As a mother to three young globetrotters (Finn, Birdie and Poppy), nothing gives me more joy and pride than bundling up our wanderlust-filled family and taking them globetrotting. From a young age, our girls have been plonked on my reliable and dependable polo ponies or our two beautiful little ponies, Charlie Bubbles and Minty Magic. […]

Nothing speaks of Aussie bush heritage more than Banjo Patterson’s famous poem, ‘The Man From Snowy River’. Musicians have sung it, there’s been a movie made about it, and the town of Corryong, at the base of the Australian Alps, has created an entire festival around it. The sleepy little alpine hamlet swells in April […]

Many globetrotters, including us Aussies, aren’t familiar with the art of tipping and generally get quite lost at working out the right amount to tip without offending. Each of our horse riding holidays and safaris is different from the next in terms of whether tipping is expected, and how much. With that said, I’ve put […]

Mobile Menders This article appeared in salt magazine, a Sunshine Coast lifestyle publication.  words & photos kate johns The screaming child clings protectively to his mother’s back, wrapped in a dirty patterned shuka. The child’s hair is dreaded together with ochre-coloured mud. He wears no clothes except for a red beaded necklace below his belly button […]

Can you imagine a time where mates were called Clancy and Banjo? The rivers shimmered with gold, and whiskey and tobacco were traded from bullock carts on the river flats;  your life’s possessions consisted of a mountain pony equipped with saddle, bridle, oilskin, stock whip and swag. Work was chasing cattle up rocky-edged mountain spurs […]

“A Mongol without a horse is like a bird without wings.”

This is an article that I wrote for a African Lifestyle, Travel magazine on a riding safari in Botswana.  Riding high in the Okavango I wake to a grumbling, whirring noise within breathing distance of my head. A flimsy tent sheet lies between me and this “thing” which sounds like a contented cat purring although […]

I lean into my horse’s neck as her gallop quickens. The herd swerves to the left as my mare expertly follows, gaining ground on a couple of tail-end zebras. My hands tighten on the reins as I encourage her deep into the stampeding herd of zebra. Stripes of black and white move in a cryptic […]