold plunge in the icy water! Another scrumptious dinner will be whipped up tonight, to be savoured alongside stories from the bush, flaming red coals, and great company.

  • Day 3

    Settling into the morning routine, you’ll wake up, defrost with a hot drink and a cooked breakfast, prepare your lunch and get ready to ride. The day’s route takes you over Blackfellows Ridge, a windswept hilltop with views over both Nungar Plain (where you rode yesterday) and Boggy Plain (which you’ll explore in the coming days).

    Continuing the ascent, your agile horse will carry you up a natural staircase to a mountaintop overlooking the massive Tantangara Dam and Snowy Hydro Scheme. This vantage point gives you an unparalelled sense of the scope of these immense operations. Lunch and billy tea will be served back down on the plains at Witzes Hut. Kosciuszko’s tracks and huts are packed with history, and Brad knows every story there is to tell. You’ll no doubt hear quite a few while munching sandwiches on this holiday! In the afternoon, you’ll ride back to camp along Nungar Creek.

  • Day 4

    Heading back to Nungar Plain, you’ll take an entirely different track – Schofields Trail, to be precise – through forests of snow gum and mountain ash, over the creek and across the plain to Schofields Hut, your lunch stop. Once everyone is fed and rested, you’ll re-mount and ride further over the plain to reach a lookout, where you might spot Brumbies grazing in the distance.

    Back at camp in the late afternoon, if you’re keen to keep exploring, your guides can take you for a drive to see more historical or modern-day points of interest.

  • Day 5

    Today is a real trek; it will leave you with a great sense of accomplishment at the journey’s end. Forested slopes wind up, down and around before abruptly ending at the edge of Boggy Plain. Here the horses’ surefootedness and your guides’ local knowledge comes to the fore: this notorious plain is an unsolvable riddle to all but a handful of people (and the Brumbies who call it home). The plains are also interspersed with dramatic, boulder-strewn hills reminiscent of the Scottish moors, with creeks carving wriggling paths between the slopes.

    On the other side of Boggy Plain, you’ll ride into a beautiful, tall-sided valley, stopping for lunch and billy tea at one of the many sheltered, scenic spots en route. Travelling back towards camp over the hills, you’ll be dwarfed by tall, skinny eucalypts, emerging briefly at the opposite edge of Boggy Plain before navigating more challenging, forested slopes.

  • Day 6 (6-day itinerary only)

    The icing on the cake, today’s ride begins with a gradual climb to the summit of Tantangara Mountain. Having seen this peak at many points throughout the week, the satisfaction of finally surveying the vast wilderness of Kosciuszko National Park from Tantangara – 1700 metres above sea level – will be palpable. On a clear day, the view spans across the Monaro Plains, Kiandra Goldfields, the blue expanse of Lake Eucumbene, and Mount Kosciuszko itself.

    Heading down the mountain towards the aptly named Wild Horse Plain, you’ll dismount for one last saddlebag-packed lunch on the grassy banks of Chance Creek. Finally, you’ll ride home along Alpine Creek Fire Trail, with chances to trot and canter on the way.

  • Final Morning

    After one last filling breakfast, you’ll say goodbye to your wonderful horses, guides, crew, and newfound Globetrotting friends. On the drive home, you might like to visit local attractions such as Yarrangobilly Caves and thermal pool, the Snowy Hydro Works and Museum, and Old Adaminaby.

  • The Campsites

    Depending on your chosen departure date, you will stay at one of two camps: Wares Yards or Rocky Plains. Both are easily reached from the Snowy Mountains Highway and have access to the same stunning riding tracks. Your hosts are lucky enough to have a generous section of each campground allocated to their horses, staff and guests.

    At camp, you’ll find the extraordinarily well-stocked support vehicle alongside the sheltered camp kitchen and dining area. If there is rain, meals will be enjoyed in this undercover area, with a wood stove providing warmth. However, most of the time, the ambience of the campfire out in the open is impossible to resist!

    Amenities are simple: an undercover drop dunny, hot camp shower and handwashing station. These are shared by the whole group.

    As for accommodation, each guest is allocated their own roomy safari tent with a stretcher, stool, light and bedside table. In good weather, there’s also the option to bring your stretcher outside and sleep in a swag beneath the stars.

  • Transfer Information

    Transfers are NOT included in the ride price. We recommend either flying into Canberra and hiring a car, or self-driving if you live in Victoria or southern New South Wales. If you like, Globetrotting can help connect you with another guest booked on the same departure, so that you can share the drive.

    On day 1, please aim to arrive at the campground (either Ware’s Yards or Rocky Plains, depending on your departure date) between 4 and 5pm. It’s about a 2.5hr drive from Canberra.

    Directions to both campgrounds are easily accessed via Google Maps and other GPS systems.

    The ride will finish after breakfast on the final day, after which you’re free to depart. Should you wish to catch a flight home today, please ensure it departs no earlier than 2pm.

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